Will boxing ever reclaim it's former glory?

Yes eventually a great heavyweight with an exciting style will come along, and in the modern media age they will shake the world.

It is only a matter of time.

 

No,to many crooks,fixes ect.

 

i think an American, exciting, charismatic heavyweight would help greatly,but the popularity of MMA fighting is killing boxing.

 

The problem is that boxing's infrastructure makes it practically impossible for any American fighter to have that kind of impact anymore. The sport was at its biggest when it stood as an allegory for something more meaningful, something bigger than two men fighting in a squared circle. The biggest platforms allowed for the biggest stars not to just be seen, but to matter. That symbolism and mystique aren't there, and perhaps weren't ever there to the extent that we like to reminisce about in the first place.

Now, people are looking elsewhere for those symbols and icons. They're not just turning away from boxing. The more dirt is uncovered about all the major sports and just what goes in to making them the moneymaking machines they are, the less social significance their flagbearering stars carry- regardless of what viewership numbers and revenue figures may show.

For example, I'd argue that the NFL, despite consistently bringing in record revenues, matters less today than in the past. It's lost its social power in the pursuit of maximizing profit at all costs, and will pay the price for that in the long term. Boxing is similar in the fact that its biggest star currently has earning power that rivals or quashes any other athlete on the planet. The social impact doesn't match up to the balance sheet, though.

High level athletics, as with politics and sausage making, get less appealing the more one learns about what goes in to making it happen. It's a crisis that athletics at large face in this country, and not just boxing. But boxing's shot itself in the foot so much and fights within itself so much that it can't protect itself the way other, more centralized sports can. It's the canary in the coal mine.

 

A superstar always comes along but I cant ever see an Ali or Tyson type figure fighter ever again,mma is bigger now than boxing,more young kids are getting into it and sports fans seem to know more Ufc fighters than boxers,too many politics in boxing and the best not fighting the best,i.e,Mayweather/Pacman..

 

Boxing is actually in good health. Look objectively at the past, at fixes, color lines, guys fighting every week, mob control, and tell me those were good things.

After suffering so many Ali wannabes, I personally do not need a charismatic American heavyweight.

 

I know I'm gonna sound like a cynical old fart but sports in general isn't what it used to be. Too many teams, too much money, pay per view etc..There was a time when u could u watch a championship fight on ABC tv or Sportsworld and get quality fights and fighters. Now you have to pay 50 big ones to watch watered down talent or a good fighter take on a hand picked opponent for the umpteenth time. Too many weight divisions and "title" holders as well...WBC/WBO/IBC/XYZ...cmon, it's ridiculous. As for other sports, there's just way too much money being thrown around and too many teams. What player in any sport is worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Where's my time machine?

 

We do actually have a great heavyweight champion at the moment.

It is just that his style is not very exciting, and there is not a worthy opponent for him.

I firmly believe that there will one day emerge an Eastern European fighter, with a dynamic offensive style, and they will be a global star.

 

Anything is better than what the klitchko's have done to heavyweight boxing in recent times. They killed the division by not fighting the best fighter's and choosing to fight glorified sparring partners. All about $$$$$ now and trying to protect a false record that doesn't have any good names on it

 

I also think other sports are to blame, most young athletes would rather play football or basketball and still earn millions of dollars without getting beaten up.

 

"I personally do not need a charismatic American heavyweight."

This is one wish of yours which should be fulfilled.

It is difficult to imagine a good American heavyweight appearing. Boxing is somewhere between pocket billiards and watching grass grow as a spectator sport in the US these days. One poster had attendance stats and pointed out how many more folks attend a rodeo than a boxing match these days.

There probably isn't any mob control of boxing anymore in the US. Why bother? All those evils listed at least indicated intense interest in the sport.

*by the way, back when all those evils were in the sport, look also at the attendance figures and ratings on radio and TV.

 

No i don't see it happening because:

No more championship boxing on free public tv anymore, back in the 70s Ali fought on abc wide world of sports 3 or 4 times a year.
Greedy cable companies charging 60 bucks to watch a predictable Mayweather fight, yaaaaawwwn, with an undercard full of tomato cans, id rather watch paint dry..
Bring back 15 round championship fights, sorry 12 is just to ****ing short for a world title fight..
Get rid of all of these POS judges that keep fixing fights, and giving the wrong guys the decision..
Start world championship fights in the afternoon, not this 11 o clock at night bull****, which is what happens on the east coast, by the time the main event is over it's Sunday morning.
Make testing for peds real strict, blood test and all first time you get caught, you can't fight in the states for a year, second time permanent lifetime ban, if you feel like you need to cheat to win, your in the wrong sport take up golf..

And World champions should be forced to defend their titles 3 times a year, against the best available competitive opposition, or get stripped no exceptions..

THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS THAT GREED HAS KILLED BOXING...

And to many young Americans are too lazy to put in the hard work required to succeed in the sport, that's why they sit around all day playing x box, eating McDonald's and getting fat, and dumb..

 

Boxing is a niche sport more so than a main stream sport now.

It's been poorly marketed, complacent, underdeveloped and ruined by politics. Some potentially epic fights and rivalry's have simply never eventuated because of the fiefdoms of the various promoters/networks and their stubborn refusal to do business with each other. The net result is fans being short changed and fed garbage fight cards and the sport as a whole suffering.

Factor in some truly horrendous judging and officiating and you can see why it has lost so much popularity. The nadir imo was Holyfield-Lewis 1 the last time a fight really had truly global attention and significance and the with the eyes of the world watching boxing fukked it up badly yet again. Why would a anyone be interested in boxing when it can be as blatantly dishonest and disrespectful to its audience as that?

It's about where it deserves to be and it pains me to say that.

 

You know what, I couldn't care less where the exciting dynamic heavyweight champ comes from. I would be open to another Eastern European champ definitely. I'd just hope they don't attract the same ****-ish neo-nazi fanbase that the Klitschkos do.