Why hasn't Lomachenko connected with an audience?

[wlad1111]

He needs to talk more and I guess the Ukrainians don't watch boxing. Thats why Klits went to Germany

Ukrainians watch boxing but we don't buy ppvs at least Ukrainians who live in Ukraine. Ukrainians are just not the fans you can get a lot of money out of, mostly because Ukraine is not exactly the richest country but also because the concept of supporting a fighter financially is a foreign concept to Ukrainians.

[1g5a22]

It took years for Pac to break through big-time..

It takes time to build a name especially if you are non american.

[1g5a22]

There are many underline reasons but the main reason is simply because he does not care about becoming a superstar. Loma wants to be seen as a great boxer not boxings Justin Bieber. Maybe that will change but so far he just wants to fight the best and hope for the best .

Well said.

[KLockard23]

He's had less than 10 pro fights. How much of a connection do people expect him to make in that time?

As great of a fighter he is, I personally don't see any "It" factor in him that will ever make him a huge star, but I'd love to be proven wrong.

[1g5a22]

Walters v Lomachenko (a guy with 7 pro fights & a non American fighting a non american) did 0.761M on HBO World Championship Boxing. In the context of what i just wrote thats not bad when you consider the following too:

2016/01/30: Mikhaylenko-Mayfield 0.701M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/01/30: Kovalev-Pascal 1.179M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/02/27: Verdejo-Silva 0.886M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/02/27: Crawford-Lundy 0.982M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/03/05: Ali-Vargas 0.726M HBO Boxing After Dark
2016/03/05: Ortiz-Thompson 0.740M HBO Boxing After Dark
2016/03/26: Diaz Jr.-Velez 0.756M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/03/26: Ward-Barrera 1.064M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/04/16: Pacquiao-Bradley (PPV replay) 0.750M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/04/23: Gonzalez-Arroyo 1.001M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/04/23: Golovkin-Wade 1.325M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/05/14: Alvarez-Khan (PPV replay) 0.767M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/06/04: Ramirez-Lopez 0.649M HBO Boxing After Dark
2016/06/04: Vargas-Salido 0.833M HBO Boxing After Dark
2016/06/11: Verdejo-Martinez 0.513M HBO Boxing After Dark
2016/06/11: Martinez-Lomachenko 0.585M HBO Boxing After Dark
2016/07/11: Kovalev-Chilemba (tape delay) 0.355M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/07/30: Crawford-Postol (PPV replay) 0.378M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/08/06: Ward-Brand 0.742M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/09/10: Golovkin-Brook 0.843M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/09/10: Kamegai-Soto-Karass 0.667M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/09/10: Gonzalez-Cuadras 0.833M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/09/24: Alvarez-Smith (PPV replay) 0.459M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/11/12: Ortiz-Scott 0.388M HBO Boxing After Dark
2016/11/26: Kovalev-Ward (PPV replay) 0.834M HBO World Championship Boxing
2016/11/26: Lomachenko-Walters 0.761M HBO World Championship Boxing

Lomas done better than Crawford, Kovalev, Alvarez, Ward etc recently..

[deathofaclown]

Boxing is dead.

This is about right, or at least partly the reason. People need to accept that boxing is basically dead within the public consciousness. People just don't care enough. The likes of Lomachenko, Crawford etc. might be excellent fighters but they will only ever be known amongst the type of people that sign up to boxing forums and people who follow the sport quite closely.


At the end of the day, people want more out of their athletes now. We live in a 24/7 world now with the internet and social media. If you want to be a star, you have to play the game and give people something to talk about regularly. A news article these days will be at the bottom of the news feed within a few hours, so if athletes actually want to be recognised and connect with a big audience, they have to find a way to stay in peoples minds and on their news feeds.

Conor McGregor is playing the game extremely well. Floyd knew how to do it too. Manny was probably the last crossover star that the boxing world had that didn't need antics to get there, but even that started before every man and his dog had a Twitter and Instagram and all that.

People expect to be entertained all day on the move, and if fighters can't add something to that and give people a reason to follow them, they will never connect with larger audiences. That's just todays world.

[casheddie]

Ukrainians watch boxing but we don't buy ppvs at least Ukrainians who live in Ukraine. Ukrainians are just not the fans you can get a lot of money out of, mostly because Ukraine is not exactly the richest country but also because the concept of supporting a fighter financially is a foreign concept to Ukrainians.

I understand that fully, but the reason I said that was because the majority of popular fighters are able to capture their country's fans.

ex: Pac, Marquez, DLH, Hatton, Trinidad