Is boxing dying or are the times changing............

These things go in cycles. Boxing's more dominant in mainland Europe, Japan, the South American countries. Eventually, the US will go back to it.

 

being on terrestrial television would help alot. Putting fighters in sports ads I believe would do the sport good also.

 

Yeah agree with all of that and doing stuff like Soccer Am and A League Of Their Own would help boost a boxer's profile.

 

amateur boxing is done already in the uk, run by a pack of old queers pushing buttons for who they fancy, no wonder a lot of slappy limp wristed boxers are succesfull, oh unless your from liverpool then you've only to turn up to win. Running it great aren't they?

 

It needs more coverage, one of the problems is also that lots of what would be casual fans are watching MMA, because it's more suitable to the casual person who just wants to see a knockout and cannot see the technicalities of a sport such as boxing.

It's a damn shame

 

Another problem is, that there is this shift toward fighters becoming divas.

I guess on one hand the lack of American talent can inspire and encourage and new generation of American talent, particularly if they see European fighters taking the spotlight, that said, some Euro fighters are not particularly exciting to watch, talking about Wlad specifically, so its okay thinking they might be inspired, but most fighters who take up Boxing, were inspired by a particular fighter. I think you also have to take into consideration at the globalization of Boxing nowadays, that has to be good for the overall popularity.


Boxing will never die though, it will just go in a cycle imo, which is good and bad I guess, cause on the one hand you could alienate a generation of fans, but when there is less money to be made, it could find itself back on terrestrial television regenerating another generation. I mean if MMA were as popular as Boxing, pretty sure it wouldn't be as cheap as it is to watch, is'nt it free in some instances to? I dont know, just asking.

 

Its cycles the fact of the matter is that it is often the immigrant population in poverty striken areas that gravitate to boxing.

In the early part of the century it was Jews such a Benny Leonard that ruled boxing now its a novelty to see Foreman win a version of the world title the same has happened with Italian Americans, now we are seeing a shift with more involvement from Eastern European countries. I agree with Gooners it all goes in cycles, these things ebb and flow

 

To truly gain mainstream popularity, it needs to return to terrestrial TV.

The sport has definately seen a renaissance in recent times, especially in terms of British boxing. Will ITV or Channel 5 take this opportunity?

 

Nowadays it's easy to hold a 'title' and pick and choose fights. For 'casuals' this makes the sport hard to follow. IMO the sport i marginalised now, and I think drastic changesneed to be made in order to stop the sport dieing out completely.

Less people interested, less talent coming through etc etc it all adds up. It will be hard, with politics as well, for fighters to make their mark like those from yesteryear, some people are happy to settle for pithy bollocks and call it 'great' (like the man in my avatar for example)

 

You're not spouting **** at all. The sport's evolving, but unfortunately, evolving away from main countries like the UK and US. Like you said, the stronger and more dominant fighters are emerging from other markets (Asia, Eastern-Europe etc), and simply don't demand the attention from the UK/US public and TV companies. So you could say it's died down in the UK/US, but it's live and kicking in other parts of the world.

 

Boxing is dying slowly.

Boxing tends to be popular in areas of Poverty and its those places that generate the best boxers. It's a brutal sport to be a professional in and you won't find many Boxers who would want their children to grow up and also be Boxers, wheras Football/Baseball/NFL/Basketball, if you asked them if they would let their kids play those sports i'm sure they would mostly answer, if they wanted to yeah why not.

As the world poverty line slowly moves up as it does, you're going to see less and less people take up the sport over the next 100 years. People talk about cycles but the fact is, you only have to look at the number of gyms that used to exist and the number that there are today to see it's not going to ever really come back to as it was, the world is changing.

 

Completely agree about this boxing is evolving but not necassarily in the most profitable of markets its probably slightly shrinking in the US and expanding in Asia Eastern Europe but these arent majorly profitable markets. On the flipside i would say UFC attracts athletes from a slightly less poverty striken background especially with college wrestling backgrounds etc. I would say its about level in the UK in terms of participation i think we are just in a slight lull atm with the recession in terms of terrestrial broadcasting in boxing atm but apart form that its on an even keel and amateur boxing is thriving.

 

The biggest problem is the TV situation. All boxing requires to be a mainstream sport is for it's practitioners to be household names, once that happens most of the other problems don't seem as much of a big deal.

 

I have a feeling that people will come running for Degale soon though terrestrial tv i mean Olympic gold medallist genuine talent and personality.

He has already had a few radio interviews with the bbc and as an Olympic gold medallist would expect has received a fair bit of media attention already