Elite-level pro boxing has become the most predictable sport on the planet

Discussion in 'World Boxing Forum' started by Slavic Fighter, May 8, 2016.


  1. Slavic Fighter

    Slavic Fighter Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Obviously boxing can be unpredictable and exciting, but the kind of fights that we see on the top level aren't. There are way more underdog wins in other top sports like football, basketball, tennis, handball... you name it.

    Let's take a look at the last big PPV fights..

    Pacquiao - Floyd ... every boxing fan who wasn't a delusional Pac fan knew exactly how this fight will go and it went exactly like most people predicted. Extremely boring fight too

    Floyd - Berto .. again, we all knew what will happen.

    Golovkin - Lemieux ... Everyone had Golovkin winning, Lemieux didn't show anything in the fight, as predicted

    Cotto-Canelo... all Canelo had to do was survive to the final bell and he was gifted the decision, I was 100% sure he will win on scorecards.

    Pacquiao - Bradley.. the favourite won

    Canelo - Khan ... again, a missmatch that went just like everyone here predicted

    Not to mention fights like Joshua-Martin, Golovkin-Wade...

    Fighters with 40-0, 30-0 type of records. Name me any other sport where individuals/teams go on such winning streaks.

    Name me any other sport where every top level match is so predictable. In tennis underdogs win a lot and the top players play each other all the time.. Predicting the grand slam winner is obviously much harder to predict than Canelo-Khan. In football, Atletico is in the CL final after beating 2 European giants on the way. Leicester winning the EPL.

    Boxing is the only sport where elite level fighters routinely fight as 1.02-1.20 favorites on odds. The only division where there's at least some excitement is the heavyweight (and that's only this year thanks to one man - Tyson Fury), everything else is one missmatch after another, completely boring
     
  2. Jul214

    Jul214 Member Full Member

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    So why do you watch the sport and get on these forums if thats the way you feel about boxing?
     
  3. Reg

    Reg Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Now Predict Postol-Crawford, Thurman-Porter, and Ward-Kovalev.
     
  4. Cafe

    Cafe Sitzpinkler Full Member

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    Crawford, Porter, Kovalev
     
  5. Slavic Fighter

    Slavic Fighter Well-Known Member Full Member

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    So boxing has exactly 3 big events that are unpredictable in an entire year? And Ward-Kovalev isn't a done deal yet.
     
  6. ForemanJab

    ForemanJab Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Way too many mismatches, top fighter's ducking eachother, champions padding their inflated records off weak voluntaries etc. That's one of the reasons why MMA became so popular in such a short amount of time, the best always fight the best. Every event is packed with pick 'em fights.
     
  7. TheDarkLord

    TheDarkLord Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Great post. It's certainly frustrated me over the years and it's worse now than ever. You've got fighters and the managers of fighters looking at the mayweather model and trying to copy it. The problem is floyd was super talented, even if he did pick his battles wisely. It's virtually impossible to replicate his success or the money he made.
     
  8. cippi

    cippi Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Wilder vs povetkin is not an easy one to predict.
     
  9. Kid Quick

    Kid Quick Faster Than Eddie Full Member

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    The worst part is that the fights that loom on the horizon are mismatches too (besides the HW division, as you pointed out).

    GGG vs Canelo will be a quick demolition.

    Lomachenko vs Martinez will be a one-sided schooling.

    Terence Crawford will embarrass the robotic Viktor Postol.

    Leo Santa Cruz will steamroll the Euro-hypejob Carl Frampton.

    On a positive note, Provodnikov vs Molina and Thurman vs Porter should be very competitive.
     
  10. Kid Quick

    Kid Quick Faster Than Eddie Full Member

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    Andre Ward is not going to fight Sergei Kovalev, Stop deluding yourself. There is a difference between your dreams and the real world.
     
  11. panchman69

    panchman69 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Too many weight divisions
     
  12. zato-one

    zato-one Pink Jumpsuit Boxing Full Member

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    So then bet lots of money on these predictable fights and post your betting ticket.
     
  13. Slavic Fighter

    Slavic Fighter Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Well as you can see I doubled my vCash here and I only started betting a month ago.

    I can't bet on boxing in my ****ty socialist country where only one betting house has monopoly and they don't offer boxing. Sad but true. Besides, I consider gambling with money a sin and degenerate habit.
     
  14. qwertyblahblah

    qwertyblahblah Boxing Addict Full Member

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    That's the key point. And it takes wilful naivete from us boxing devotees to accept it. Boxing's the only sport in which a participant, or the promoter who contractually represents him simply makes the match and chooses his opponent. Mismatches are the rule because of boxing's lack of structure. The championship matches you mention in other sports happen because both participants rose up the rankings by beating other participants of similar rank within a structured schedule. Boxing needs a central global governing body running the sport form top to bottom, who schedules fights through a structured format based on results.

    There's nothing inherent in boxing in the ring as some like to insist that would make this impossible, it's just the greed of promoters and the forces that be that prevents any sensible change from the status quo. As it is, competitive fights will only happen when promoters consider there to be so much public interest that not making the fight is financially detrimental, but 95% of fights will continue to be as disgustingly predictable as the sham that Canelo-Khan was.
     
  15. Slavic Fighter

    Slavic Fighter Well-Known Member Full Member

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    I agree. I think that the popularity of the UFC and MMA will force boxing to adopt a similar structure. More and more younger fans rather watch UFC because it's easier to follow. Those guys would be interested to follow boxing too if it had similar structure but are turned off by weird matchmaking and paper belts. And since there are MMA fighters with 10 and more losses who're still "legends" and draws I think boxing promoters will realize that you don't need to have Mayweather's record to be a star.