Would boxing be more popular if the best fought the best?

Yes, but only in theory.

Boxing casuals are also notorious for labeling a fighter DONE once they lose 1 or 2 fights likes it's "Tyson's Punchout" or something.

 

Yes. UFC has a different business model, though. It's a corporation which has the same business model as the WWE. One promoter and one or two belts (the interim) in the weight classes.

There's a much bigger swimming pool of fighters vs the swimming pool of fighters in the UFC weight classes.

From the fans perspective yes. I think the best should fight the best when they're both seasoned and made a name for themselves.


If boxing had one or two belts per weight class and one promoter then things would be better for the ''fans'' but not for the fighters. If it took a business corporate approach then the fighters would have less haggling opportunities.


UFC is more popular in the states but i don't think the product is better personally. I think it has a lot of circus acts and they blow up the quality of their fighters to something they aren't bar a small few.

 

Boxing is already popular in many countries around the world. UK/Germany/Russia/Japan/Mexico/Argentina and most of the EE block.

If you are talking about the US in specific, you need champs of Caucasian complexion to elevate boxing's popularity. If Klitschkos' father had emigrated to the US in the 70's and named his kids Walter and Wallace; boxing would be 10 times more popular by now. That's how it works over there.

 

Much more, but then it needs to go back to being a sport, as opposed to the entertainment business it has become.

 

Casuals don't ever know more than one or two names, so they have no idea when the best fight the best. For the last ten years, all they've known were Mayweather and Pacquiao. I've tried talking to casuals about Kovalev, Golovkin, Donaire, Martinez, and they won't have it.

On mma sites the ignorance is just as thick. They'll say that there are no big matches anymore and you name four or five that happened last year. They'll say that the best never fight the best, and then you give them a half dozen examples of the best fighting the best recently, but they only meant May/Pac; because they don't know what's going on in boxing.

You could improve the product, but only the base would appreciate it, and promoters already have them no matter what. No, the way you boost awareness of your product is through better advertizing and promotion. Fights need to be made on major network channels in primetime, and you have to run ads constantly to make sure that everyone knows where they can find the fights. The sport would also benefit from having more news coverage, documentaries, and reality tv shows about it.

My thoughts? The thread starter probably knows less about mma than he does about boxing if he thinks that the best fight the best more in mma than in boxing. That's all hype, like a slogan, and you fell for it. Do an ****ysis. Draw up a list side by side of how many times boxers have fought the best opponents, and then draw a line down the middle of the paper and do the same for mma fighters. I guarantee it happens the same or even less frequently in mma. We have twice as many divisions and 7 times as many fighters. If the best fought the best half as often as they do in mma, we'd still have three times as many good fights. Think about it.

You're problem is you don't know when the best are fighting the best because you are ignorant of the majority of the sport. You don't care that Crawford and Postol are fighting this weekend, or that Usyk and Glowacki are fighting, or Gonzalez and Cuadras, or Santa Cruz and Frampton. The casuals didn't care when Donaire fought Rigondeaux or when Gonzalez fought Estrada, when Williams fought Martinez, or when Ward fought Froch. Championship fights happen every week but a casual fan only cares when Mayweather fights Pacquiao. We've got Fury vs Klitschko and Ward vs Kovalev coming up later this year and we just had Thurman vs Porter. For Christ's sake!

 

Yep the best should fight the best, hell the best should want to fight the best. And there's always the next new things coming through and also styles do make fights so a division shouldn't go stale once the best has been established.

I'd take fights marinating and all that nonsense if we got there eventually. But right now we are further away from boxing being one that than ever before.

 

Unfortunately, you are right.

 

It would be better, yes. But you also wouldn't appreciate a super-fight as you do now when you finally get it.

Kind of like how Heffner felt about ****ing Playboy bunnies. It probably wasn't as great to him as it would be to you.

 

At the end of the day, boxing needs a superstar a man who headlines the biggest events, and is great to have many prospects, but they are in development

 

Its not the 80s anymore .

That time has come and gone.

Sad , isn't it ?

 

its called mma. UFC is just an organization like many others. the biggest one indeed but just an organization like WBC/IBF/WBA etc in boxing.

 

I'm the only hardcore boxing fan in my office. There are a number of fight fans here, but we mostly talk about MMA. They know who Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor, Nate Daiz, Rhonda Rousey, Daniel Cromier is, but when we talk about boxing, they only know 2 names...Mayweather and Pacquiao.

I ask them if they know guys like GGG, Kovalev, Crawford and Ward and they give me a blank look. Americans are not into boxing like they used to be. They only remember boxers that started or active in the 90's like DLH, Bowe, Golota, Lewis, and Klitschkos.

Boxing need big fights and exciting fights to get the casuals and non-casuals excited.

 

Mayweather vs.Pacquiao destroyed boxing .

The sport of Boxing lost so many fans after that fight . Its very unfortunate.

Millions of fans were so badly turned off to the point where they pretty much said "F#CK BOXING . WE DONE "

UFC has pretty much taken over nowadays .

I can understand why the UFC is much more appealing today .

The best fights the best . Its no ducking . No excuses . No protecting undefeated records .

Boxing is in desperate need of another Mega fight right now to redeem itself .

We all know the next Mega fight that the world wants to see .

Sadly once again we have another fighter ducking the other in fear of losing .

Behavior like this is going to continue to leave a stain on boxing and continue drive even more fans away .

 

Would it be more popular, yes. Would it a top teir sport where everybody is talking about it and anticipating the next matchups and the like, no.

It would take all of the independent contractors, networks, promoters, belts in the sport to get together to create some type of worldwide pro boxing umbrella that can market as one company. People, the world over demand to be marketed to, to really get their money, and especially in the US.

Let's say, all the Heavyweights (since that what I pay attention to the most) started fighting each other. Those fights to determine the heavyweight champion would be overlooked as it stands now. People would find out about them after the fact and if they are great fights then people might start paying attention but not before. They would miss the first "mega" fight but might be there for the sequel. That's how things stand now. With a marketing company that promotes Boxing, that would change and everybody would know about it, and the sport could grow.

PPV cashes in on an already built up audience but the sport has squeezed every ounce of blood to the point that Boxing is lacking in actual fans in the US.

Far as needing a new great White American hype, I wish there was a 6'6 Tommy Morrison type (with a better chin), athletic and fast like Gronk who could hit like a Mack truck in the mix at heavyweight but can't always get what you ask for.