Will heavyweight boxing ever regain its popularity in the USA

"we held the greatest title in the world!"
apollo creed to rocky balboa, rocky IV
a few reasons. a heavy weight can not just be great, he needs to be charismatic as well. and i mean not flashy like mayweather. needs to get out in the public, e.g. visit children's' groups, give interviews where he is fairly well spoken, some humour involved and not come across as a vulgar punk.
too many belts. when there were only two, or even three and the best fought the best, people KNEW who the champ was.
the AVERAGE news once covered the fights. that helped, ALOT! only the sports channels cover them, and only in the scroll on the bottom. unless there is a scandal of course.

 

For it to be popular like in the 90s again there needs to be multiple top American heavyweights again like in the 90s

 

I think it depends on whether there is a dominant champion or not.
If there is a dominant champion, they would gain fans and other fighters in the division would possibly be built up to create interest.
I don't think it is difficult to build interest and perceptions. The super 6 did it well imo.

 

Its a double edged sword I think because all the can crushing kept him in relative obscurity, but then on the other hand it probably stopped him from getting exposed much earlier too. It felt like he started to finally get more attention after the first Ortiz fight but then not long after that the Fury saga began and ruined him forever. In a parallel world where he beats Wlad, beats AJ, beats Fury etc he absolutely becomes a big star.

 

Wilder-Fury 2 was a huge fight.

If Wilder had won, I think he could have become a national star.

 

Ive felt this way for a loooong time. When Wilder was coming up I was certain he had a chance (not a guarantee) to break through the ceiling to become a cross over star if things went right. American, Olympian, huge right hand who goes for the KO, and (as recently tested) pretty tough. He was raw but I thought if someone like Steward could get a hold of him he had the upside. Turns out he never really progressed like I thought, and he did break through a bit more recently, but not at the level I feel he could have. Still made millions and won a title and held on to it for a while despite that.

 

Agreed. I really liked DW when he first made it to the scene. After that....just got harder and harder to root for the guy.

 

Yeah.

A new Mike Tyson will come along eventually and all the UFC casuals will pivot and become boxing casuals again.

 

Arum strongly believes in Anderson and he is doing everything to make him improve just enough for have a major chance probably against Wilder or a big name within the next year.

 

Lol.......not a single person you mentioned was a heavyweight.........

You should read the title again.

 

I was trying to read through this thread but don't think I seen anyone point out the obvious that has effected American Heavyweights more than anything......

And that is the contracts that are offered to NBA/NFL players today vs what was offered to them 30-40 years ago.

You have NFL/NBA players making $6M-$45M.....hell I believe the minimum for an NBA rookie is just above $900K.....there are a lot of boxers and even some world champs who haven't been able to take home $1M in a single purse.

If I am a 6'4 athlete. 230 lbs.....why would I decide to go into boxing when it could take me maybe 15-20 fights over the course of maybe 7 years before I can get a guaranteed purse of over $1M when by the time I'm 23 I could sign a multi-million dollar NFL contract. Hell the San Antonio Spurs signed Josh Primo who just turned 19 last month. He is making just under $4M a year and he's playing half of his games in the G-League. It's not hard to understand that a decent to great athlete would love to make money for their ability with less risk of his health and life being on the line the moment he competes. And making more $$ for doing so.

 

I think you're right, deep down boxing and casual boxing fans knew he was only really KO'ing scrubs and subsequently didn't really get behind him.

 

Sadly boxing as a whole will not regain its popularity until something is done to stop the obvious corruption tarnishing it. Yes I know there has always been corruption, but today its done so blatantly & nothing is being done about it. A judge or referee can turn in a blatantly biased performance yet theyre still there officiating
For example Adelaide Byrds ludicrous 118-110 card A member of this forum spoke to Bob Bennett NSAC chief apparently & asked if anything was being done? All he did was laugh & say " No, Adelaide is one of my best judges she just had a bad day I guess". One boxer can practically get away with murder & they'll still say he didn't do anything wrong. Another will be punished because the commission THINKS he may have loaded his gloves for fights although they did not have any proof he did. They took away his licence to box for 21/2 years, destroyed his career & tarnished his good name based on a LIE!!!!!!!
The casuals no longer look at boxing as a combat sport they rate it on a per with the WWE wrestling which is classed as ENTERTAINMENT!!

 

As a life long boxing fan and with interest in the history of our sport, i hate to say but the holders of the heavyweight title in recent history have often not held Rocky Marcianos view of the title:
"What could be better than walking down any street in any city and knowing you're the heavyweight champion of the world?",

If the champions themselves do not value the title beyond all else then why should the general public?

Now a old timer, but in my youth i honestly would have rated becoming the heavyweight champion beyond anything (ok only weighing 154 pounds at the time might have hindered that dream somewhat), but the holder of that belt sure was held in high regard, alas fact is that less so in present society.

All the above aside, enjoy the fights we have today because tomorrow they will be part of boxing history.

 

I'm not saying he will, but, if someone like Jared Anderson, developed at least a somewhat likeable persona, continued his winning ways, and stormed through the Heavyweight Division all the way to winning the Lineal Heavyweight title, I think the popularity of Heavyweight Boxing in the United States would rise quickly. Failing something like that happening, I doubt if we'll see the old popularity come back for quite a while in the USA.