Dont yall think boxing need more stars

Yep, and you'll never see them as long as people are paying PPV prices to see the old guys hogging the limelight to fight like shadows of their former selves.....

well the thing is that people are getting into that ufc stuff...boxing doesnt need more stars all those guys that even step in the ring are warriors and there are stars in boxing its just that not much people are interested in it as much as they use too.

I would like to point out that most people have at least heard of Oscar de la Hoya. Though he's old, he is still an active fighter, and the sports current star. UFC does not have a single fighter of cross over appeal. I've tested this. Ask someone who does not watch any fighting sport- not kickboxing, not boxing, not MMA - some preppy white girl - and some would know who Oscar is. Almost none would say they've heard of Ortiz, or Sherk, or Lidell. He's know to those of us who watch boxing and other combant oriented sports- but despite the growing fans UFC fighters have not broken into the mainstream....not even as it grows. So what about boxing? Well, we do still have Oscar - but before him we only had Tyson, Roy Jones Jr. and maybe Lennox Lewis. Why did these men make it? (Other than being heavyweights). For the most part they had the complete package that current boxers lack. No, I don't mean skill...we have skillful warriors in every division. So what is this total package? Fighting skills AND people skills. They have to be attractive and well spoken. Tyson was a nut job...but people wanted to see what would come out of his mouth- he could speak well. Lewis was decently well spoken...did commercials (even if his commentating makes him look like a verbal retard). Roy Jones Jr. has proven he can make his opinions heard - he worked with HBO on their broadcasting team for awhile. Oscar is the same way...well spoken, good looking. People like him- and then they find out he's a fighter and they go, 'Hey...I want to watch that guy.' Does Manny Pacquiao have that charm? Is he well spoken...no. English is not his native language. Paul Williams? Not really. He's either soft spoken or stutters in his souther drawl. Mayweather? Well...he can speak- but he choses to be an asshole. The boxer needs to not just be able to talk...but do so in a way that their personality shines through and people want to listen. They need to show they're unique and what they say needs to be more than just robotic repition. "I will fight anyone. I am the creme de la creme..." Floyd does stuff like that too much. They need to think on their toes. The sport has athletes. We have good, skillful boxers. What this thread is about is 'boxing superstars'. In other words..people that make the casual fan or person who doesn't care about boxing listen to the words coming out of their mouth...someone who sucks them into a sport they could care less about by being an intriguing character. Is their hope? Well...Hatton is a very likeable guy. If he can pull out some big wins..maybe he could be a bit of a star- but his age is starting to work against him. Vlad Klitschko might be able to do it...he has an accent but he's humble and what he says is insightful- we'd just have to hear from him more. I don't know...you guys have to think of someone who is a lethal combination of skill and personality. The sport is not lacking talent or excitement...it's just lacking guys who can sit on Lettermen and be interviewed on mainstream news programs and make people want to watch them fight. Who look good, speak well, and seem interesting. Oscar does it...the others I mentioned had that ability. That's all the sport needs, really. It just needs to come before no one cares about boxers at all.

I would say yes, and the proof is that it has been years since boxers have been on the cover of mainstream magazines like Sports Illustrated. I am not sure who was the last boxer to garner such attention?

fully agree with this , the money needs to mean less than the sport does to at least build up stars the public can identify with , making for bigger pay days later on , the public cant wait on another tyson to up and happen , you need to make it catch their attention and then the stars will build themselves , us or international

Let's face it. Boxing has been unpopular for a few years now (In the US) and it's basically on the verge of becoming irrelevant. A lack of stars is part of the problem, but it's only a small part. The biggest obstacle to boxing's growth in the US, in my opinion, is the fact that nobody is going to become a boxing fan by accident. What I mean by that is nobody is going to be flipping through the channels when they come across a great boxing match, and that's because there are no big matches being broadcasted to the majority of viewers. The best fights being broadcasted on basic cable are ESPN's Friday Night Fights, and I can't really picture someone coming across a FNF fight and saying "Hey, I like this! I'm gonna start to follow this sport". The best thing that could ever happen to boxing would be to get big fights back into the living rooms of the general public. I'm talking about ABC, CBS, NBC etc. I know this is pretty implausible, but can you imagine a superfight being shown for free on NBC? Imagine if Corrales-Castillo I was shown on NBC during primetime instead of on Showtime. That's the only thing that will save boxing in the US in my opinion: big fights getting into the living rooms of Americans without them having to subscribe to premium channels or fork over 50 bucks for PPV. Sorry I got off subject a little bit.

Why is it that everyone keeps claiming that boxing is dead, yet it's a non-issue that ratings are down in every other major sport. Oone of the games from this year's Stanley Cups finals registered (or at least equalled) the lowest prime-time rating in NBC's history. The NHL is affored a much greater budget - and a lucrative network deal - yet consistently produces lower ratings than boxing on any network where the two appear (ESPN, Versus, etc). NBA ratings drop ever year, and can't figure to improve in light of their most recent scandal (refs gambling on, and potentially attempt to fix, games they've officiated). Monday Night Football was a 30+ year tradition, but was shown the exit last year (at least from ABC) due to a steady decline in ratings. Hell, even ratings for American Idol dropped 15% from the previous season. Boxing's fine. It's not the mainstream sport it once was, but other sports are feeling the same and in some cases far worse effects as they are being shown less and less on local networks. And when they crash and burn and are forced to eventually go the PPV route in orde to keep up with absurd salary demands, boxing will still be alive and kicking.

There are GREAT fighters in all weight classes, just not well-known. You LOVE the sport, look for them. Fuck who gets the most attention. The sport isn't dying.. It's just not the popular item it has been. Trust me.. when one fight generates 150 million (a movie pulls in less often times, in a months span), the "game" isn't dying.

The mainstream public needs a few recognizable names to keep a casual interest. Boxing DOES have stars in every weight class. Everyone just hasn't discovered it yet...