Will Boxing ever be as popular as it once was?

MMA is very small here compared to boxing. I actually had to Google MMA in Denmark to find out about it - and I can see, that the Danish MMA championships will be held on December 12. How about that - I had no idea!

 

Boxing could be big again. But only with significant changes.

 

California had over 1,000 professional boxing shows each year during the late 1920s while the state of New York had about 900 one year during the middle 1920s. During recent years, California had about 100 on an annual basis. I read that the state of New York had only 25 shows during a given year within the last 35 years.

It is my understanding that the United States has about 1,000 boxing shows on an annual basis during recent decades. While looking on BoxRec, I found that there were more than there were more than 6,000 known boxing shows in the U.S. during one year in the 1920s. At one time, I figured there could have been as many as 10,000 boxing shows in the U.S. on an annual basis during the late 1920s.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Nice! You should market Denmark!

You sold me!

 

NO. It's why the BS UFC is now more popular.
Boxing has 5-6 champions now, every 3-4 pounds, with 40 or so 'top 10' contenders. I miss the old days when we all knew who the top 10 was. I miss the old days; it's why I only visit the 'Classic Forum'

 

I don't think race has anything to do with it. The NFL and NBA have a disproportionate black representation and continue to grow in popularity. While America continues to experience the tensions of multiracial society she is doing pretty well. The highest office is held by a black man, in a country that is 13 percent black .

It is interesting to note that boxing has actually trending to have fewer african americans and if one is hellbent on breaking up things along racial lines you will find hispanics constitute a growing segment.

 

In the past the championship belts were virtually an American monopoly. Small wonder why it was as popular in the USA as it was back in the day.

Nowadays, internationals have the majority of the belts so far as I know. And we no longer control the heavyweight division.

Further, UFC appears to be more popular than pro boxing. This because of its excellent marketing and the fact that it has so many female stars which generate much popularity.

One last consideration: NYC was the Mecca of pro boxing and the sports media back in the day which made the sport more accessible to every day working people. Now elitist Las Vegas is more of a media center for the sport in the USA.

 

One last thought on the subject - another possible reason why pro boxing isn't as popular today as in the past is because we do not have the great boxing writers that we used to have.

Sure there are a handful. But are any of them household names?


Where are the likes of Charles Francis "Socker" Coe? Jimmy Cannon? Bert Sugar? Nat Fleischer? Ring Lardner? And, dare I ask, where are the Howard Cosell's of this world????



Love them or dislike them, these guys added much character to our sport. The fact that we do not have the likes of these probably lessen boxing's popularity.


Just my 2 ¢.

 

Compared to the advent of television, societal trends and economic situations, the increasing presence of black boxers had very little to do with the declining popularity of professional boxing in the United States. In fact, the presence of Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and Mike Tyson gave boxing a boost during their eras.

- Chuck Johnston

 

"NYC was the Mecca of pro boxing and the sports media back in the day"

"elitist Las Vegas"

Excellent point. The big fights leaving NYC really hurt boxing, I think.

 

It can't ever be as popular as it once was. There are now too many sports competing for attention. Used to be, there was boxing, horse-racing, baseball, tennis and golf. In the States, Pete Rozelle was doing everything right with the National Football League gridiron and establishment of the Super Bowl, just as Jose Sulamain, Gilberto Mendoza, the WBC and WBA were doing everything wrong they possibly could have, right at a moment when the margin for error was ZERO.

During their last joint interview, Larry Holmes and Joe Frazier admitted they didn't even know or care who the heavyweight champion was anymore! When boxing has lost the interest of the most important retired living historical competitors it has remaining, that is a sport in extremely serious trouble. Sulamain, Mendoza, King, Arum, Lee and company have killed the goose which laid the golden eggs. Maybe it can become as popular in other nations as FIFA and the World Cup, but it's long since been, and will forever after be as dead a sport in the United States as Latin is a dead language.

 

In spurts it will be. Mayweather vs Pacquiao may actually be one of the biggest most anticipated and most watched sporting events in history.
Overall, probably not. The divisions are not as deep with talent as in the 80's (for example) and the best guys aren't fighting each other often enough.

 

Nice point Chuck Johnston

 

Thanks Ed.

And while not quite as big in terms of crowds or enthusiasm, large cities such as Detroit and Chicago also hosted numerous matches thereby giving access to the working populace. These venues all helped make pro boxers into household names. Alas we see this no more.

One more point: not to be overlooked is the fact that in the past we had rivalries where boxers won 2 of 3 matches or possibly even 3 of 5. These fights often took place within weeks of each other and generated an incredible amount of interest.

Today it's all one and done.

Just think of that Pac-Marquez rivalry ~ every boxing fan I knew was hyped up about that. And when Marq threw that final right it was curtains. Yeah, there have been good fights since then. But the rivalries and the great interest they generated are largely all gone.


If pro boxing is to be revised to the levels of the past, it needs to go back to the big cities, we must have a return of the great rivalries (no more one and done nonsense), great reporters like those of the past must re-emerge, female stars must step forward (after all this is the 21st century and times have changed, and we must have more Americans at the top of the divisions.


Let's hope all this happens soon!