Everyone can agree that boxing is not the same as it was before. These days, there is not that many marketable fighters that can take boxing to the next level. I spoke with a friend with a mine who is a casual sports fan and he couldn't name any active boxers beside de la hoya. Tito Ortiz recently was on the Howard Stern Show and he said that UFC is better and more exciting than boxing and UFC can take over and that his fight with Chuck Liddell is anticipated to sell 1.5 million buys. He also said that he went to the mayweather/baldomir fight and he was bored as hell. He also said he could take out Tyson and Lewis within seconds. With that mind, what is the current state of boxing? is it dying? if it is, who can be the savior that can bring boxing back to mainstream?
Never
I think that boxing is in a lull, I do not think it is dying. Right now things are poised to get great again. There are tons of great new fighters, and Valuev will need to be slain. Movies like Cindarella Man, Million Dollar Baby, and now Rocky Balboa are helping create more interest. The Contender is helping so much. I think even MMA is helping, because it gets people interested in combat sports in general. Tito Ortiz is a wanker, he doesnt know shit. He would get fucked up if he stepped into a ring with those guys.
People in america dont know what MMA is they only know it by UFC!
tell them you like mixed martial arts and they say huh? and then go you know ufc fights ultimate fighting...and they suddenly say oh ya i like that too.
boxing is hanging on a hair and its hibernating the heavyweights is dead.
If anyone says "boxing is dead" one more time I'll reek havoc up in this bitch and start shooting motha fuckas at will.
Yes, fuck the UFC.
The UFC isn't even as good as Pride.. Why am I even hearing about the UFC?
Boxing is the greatest sport in the world. PERIOD.
The UFC is bringing in it's own fans, new fans.
You know; the Nascar, Kerri Underwood types.. They are the strongest contingent. And they also represent the power brokers "Red Donkey" squad.
Rupert Murdoch loves UFC!
The boxing aesthetic of non-White fighters is displeasing to the cultural movement in the US in favor of the government and media endorsed alleged "Brainwashing in the Anglo American Tradition." This is an actual term..
I personally think it's important to our "freedom" that we watch UFC..
You see; The UFC is primarily comprised of White fighters, and the boxing world comprised predomintely of non-White fighters..
Media concious marketing concious people can match this simple dynamic with everything succesful in entertainment, sports, and advertising in the current marketplace. (Get Er Done, anyone?..)
The NBA and media is grandstanding every girlie windmill puch thrown on the basketball court. Meanwhile Eric Lindros and Tie Domie's eBay collection of excerpted fights is selling pretty decent these days. Real father son material..
The rules are different unfortunately. Just watch Fox News. They have at least one attack on the Minority scourge every few minutes..
Politics.
guys its true...boxing is dying its hanging on its last breath basically.
you know how i know its dying and you best be reading this with open eyes and have a open mind because denial is the worst will you accept the takeover of mma?
Boxing isn't dying. MMA is doing well. That doesn't mean boxing is dying.
Oscar/Mayweather will do in the region of one million buys. Ortiz/Liddell 2 will also do in the region of a million buys. There is no takeover. Both sports can exist together quite happily.
Boxing is just "dying" in the US
the sport is HUGE in Mexico. Its HUGE in germany and other parts of russia. Its HUGE In the philapins and certains parts of asia.
there just isnt this STAR that americans can love yet. Once another TYSON comes around, but a more respectable guy that isnt going to be a laughin stock, then boxing will quickly rise back up.
In order 2 stay up though, we need multiple tysons comin up at the same time, and we need them to fight eachother. Its all luck, but itll prolly happen with a decade or some at most
guys its true...boxing is dying its hanging on its last breath basically.
you know how i know its dying and you best be reading this with open eyes and have a open mind because denial is the worst will you accept the takeover of mma?
signs.
Gary shaw already established his mma show on showtime! it starts feb 10 on showtime he signed gracie and frank shamrock fight.
http://www.sherdog.com/_images/pictures/39/39044.jpg
also andre berto the boxers brother is signed to fight on the show he does mma.
also don king and gary shaw look to do business together for showtime mma.
Also UFC struck a Deal with HBO! good buy hbo boxing....HBO is not cashing in on the new IT SPORT!
even boxing fan mario lopez jumped ship he is doing commentary for mma on showtime
http://www.sherdog.com/_images/pictures/39/39050.jpg
Boxing just needs to be seen more on cable TV. A deal with one of the main stations would do wonders for them. Even a couple promos on ESPN every now and then. They dont try hard enough to appeal to the casual viewer. Pacman should already be a huge star here among all fans, but hes still unknown to the casual fans.
Boxing will die a slow painful death if they keep making shit fights like Calzaghe/Manfredo and Taylor/Mora which is not set but a maybe..........When real fights like Calzaghe/Kessler or Taylor/Wright II or Taylor/Miranda could be happening.
Super Lightweight is right. Hispanics love boxing and as long as they don't abandon the sport it's not going anywhere. I was at a boxing event in South Texas two weeks ago. Just mostly guys with less then 10 fights yet that place filled to capacity and had alot of people still in line.
As for someone laughing at BJJ purple belt, that is considered very knowledgable in BJJ. Most have between 3-7 years of BJJ at that point. It is not uncommon for a purple belt to be an instructor as it usually takes 10+ years to get a BJJ black belt.
boxing PPV i think is more expensive than UFC.
each one has its one fan base but Boxing is unlike UFC that must be phyically alot.
Mayweather is going up in wieght and try to use only his boxing ability. in UFC there is a UFC ability for somebody who wan to demo the techin is good because there are many.
The point is that i think they gave tito the fight because he is one of their star fighters
The UFC don't appoint the judges. The Nevada state athletic commission do. When they hold cards outside of Nevada then the judges are appointed by the relevant athletic commission. Dana White has no control over the decisions. He's not hand picking the judges and telling them how to score the fights.
Tito/Forrest was a close fight. I thought that Tito won it. I haven't seen the fight in a while, but when I watched it I thought that Tito edged it.
boxing isnt going anywhere. UFC is just a fad. I do like it but as ppl have said before boxing is a gentlemens sport and thatll never change. It may look like boxing is dying but come on now, boxing has been around since about 688bc, boxing as we know it now has been around since 1892.
tho i like UFC I have to admit that it is rare to find an exciting match. the other day i was watching a fight with tito ortiz vs forrest griffin. I honestly thought forrest should have won that fight. i have nothing against tito and he dominated forrest the first round. second he couldnt take forrest down for shit and forrest was just nailing him. third samething but tito got the takedown once in the last seconds of the fight. The point is that i think they gave tito the fight because he is one of their star fighters. for him to lose to someone like forrest would be devastating.
Everyone can agree that boxing is not the same as it was before. These days, there is not that many marketable fighters that can take boxing to the next level. I spoke with a friend with a mine who is a casual sports fan and he couldn't name any active boxers beside de la hoya. Tito Ortiz recently was on the Howard Stern Show and he said that UFC is better and more exciting than boxing and UFC can take over and that his fight with Chuck Liddell is anticipated to sell 1.5 million buys. He also said that he went to the mayweather/baldomir fight and he was bored as hell. He also said he could take out Tyson and Lewis within seconds. With that mind, what is the current state of boxing? is it dying? if it is, who can be the savior that can bring boxing back to mainstream?
HECTARIs ALT??????????????
Boxing had a very good year in 2006. If you look at the numbers boxing is far from dead. The UFC had a great year, but so did boxing. The world is bigger enough for boxing and MMA to exist together.
Does boxing have problems? Yes. Those problems aren't related to MMA though. Even those problems aren't in danger of killing boxing in the foreseeable future. For all that is currently wrong with boxing there are still a lot of people getting very rich off it.
Once Oscar is gone there aren't any fighters who are similar level draws. One will come along though. Who it'll be I have no idea. Sooner or later there will be someone though. It might take a while but someone will come along. Also, while Oscar is the only guy who can be counted on to do in the region of a million buys it's hardly like everyone else's PPVs are losing money hand over fist.
I don't think boxing will ever again hold the place in our culture it once did in decades past. That's something we will have to adjust to. That isn't death though. It's not due to MMA either.
Boxing and MMA fans can argue all they want about who's more famous Liddell or Oscar. I would guess though that there are millions and millions of people who have no idea who either is. Combat sports, on the whole, are somewhat of a niche market.
Put it this way. The third Pacman/Morrales fight did 350,000 buys. On the same night the UFC had a card where Matt Hughes took on GSP for the second time. I'm not sure what the UFC PPV did. Hughes last fight with BJ Penn did 700,000 buys. Given that fact I'll take a conservative guess and assume the UFC did 500,000. It's possible the UFC did more as Hughes/GSP was on of their big fights, but for the sake of this point I'll assume that they did 500,000.
That gives us, 850,000 buys for combat sports on that night. Some people order PPV's by themselves. Other people get together with their friends. Let assume that on average for every PPV buy there are three people are watching. That gives us, roughly, 2.6 million people watching some kind of combat sport on that night.
The third series of “The OC.” got on average 5.6 million viewers a week.
How many viewers did “Friends” used to get every week?
Liddell does actually have a purple belt. Really, he's a purple belt under John Lewis. I don't mean to assert that he will be winning the black belt division of the Mundials any time soon, but he does have a grounding in BJJ.
Yes, his takedown defense has been tested. Look up at the guys he faced. Take Randy Couture for instance. Couture was a stud. I mean an absolute stud in wrestling. He was a three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association D-I All-American, a two-time NCAA finalist and made three Olympic teams as an alternate. He's one of the best wrestlers, credentials wise, to regularly compete in MMA.
Couture was a fantastic humper- I mean, wrestler.
Too bad his chin was swarvoski crystal..