Boxing is dying...no it's already dead

[LEFTYGUNZZ]

I agree with the statement to a certain degree. BOXING is DEAD or NEAR DEAD!!! The issues is and always was once the players get bigger then the sport then the player comes first. This ruins any sport or the integrity of it. People want to see the best match ups but like in baseball when one owner is buying up all the best players it is hard to pit the best against the best when they all play for the same team right?

When it comes to boxing we need to see the best fighters against the best fighters but.... in an ERA where you lose one and your done or if your PPV numbers aren't here I can't fight you..... it takes away from the integrity of the sport. What makes people interested in MMA or other fighting sports is the fact they put the best against the best and no one fighter is bigger then the sport. We have been waiting to see Floyd Mayweather vs Pacquiao since 2009, nearly 5 plus years now!!! When is the last time you can think of any 2 fighters in or near their prime going head to head?

The fact that the fight not only was what everyone wanted to see but was exactly what the sport needed, made sense and also btw the FIGHT MADE MONEY and what.... it didn't happen. The last time I can remember myself getting excited about a heavy weight fight was when SAM PETER was looking to fight Wlad, instead Vitali came out of retirement and beat Peter. I can go on and on about fight that would have made boxing breath again but never happened.

The best thing that happened to boxing in the past 10 years was the Super 6 tournament. It pitted the best 168lbs fighters in the world against one another. It brought us a shining star in Andre Ward and some great fights. Boxing is not DEAD gentlemen it has some air in it lungs it just needs the best in the sport to give back to the sport that made them who they are.

[AngelOfWallSt]

Don't worry about the sport. 2015 will be a Great year, & we're already stacked with good matches between now & March. Big announcements coming as well. 2014 was indeed a down year, but Bet on Boxing to be Bullish throughout 2015

[thebigkabosh]

So: "boxing is dying" because of Klitschko?...

The sport is as only as strong as its marquee division. The decline started when the big slow robots(Lewis and the Klitschkos) took control over the division. Their boring monotonous style of jab,jab grab,right, jab neither inspire nor excite the masses to pay attention to boxing. The division(and the sport) needs another young, fast dynamic superstar like an Ali or Tyson to bring boxing back to the mainstream. Unfortunately the next Ali or Tyson is on the gridiron or a basketball court.

[jas]

You turned out to be wrong

Great fights on NBC

Wilder stiverne was huge fight and entertaining

[brettWall]

Boxing is not dead, but it's given piecemeal. And fans are treated as if they have nine lives to live. And there are no guarantees that fighter A will fight fighter B, chances are, they never will, but fans delude themselves into thinking they will eventually.

[Elroy1]

I hear people say that the American HW scene is dead because all the talent is going to NBA or NFL.

What proof is there that the skills required for basketball or football would translate well into boxing?

Basketball players are tall, have long reaches, and a lot of fast-twitch muscle fibers, but as we all know, it takes more than that to be good at boxing. There's no way to tell if basketball players can take a punch.

Football players can take hard blows. But getting tackled while wearing a helmet and protective gear isn't the same as getting punched in the face without headgear. Yes, football players are strong, but once again, it takes more than strength to be a good boxer. Strength doesn't translate into punching power.

For once, I completely agree with you VG.

Length is a virtue when you are skilled.

Strength is a virtue in the clinch.

Guys coming from basketball or football do not have the pedigree of real boxers. Grant, Rahman, Mitchell, Norton, Puritty and now Wilder. Even if they make it to the top, they always get exposed.

They don't have an instinctive boxing brain.

And they don't have a lifetime worth of skills development and specific conditioning.

And they are always more stiff, less fluid than genuine boxers.

US propaganda, part of the 3 way hedging there bets to promote their superiority in a sport they have all but been booted out of.

[thebigkabosh]

For once, I completely agree with you VG.

Length is a virtue when you are skilled.

Strength is a virtue in the clinch.

Guys coming from basketball or football do not have the pedigree of real boxers. Grant, Rahman, Mitchell, Norton, Puritty and now Wilder. Even if they make it to the top, they always get exposed.

They don't have an instinctive boxing brain.

And they don't have a lifetime worth of skills development and specific conditioning.

And they are always more stiff, less fluid than genuine boxers.

US propaganda, part of the 3 way hedging there bets to promote their superiority in a sport they have all but been booted out of.

They are the rejects of their sports who were not able to make it so they went into boxing.

Even among that group you mentioned: Purrity and Rahman KO'd Lewis and Klit and they had 0 amatuer exp, Norton is a Hall of famer.
Sanders a failed rugby player and amateur golfer destroyed Grabby in seconds.
Wilder a former basketball player who started boxing at 20 is now a world titleist.

It's absolutely true that the crop of ultra talented Americans have chosen other sports instead of boxing because of the average salaries of those sports exploding coincided with America's boxing talent pool diminishing. What's left are the rejects of these sports and guys with no athletic pedigree taking up boxing.

Do you really think the elite of elite in a sport like football or basketball that require abnormal explosiveness, power,stamina, refined motor control etc would not make good boxers? Those same attributes are needed to excel in boxing.

[Elroy1]

They are the rejects of their sports who were not able to make it so they went into boxing.

Even among that group you mentioned: Purrity and Rahman KO'd Lewis and Klit and they had 0 amatuer exp, Norton is a Hall of famer.
Sanders a failed rugby player and amateur golfer destroyed Grabby in seconds.
Wilder a former basketball player who started boxing at 20 is now a world titleist.

It's absolutely true that the crop of ultra talented Americans have chosen other sports instead of boxing because of the average salaries of those sports exploding coincided with America's boxing talent pool diminishing. What's left are the rejects of these sports and guys with no athletic pedigree taking up boxing.

Do you really think the elite of elite in a sport like football or basketball that require abnormal explosiveness, power,stamina, refined motor control etc would not make good boxers? Those same attributes are needed to excel in boxing.

Ok.. It's kind of like this...

I'm not implying that these guys couldn't. It's been done before by aforementioned boxers of course.

But OVERALL, it is better to be a pedigreed boxer from the start, than to be a cross over late starter.. OBVIOUSLY! If you box your whole life, you will be better at boxing than someone who played a different sport and then switched later on!

And the proof is in the pudding!

Kenny Norton- HOF is meaningless, that's an American invention. He was a chinless bum buster and cruiser cruncher with no real power. The ONLY reason he is famous is because he wiped the floor with Ali, who was one of the weakest champs with one of the most manufactured careers. And for getting wiped out left and right himself.

Puritty was very tough, possibly the hardest chin of all time and strong. But he was a total bum otherwise! A fluke draw with Morrison and a fluke gassing win over an inexperienced Wlad is his only call to fame.

Rahman was a good fighter, but he was cerebral only. He didn't have a boxing brain, when he was in trouble, he was normally gone.

Sanders is a pedigreed boxer from the start. He happened to play rugby and golf as well which detracts not from his boxing prowess. He was always a boxer.

Even as well as these guys did, they were NEVER able to be dominant, they were always exposed.

That is EXACTLY the reason why America got kicked out of boxing in the first place. The strong amateur programs overseas pumped out elite boxers like an assembly line, trained from birth to fight and disallowed other interests.

You just got weak. And this is your excuse!

[B-Bomber]

Unfortunately the next Ali or Tyson is on the gridiron or a basketball court.

That's an absolutely specious reasoning.

It would work for anything, Indian cricket players, Japanese sumo wrestlers, French cooks and British sailors.


As I have already mentioned, you'd make a better case by saying that the next Ali or Tyson is in jail , for that at least you could use the highest incarceration rate in the world as an excuse. Much more credible.