Theory on why TV is turning its back on boxing

It's a vicious circle.

Boxing has always been a working class sport. As soon as it disappeared from terrestrial TV it lost much of its audience. As a result, the sport lost numbers (ie people did not travel with the sport to Sky in the way it anticipated or in the way football fans did). The problem we have now is that it looks unappealing to anyone else because the numbers dipped (in comparison to say the ITV shows of the late eighties/early nineties).

The only thing that could save it now really is if the rights to shows become so cheap that someone like channel 5 decide to snap it up because no one else does. Then you'll see viewing figures increase and the networks will sit up and take notice again.

Long story short; boxing was huge on TV so it went to Sky - viewers did not follow - it's no longer huge on TV - networks are uninterested as there is no obvious gain.

 

Work out the maths. I am told it costs anything between 30k and 100k to televise a night of boxing ... just for production costs. Fighters have to be paid, venue hired, security staff paid. Broadcasters have their fees. It is not cheap. But there are stars in the making ... Barker, Cleverly, Fury, Brook, Gavin, DeGale (maybe), etc. The problem is the written media obsession with football, and the fact that only Frank Warren is any good at playing the media game in the UK.
Having said all that ... the fact we are on this site talking and debating, and the fact that 1.4mill paid 15 quid a pop to watch Ricky and Mayweather, proves that the sport is not dead. It just needs a few people in positions of reponsibility to be a little braver. Khan drew 6 mill at 11 pm. That is a fact. And what was the viewing figure for the FA Cup final, the same comp that costs infinitely more to buy and to broadcast ... less than 7 mill. So how do we accept that football is the great God? A few people in the TV and newspaper industries need to give their heads a shake.
However... the argument will be from the television guys, if the advertisers are not paying the revenue it doesn't matter a jot how big the figures are .... which is why ITV are in the mire right now. As for the papers, they just write about what is on TV and most editors are conspicuously lacking in balls.

 

Girls love fighting

Just look at Ali's daughter

 

Women love Boxing. Let's face it, the rules isn't hard to follow. My Grandma used to hate sports but could name a list of boxers within a second.

 

It is weird boxing hasn't stayed on free tv more often. Over here in Ireland we are lucky if there is any sort of big boxing it is on RTE our bbc if you like to call it that. For the last couple of years we have seen Duddy , Lee , McCloskey , Macklin and Dunne all headline RTE shows which is great. The best thing about Dunnes win in the world title the first World title fight in Ireland since Collins Eubank was it was on free to air tv. People got the chance to watch the fight which was watched by well over a million people which is amazing as it works out as 1 in 5 people watched it. The money is there to be made out of boxing by tv companies. I expect RTE to release the fight on DVD to sell to people so they will make money out of that to cover there costs.
RTE ****ed up years ago when Collins fought Eubank they never showed the fight because Sky promoted it but people were fuming why they didn't come to a deal with Sky for the fight.
David Hayes of the world he is very marketable so for bbc to back him if SKY dont would make sense. He has his Hayemaker promotions on top of that and they put on the fights that you hope to see local unlike other promotors. Add to that soon he will be fighting for a World title and it will be on 10 or 11 our time not daft o clock in the morning be it in Germany or England. Then you have Froch it is a disgrace his fight was not shown by any tv station for the Talyor fight live. He is like Haye and would be a hit with the public as he is already known. Are the tv stations willing to take a risk on these 2 as if they do it would make them money in the longterm not loose them money.

 

Its not so much they wont know about boxing but they are disgusted by it. Its the same thing they drill into kids at school these days. 'Violence doesnt solve anything', that is probably true but the aim of boxing is to hit and not get hit, its an art form, a thinking mans game at the higest level. I think the other reason why it wont be as big as say football is because not everyone can take part. You cant just go down to the local ring put on gloves and go at it whereas with football any person no matter how untalented can get a ball and go to the local park.

 

TV building up fighters on their channel ,then having fighters jump ship .

 

the problem with the beeb has nothing to do with women, its a two fold issue that means the type of sport it is (mostly the fault of promoters) and the fact that it is a state sponsored corp


they simply couldnt justify to the majority of people paying out the money they would need to. look at the reaction to the million they handed audley. at the time he was expected to be the next heavyweight superstar and people still questioned it


on that note, they also got their fingers burnt pretty bad by audely- fact is any investment they make HAS to bear fruit and the sport, love it as i do, can be hit and miss

 

lotta sense being spoken by this man

 

That Audley deal was ridiculous, they bought the first 10 fights of a new pro. Those fights are usually one-sided blow outs or stinkers.

 

i know mate, someone seriously dropped the ball on that one!

 

When Terry D speaks the Brit Forum listens

He is more than just your average mug poster

He works for a Boxing Website as a writer and interviews pro fighters. :deal

 

I know what you mean. I wont tell anyone at the office that i box to stay in shape. I once shut up my university lecturer who was going off on one saying he played rugby as a young lad and it was a tough sport (which it is). When i told him i boxed he stopped boasting. The worst one is when you tell someone you box, and they think your some kind of homicidal thug.

 

Im sure there are a lot of reasons why tv abandoned Boxing but Boxing itself bears a lot of the blame also. I can remember watching Ali fight on regular TV as well as men like Hagler, Holmes, Leonard, Sanchez (RIP), Norton and others. NBC's Sportsworld often had fights on a Saturday afternoon. Well once Pay Per View came into its own, Boxing said goodbye to TV. Now you have to pay 40 big ones to watch the IFB or WBwhatever champion take on someone. Who can relate to 3 "champions" in one friggin' division. That's ridiculous. Plus it's a different world now. Fewer young people are drawn to Boxing. This is the Internet/video game/Ipod instant gratification age which is why MMA is so popular with young people today. It's like a real live video game which doesn't require a long attention span to enjoy. I'm sure young people who could maybe go either way would be drawn more to a MMA match of 3-3 minute rounds over a 10 round Boxing match which requires more time and thought to fully understand the subtle skills involved. Another contributing factor is the fact that there is no real charismatic HW champion that people can relate to. Where are the Ali's or Louis' or Marciano's that can excite the crowds (Excuse me for forgetting Dempsey) but do you know what I mean? Boxing has to get mainstream again and offer good fights that the average sports fan can gain easy access to. One champion in each division would be nice too. And while we're on the subject, lets get back to 8 divisions even if the weight ranges have to be adjusted somewhat. Too many champions.Too watered down. It's gotten way out of hand.

 

I understand that completely. U always get people give you the weird look, hold there purses, Run scared