Is boxing really falling out of mainstream?

Yeah but really the only legit orginaztions with belts are WEC which is basically the UFCs minor league. Then theres Elite XC who has only a Lightweight Champion KJ Noons who I seriously doubt could ever beat BJ Penn who sure he never unified his title with the Pride Champ Takanori Gomi he did beat his ass 4 years ago noboddy even has Noons in the top 10 in all of MMA. Robbie Lawler is the Middleweight Champion but really he couldnt even beat by Nick Diaz and Evan Tanner a former UFC Middleweight Champion twice destroyed by Franklin who was twice destroyed by Silva the current Champ. For the most part the UFCs title are all extremly legit Penn,Serra,Hughes,GSP have swaped the Welterweight title around for 4 years now and they have all been world recognized as the top Welterweights in the world. Silva and Henderson just unified 185 and Rampage did the same with Henderson at 205. Now Heavyweight is kinda ****ed up right now.

 

Yeah but what happens if it declines and HBO decided to drop it cause theres no money makers and Showtime had to do the same and ESPN favors some kind of wack ass new sport and cancels FNFs ? Anything in this world is possible. But its never going to happen im optimistic over boxings future considering the amount of young talented prospects or young contenders and champions.

 

I had to interview Jamie Varner the WEC welterweight champ this semester, and he use to box for years, but he told me since he is so short he would had been fighting at 147 and that he would had just got out jabbed. But he loves boxing, but his wrestling background is why he joined MMA. But trust me we were talking **** about each othe as far a boxing and MMA GOES

 

Then it trickles down to anther network I would guess. Or the boxers realize their purse demands aren't realistic with what they bring in monetarily.

 

Lots of people watch the Kentucky derby, but nobody could tell you anything about it, thats where boxing is now.

Nobody knows or cares to know anything about it outside of 1 or 2 known figures, and all they know about them is their name and face, nothing about them as boxers.

 

You are a complete ****ing idiot. "Joyce Gracie" says it all, go kill yourself.

Don't pretend to know about something when you clearly are a ****ing moron.

 

Speaking only from a UK perspective, Boxing has come back into the mainstream over the last two years.

Someone said earlier that it will never be as big as a Premiership game and that is true, football is the number one sport in the country and that wont change. However after the Benn/Eubank/Collins period there was a shadow over UK boxing and the interest of the public was limited. There have always been a couple of fighters that capture the imagination, notably Naz and Lewis since the mid-90s. But generally the public were not all that interested or well informed.

A couple of things have changed which have made a massive difference on this side of the Atlantic;

#1 UK has some top P4P boxers; whether you agree or not, Calzaghe and Hatton are in most top 10 P4P lists that circulate. As a general indication of the best boxers in the world, the P4P list all of a sudden makes our top boxers more marketable

#2 Amateur Success; Amir Khan's Olympic success has meant that BBC now reports regularly on the acheivements of England's amatuers. A strong squad going to the Olympics will only serve to strengthen this.

#3 Ricky Hatton; Rate him or not, he's done wonders for the sport over here. As a likeable character and appearing on TV in a non-sporting capacity he has raised his own profile and that of the sport

#4 Joe Calzaghe; Although not as media savvy as Hatton, Calzaghe last year won BBC's Sports Personality of the Year awards. Following this up swiftly with a win over Hopkins has again brought the sport to the masses.

#5 Setanta; Their coverage isnt great, their pundits are even worse, but at least they regularly show the fights! Its a great coup for them and allows UK audiences to access world boxing much easier!

#6 Media; Going hand in hand with all of the above, media interest has grown in the sport and has itself then increased the public's knowledge of and thirst for boxing.

The only thing left is for terrestrial TV to show some fights. On Saturday Witter and Froch appear on ITV. I'm sure if they put on a good show then this will be the start of things to come...

 

since the tyson-holyfield days really. :-(

 

america needs another de la hoya type fighter(good looks, drama, and superb skills)

a sugar type of fighter(SRR, SRL, mosley) with attitude

or a tyson type of fighter(bad ass, superior power, great skills)

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Action
As a LONG time boxing fan I have seen the sport fall a long way. Of the above mentioned names of Amir Khan,The Peterson brothers,Andre Dirrell,Chad Dawson,Orlandier Solis,David Haye,Alexander Povetkin,Kelly Pavlik,Mikkli Kessler,Andre Berto,Gamboa,Miguel Cotto,Juan Diaz,Nonito Donaire. I have only seen a total of 3 fights total! I don't know these guys and sadly I don't care. They are no names. Most fans do not even follow boxing at all. It has become a niche sport with a small core of fans. Instead of millions of viewers on TV that watched Ali, Leonard, Duran etc. 25 years ago we have a few hundred thousand and is considered a success. I hope there is a way it can come back to glory because it is a great sport.

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I'm getting the impression that this thread should have before the title; 'In the US...'

 

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63950

 

Agreed.