When did the Heavyeight champion title lose its sparkle?

This was a major factor at least in the US market. As I recall the only Lewis Title Defenses that made it to the PPV was Tua and TYSON.

On the global level, I would say the division still has quite a bit of luster.

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If an in-shape knockout artist with a bit of charisma comes along interest will peak again, especially a US/GB boxer.

Thing is a lot of people didn't like Lewis style and the majority of people find the Klitschko's boring in and outside of the ring so it is hardley drawing people in and add to that the fact that they are eastern European and the interest dips.

Add to that a spurge of ABC titlists such as Ruiz, Chagaev, Povetkin, Valuev, Bird, Peter, Ibragimov etc who didn't excite anyone (apart from some hardcore sections) then you have a pretty **** heavyweight era.

Interest started to pick up when Haye's big mouth came along but he had very little chance to resurrect the division being a cruiserweight, but still showed the division would pick up if their was a boxer with charisma in the division.

 

promoters in america hated lewis being champ thats why he was paid to relinquish a title to let two yanks compete. I think globally its probably still the weight with the most interest.
haye would not have achieved that much interest if it was mayweather he was going after

 

I think now seems a lot worse when the 90s and very early 2000s is fresh in peoples memories.

 

I dont think the 90s is as good as people think this was a decade that had
Damiani
Buster Douglas
Michael Moorer 3x
Tommy Morrison
Michael Bennt
Herbie Hide 2x
George Foreman
Bruce Seldon
Frank Bruno
Henry Akinwande

as world champions, not many of these would do very well today. There is more depth to the division than there has ever been, of course there is, there are far more countries competing than before.
Europeans will never be rated as highly as their american counterparts in most people's eyes.

The current hw scene always appears worse because we only really remember the best of previous eras and compare that to today

 

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When Lewis retired.

 

America in general hated Lewis. Tyson KOing bums on Showtime PPV, drew far more buys and viewers than HBO's Lewis/Rahman II. And I can find an article on that if pushed as I remember it fairly clearly.

Ha....that's one way of looking at it. I believe Lewis did the right thing by giving up his first title to face Grant as he was the RING and HBO's leading contender. I don't believe he did the right thing to give up his second title and avoid Chris Byrd for the chance at easier opponents, but that's another thread.

 

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So many contributing factors.

1. Path of least resistance -It's easier to make more money riding pine as a second string American sports athlete. A rookie in the NFL on the lowest salary possible is $375,000. No boxing prospect makes that amount of money that early in their career.

2. Health -A recent study showed that physical damage taken in one well connected punch can be 10x as damaging as your average NFL concussion.

3. Media Coverage -More PPV, much less TV, and a whole lotta pay channel crap. PPV was usually for "mega-bouts" that almost guaranteed excellent competition, now it covers everything right down to the past-his-prime Roy Jones Jr crap. This obscures our chance to see a prospect. My local newspaper only covers upcoming bouts once a month in a tiny column with the local high school scores.

4. Politics -Increasingly the best fighters aren't fighting for either their reasons ($) or the promoter's reasons ($$), OR the sanctioning organization's reasons ($$$!). i.e. Mayweather v Pacquaio, Bowe v Lewis, etc, etc.

5. Increasing Obscurity -From all of these factors a slow decay has eroded a once popular and populated sport.

Those seem to be pretty solid. There's more though. Minor ones; domination from "boring" champs, less talented competition, fluctuating ratings on champs and contenders, so many belts, etc, etc.

 

what is the point you are making? do you disagree with something in that post?

 

It's at its peak right now. Don't be a simpleton.

 

well as mentioned before one of the main reasons is 187 different titles ofcourse.

but i believe another reason is that in the past the Hw champ was a colourfull person (being it in a good way or a bad way). for example tyson, liston, ali, holmes. and look for example at the klit brothers they are very nice decent people.
they don't make headlines with extravagant behaviour ore interviews.

i think another reason is that americans (and boxing being a much greater sport in america then in europe) are very nationalistic so with having lots of Hw champs who are not americans (lewis and the whole eastern european delegation for example) the interest of the general public becomes less

 

No it didnt :?

The current scene is worse because noone (not even contenders) ever fights each other.

 

When Tyson lost to Douglas.

Muhammad Ali was still the heavyweight champion of the world only ten years prior.

Larry Holmes was no Ali, but, as a fighter, he was a uniquely consistent champion, who defended his title courageously and dramatically over 7 and-a-half years.

Young Mike Tyson came along and electrified boxing, sport, the world. He was obviously a phenomenon, so superior as to make all other heavyweights seem pitiful, like a German shepherd thrown in with a bloodthirsty, merciless pit bull. Tyson's extraordinary skills made the world sit up and pay attention: he cut through all the bull by swatting aside all other "champions" and acknowledged greats in unprecedented fashion. Leading up to Spinks, Mike landed on the cover of TIME magazine and the heavyweight division was back in its rightful place, capturing the world's imagination, as Ali and Frazier had done as "The Five Milion Dollar Fighters" 17 years prior.

For those of us who remember all this, everything that came after was nothing: Douglas flopped miserably, Holyfield kept losing his title, Lewis was a huge man in a new steroid era who, despite his gifts, too often could be defined with one word: caution; he was hardly exciting. And another word: vulnerability; he was hardly deemed invincible. Opponents such as a dead Mike Tyson and an ancient Evan Fields were given a shot at beating him, because, as was eventually proven twice, with one punch, they just might have.

The Klitschkos? Hopefully an anomaly and not a new norm. They are technically proficient giants whose dimensions, one-two efficiency and steroided power are enough to overcome pedestrian competition. They are professionals, but in a real fight have proven to be fragile, unable to dig out of a hole, lacking in the stamina to get home.

The public at large is not stupid; there are very clear reasons why it has not warmed to all these "champions" in the last 20 years.

Fire in the ring, amazing skills, heart, personality. These things are the luster of boxing and its grandest division.

Where have you gone, Joe Frazier?