"why isnt boxing as popular as it used to be?"

I think the biggest reason is the inactivity of the fighters.

 

The rise of other sports popularity, the question of fixing in boxing both perceived and real. The ethics of boxing as a sport always seems to pop up every few years i.e. when a fighter is injured in the ring, cue calls to ban the 'barbaric' sport.

The main reason I would say is the way television has changed over the years.
From having a selection of a few channels showing sports/boxing as a part of their schedule to now hundreds of channels, dedicated channels to sport 24/7, channels/events being ppv.
Realistically meaning in the past people could get get caught up on the hype of an upcoming fight on tv as less choice of channels meant that unintenionally they could watch bits of it and get hooked, now there is so much choice people spend more time flipping channels than watching them.

 

Years ago it was on free TV, which helped a lot, anyone could watch the figthts. In the 50's there was the Gillette Blue Blade fights on Friday night. Rocky Marciano and so many others.

Did you know that in a TV Guide Poll, golf was voted the most boring sport on TV? Yet, the rich owners continued to show "their" sport for the extremely rich, GOLF! Oh, how I hate golf!

 

The lack of a decernable champ in many divisions hurts.
Too many belts (who cares who the Middle-Intercontinental WCABLBAO FW Champ is?).
The lack of network TV coverage in the states.
The lack of coverage from news outlets (in the Boston Herald...one of the bigger papers over here...a big fight MIGHT get a page...or worse yet, a footnote).
The lack of a big star in the glamour divisions (MW and HW).
Too much corruption.
Too much of a watered down product (belts, events, etc.)
Too many PPVs.
Different sets of rules for different santioning bodies.
Too many sanctioning bodies.
Larry Merchant's drinking problem.

I could go on and on....

 

But it sells add revenue. Golfing is not cheap in terms of gear. You get your 'upper crust' raping us for the money to pay for $1000 a piece clubs which they bust up against a tree when it doesn't work miracles.

 

Very true. I hate it when an undefeated boxer fights some unknown wino to protect his record. I saw that on the Pavlik/Taylor undercard, Hearns vs. the unknown. Steward mentioned it also.

 

Every golfer should thank God that Tiger Woods is around.

 

No network fight hurt it a lot. Fox jumping on it in the 90s helped Hopkins' career. CBS helped Leonard and Mancini in the 80s. Ali and pretty much all of the "golden age" heavyweights were given their due on ABC in the 70s. PPV isn't a terrible thing, but that really be reserved for the BIG superfights (two old pricks with name recognition should no longer be considered "superfights").

 

And we do have to look at way too many champions, no doubt. How can anyone remember all of them when so many have not even been seen on USTV?

How do you spell golf?

B-0-R-I-N-G...........

 

There aren't enough big names period.

 

How many PPV's are there on average? Seems like a lot and they are getting so damned expensive!

PPV/closed circuit TV came into being, at least as we now know it, during Ali's time, he made it happen more often. Ali Vs. Frazier, started the PPV ball rolling.

 

1. Too many sanctioning bodies
2. PayPerView Costs
3. Ticket Costs
4. No Singular Identifiable Heavyweight Champ
5. Poor Mandatory Defense Policy
6. Fighters Fighting Once a Year
7. Corrupt Decisions
8. **** POOR Marketing!

I could go on for hours but it does nothing but depress me about a sport that I still LOVE despite the negatives above.

 

Alphabet Soup Titles

 

Pay Per View
ABC titles
Virtually zero media play
Collapse of the HW div (no American)