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

One problem seems to be that all of the powers that be bury their heads in the sand and as soon an one moment of mainstream success comes along they all in chorus scream that Boxing is doing well.

The Title situation, TV, Poor match making and inactivity are the biggest issues that need fixing. TV and Inactivity can be sorted but the titles have been getting worse and worse consistently since the WBA and WBC Split. The Top Promoters have been getting less and less inclined to work together to make good fights.

There is a lot of ground work needed but will it happen, probably not. Boxing will always be around but Sport fans will only follow the hardcore fighters and the lower/medium levels will suffer.

 

In America and Canada, UFC runs 15 pay per views a year at around $50 a go. They plan to do around the same again on basic cable specials - most of them for Spike TV (think a bigger, better version of the UK Bravo). There's also Strikeforce which mostly has events on Showtime (occassional CBS special), Bellator (was on Fox Sports Net but now on MTV2) and HDNET (channel that shows all major Japanese MMA events in the US).

Now to me the problem with boxing isn't lack of exposure - Friday Fight Night on ESPN is a pretty good platform and it recieves far more mainstream media coverage than MMA. The problem is that boxing works against itself to an almost ludicrous extent. There's no unified structure, no agreed championships, no clear ladder for propsects to climb to a championship match.

 

Generally people who are good at one sport are good at others and usually they only specialise at a certain age 15ish. So why would anyone thinking about themselves choose a career where they will make significantly less money than say in the obvious example football unless they are a massive rareity and have to take a huge amount of, possibly dehabilitating, physical punishment??

 

I agree with this post. Its sums things up imo.

Over the last couple of decades boxing has got steadily worse. Compare the standard of world title fights in the 70s and early 80s with what we get now. There have been six world heavyweight title fights this year yet only one of the six challengers (Chambers) was ranked in The Ring's top ten at the time of their fight. Says it all really.

 

Boom. And we have a winner. Boxing is doing this to itself. Fighters have got greedier and what PPV. Promoters are the same.
Pretty much all of the British PPV's this year would have been on Terrestrial TV in years gone by. Now you need a SKY subscription to watch a DOMESTIC bout. That essentially turns boxing into a niche sport and is bad for the longevity of the sport.

 

Uk boxing has never been the same since it left terrestrial tv. Give it another 20yrs and it'll be a niche sport that the next generation will look upon as a relic.

Khan is only as famous as he is in the uk (yes, the guy gets mobbed by the public when out) is because of his itv days following the olympics. Degale for example will never get the same mass fanbase among the general public because of not being on terrestrial.

 

And what about the U.S?

 

What about it? Their problem is VERY different to ours. Why go into boxing when you can make WAAAAAY more money in the NFL or the NBA? Where are the stars in US boxing? There are none. Most are old and on the verge of retirement. The rest fight when they feel like like Floyd.

 

WTF are you blabbering on about? You think football is killing boxing in the UK??!?!

This content is protected

 

Exactly my point. Without a big U.S star boxing is not as popular, it's as simple as that.

When were the biggest booms for boxing? And where were the biggest stars from? All the athletic guys go into the NBA or NFL as you say.

 

My retort was to the OP who was talking about the UK scene. I dont care much if the US scene is drab. I care about British boxing. British boxing was thriving when we had mainstream stars. Everyone knows who Eubank Benn LL Bruno Naz etc are. British boxing doesn't have that any more because our fighters are on SKY thanks to Warren.

 

Fair enough mate, to make it clear I was talking about the sport in general, sorry for any confusion caused:good

Gomi is gonna' spark Guida ya' reckon?

 

He ****ing needs to. 6 years ago that would have been a given. Its clear though that Gomi isnt the fighter he once was. Plus i cant stand Guida. I hate his whole caveman act and how the UFC trys to sell it.

 

He's a laugh and little else. He's not the same fighter but a great 155lber should beat a decent one. And Gomi is one of the greats, no doubt. Not the fighter he was, but still handy.

 

I find him painful to watch and in persona. All that stupid burping and that **** he calls hair is just downright annoying.