Last week an article written with the author basically calling all us fans out to do our part to help shine a light on boxing again. I thought about it and drew the conclusion that the only way boxing is going to change is if we the young generation step in a try to do something about it. I don't have an exact game plan as to how to go about this but I think there are enough people on here with deep knowledge of the sport and enough creativity that we can somehow as a collective figure out a way to make boxing the great sport it used to be. I am proposing that a group be formed consisting of anyone who is seriously interested in trying to do something to bring boxing back to the spot light. We can bounce ideas around and figure out a game plan. I actually wrote the author about it and he sounds on board. Here is the email I sent him.
Dave,
I really enjoyed your article and you did indeed inspire me to figure out a way to actually put Boxing back on the map. I mean really on the map where great fights make more than the ESPN highlight reels every once in a while. The way I see it, being the young generation that we are (I too am 24), as cliche as it is, are the future of everything. When I think about it, I think our generation tends to have a no bullshit attitude when it comes to getting what we want. We go straight for the kill and when one avenue of getting something fails, we don't get discouraged because we know there is another right around the corner to offer what we are looking for. The hard thing is to really try and gather a large group of individuals with the mindset that you and I share to actually make what you are implying happen. Funny thing is I could see an attempt from the youth of today to resurrect a classic sport as a great business venture too. Do you really think protest from Generation Y is going to fuel promoter's who have made already and are set to change things? I think you know better. Boxing is only about money today and they have theirs so what does it matter to them if in 50 years boxing supposedly does die? They won't be around. As far as I'm concerned their are people who follow and there are people who lead. If we the younger generation want to see this sport thrive, then we are the ones who have to do something about it. We have the time, the tools, and the drive to make that happen. The effort to take a far-fetched but totally plausible idea of gathering young boxing fans around the country to make an effort to join in and communicate through the technological resources we have is not only possible, but innovative and lucrative too. I get excited just thinking about the ideas I have of what I would do to really advertise and bring out the best of boxing. Imagine all the minds with the same goal working together. I realize as you read this I probably sound crazy but I'm calling you out in a positive effort to "put your money where your mouth is" and think outside of the box as to how to really make this happen for boxing. The sport truly does transcend itself and can have a positive spin put on it just as easily as people like to slap the negative aspect on it. I'll leave you with your own thoughts.
" Too often in society, youngsters hide in the face of adversity. Less and less people my age want to fight for success. Most want it handed to them. If the going gets tough, many duck for cover. Few fire back and look to barrel through obstacles. Luckily, guys like Kelly Pavlik and Juan Diaz (both in their twenties) exist in the sport of boxing to prove otherwise. Even though we can’t encourage young people to engage in street fights or unnecessary violence, wouldn’t it be nice to show them what heart and determination truly mean?
I may only be 24, but I can tell you that boxing has and will forever be a sport that I support. Honestly, it has just taught me so much. I love my iPod, my Affliction shirts, and Kim Kardashian, but none of these have taught me how to become more of a warrior. None have demonstrated how far hard work, grit, and desire can take you. Similarly, I have gained a much greater sense of entertainment, education, and ecstasy following the sweet science than I ever would if I chose to catch The Hills or Brooke Knows Best."
I'm dead serious about this too guys so for all the people who are going be pessimistic and shit on this thread I'm not looking for you. If anyone on here is interested please post in the thread or PM me and we can start from there. Thanks in advance everyone.
eeehh. while ufc does have good cards, they've middle of the road cards as well. they don't put much effort in british cards, but there's a fun match or two on them.
exactly, it's just unrealistic to expect greatness every time out for an event. Especially month in, month out. **you might wanna look at the next British UFC card though as that one (89) looks quite good.
and someone wanted Big boxing fights every 2 weeks? You'd run out of big fights half way through the year. think about it .. Pac-Man fights David Diaz, 2 weeks later takes on Nate Campbell, then after that the Marquez-Casamayor winner ... NEXT
and to rounding yeah as the current boxing state is, it'll be very hard for us to do anything, as the Promoter's goals are to build fighters up and put them on PPV.
so just based on that ^ it'll be hard to get to Network TV.
and great idea with the whole boxing/sneaker. dunno how easy it would be to make a hip Boxing idea, but boxing as a sport needs to get more commercial sponsorships to get it's name out there. all they need are the right athletes to promote the sport.
Better PPV's would be one of my requests..
You have a main event thats decent and then bare shit undercard fights
hate to bring up the ufc but those guys put on great matchups from start to finish
we need to follow the example...
eeehh. while ufc does have good cards, they've middle of the road cards as well. they don't put much effort in british cards, but there's a fun match or two on them.
Ok, I LOVE these kinds of threads because us avid followers can always find things we would like to fix and/or change. I say, in all honesty, why not try out a fan pick bout? All the fans vote or cast wishes in some way to decide on which fighter fights another? Think about it... Yes, that could be HUGE! I find myself humored at the 250,000 votes cast for the likes of Hatton or PacMan but you see my point. The die hard fans will go to any lengths to support their man. The casual fan, while small, can feel apart of the action and all the while, the fight we all want to see, as Boof always reminds us that isn't happening lol, CAN HAPPEN.
Ok, that was a little bit of dreaming but come on, that would be awesome. Back to reality. I really don't think we CAN fix boxing. Boxing has turned into, as many others have stated, a millionaire and corporate billionaire backed and driven force resembling a shell of what it was. Kinda like the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc etc. I guess where I'm hung up on, is from another thread where someone said that PacMan was an idiot for not budging on his wants for the ODLH fight to potentially make $15mill and instead be ok with fighting Soto and only - ONLY - making $1.5mill. Need I say more? The greed has always been there and the elite fighters have all received their share of the pie, but man, we sure have gone off the deep end with it ehh?
I wanna see the scoring more efficient - maybe utilize technology and eliminate humans all together? I'm not even talking about how the Olympics does it, which has been covered very well in this thread, I'm talking about REALLY using technology and coming up with a universal scoring system that is "full proof". Kinda like, "How can we be sure Micheal Phelps touched the wall first" scoring system. DEFINITELY one belt per division. It's honestly stupid to have so many. All it does is create easier promotion for the promoters. Nothing more. The PPV's, IMO, are ok when it's fitting but as we all know, how often are the fights living up to what they're billed as? I want to even go one step further and have a ONE promotional company all these crooks like Arum, GB, LDB, etc. ALL answer to and have to make bouts according to a well organized, fan included, pool.
Hey, it doesn't hurt to dream and I think threads like these can only enhance the sport we love and who knows, maybe one day actually make an impact. I'm all for it so sign me up!
1 belt for class would lead to there never being any fights made
every fighter that does not have the belt would be DEMANDING to fight that one person.....and that would never work out in this day and age
I think wbo should be taken out and just leave IBF, WBC, and WBA
many great ideas have already been stated and i'm just gonna go off on a limb for a bit and talk about what boxing can do in terms of getting the younger generation back into it, cus let's face it, you're average american youth today isn't living the same way as an average american youth during the depression era.
anyway, here it goes...
for those of you guys around my age, you'll know that kids and young adults with cash to spend are heavily into streetwear/fashion. whether it be new and exclusive or the old school and retro. this is the era of the hype kids who are dying to have the best gear on the block to show off at the mall. we're talking people who will spend $500-$700 on a deadstock pair of air jordan retro 11's. we're talking guys who will spend that same amount on a new pair of cool grey jordan spiz'ikes that are only available in europe on ebay. the youth of today are spending more on expensive junk than ever before.
boxing, imo, is a sport that CAN take advantage of all those things if it ever gets itself back on network television.
NIKETALK is a huge messageboard that is used by thousands of guys daily to discuss shoes, clothing etc. and guess what, during these olympics there were multiple threads that popped out about boxing - not in the sport forum where the boxing threads are, but in the "jordan brand" forum. these kids were greatly intrigued by the resemblence of team USA's jordan brand jerseys (which many agreed that they'd love to play ball in) and boxing shoes (which resembled the air jordan II's). it may not sound like much, but hell, it got these guys talking.
with the innovation/technology of today, are you gonna tell me that a boxing shoe that is great for the ring CANNOT be made without it having to look like an astronaut shoe, or a canvas styled boot from world war II? hell no. the new nike hyperdunks were released this year (the ones kobe was wearing in that commercial of him "jumping" over an aston martin, as well as worn by practically every team in the oympics) and they are a big hit at the footlockers across the nation. i own a pair and they are so light and comfortable that i'd see no problem with someone running around the ring in them for 10-12 rounds (if the soles were modified for the canvas, obviously) a true boxing shoe that can also look great in basketball shorts and denim jeans while strolling through the mall is very possible.
quickly going back to the rules of boxing, i think it should be made optional that fighters can wear jerseys if they wish (like in the amateurs). the reason being jerseys have such a broad appeal to any type of athlete. these jerseys don't even need to be worn by kids who want to box. kids who play b-ball can rock em. hell, kids can even wear em when going out for a run, ANYTHING. they don't need to be too flashy, nor do they need to have the fighter's name on the back, just something that serves as a rash guard in the fight, but also has a simple, sporty look that can be worn outside. just look at all the "under armour" gear that would-be jocks are wearing these days. boxing trunks/shorts are another thing that can be capitalized on as well using the same method of marketing. a parallel would be those tapout/sprawl board shorts that are worn in mma sparring/grappling but can also be used on the beach or when surfing waves.
i was watching a special during half-time of the team usa vs china basketball game. the commentator said something along the lines that in the business of basketball..."big men don't sell shoes". it's the reason why kobe bryant jerseys sell 6x more than yao ming in his own fucking country! people can't relate too much to a shaq or a yao, the way they can relate to a dwayne wade, or an allen iverson simply due to the size difference. when these kids see smaller sized guys dominating the court, they believe that one day they can do the same since those fellas aren't all that "big" when compared to the other nba giants. BOXING is a sport that is absolutely DOMINATED by amazing athletes that are of average, small, and even tiny stature, men that these young fok can really look up to...
Well there's enough boxers to go around. I'm sure one big fight every two weeks will not warrant one particular boxing more than twice a year.
One big fight every 2 weeks? are you kidding me? hey it would def keep the sport reliant and very much in the public eye. but at the same time pretty much all the big fights could be done in 1 calendar year
and every 2 weeks is kinda excessive, IMO. the UFC does there big events monthly and Boxing the same. they need the time off between fights to heal up. plus consider the factors that go into fights besides the fights themselves: the grueling training camps, making weight, and of course the actual fighting.
fighting more frequently would be appreciated, but every 2 weeks i don't think is very realistic.
and of course there's enough boxers, but what are we talking about, Elite's, journey men, prospects ... the boxing landscape is a pretty wide range. and if the Elite's did get big fights every 2 weeks, that would leave very few time in between to hype and promote the fights
1. Change the amateur boxing system, the Olympics are pretty much the only time you see boxing on free TV so people who watch it probably would leave with a bitter taste in their mouths after watching all that.
2. Get professional boxing back on free TV, boxers need to get that kind of fanbase back, get boxing back on CBS or ABC or whatever network.
3. Have 1 champion per division, even diehard boxing fans get confused with the amount of champions there are per division, imagine the general public's confusion.
4. Maybe add 1 more round to fights to lessen the amount of draws.
I'll think of some more later perhaps.
Boxers fight to infrequently. This is the problem. People loose interest between big fights.
well in all fairness Boxing can be a pretty brutal sport, and they need the time to recover from injuries sustained.
sure they could fight more, but the negatives out weight the positives IMO
as the last thing we'd want to see is a Boxer come into a fight with not healed up injures and re aggravate them worse.
Well there's enough boxers to go around. I'm sure one big fight every two weeks will not warrant one particular boxing more than twice a year.
However, I did not answer the question i.e. what can we do as fans.
Here is what we can do.
We can give our honest analysis of fighters.
Just because you like a particular boxer does not give you the right to overrate, this causes noobs to get their panties all bunched up and then when that fighter looses or does not live up to their expectations, they're gone........
We also need to stop discrediting boxers. They're all good else they won't be where they are today and they can all kick our asses too.
"I'm glad people are still responding to this thread."
I posted 2 consecutive times to keep it alive, I admit it. Had to get it back on page 1.
I'm guilty of bumping it myself.
I'm glad people are still responding to this thread. Again I did create a group for this topic so if you're a solid poster who wants to make positive and constructive contributions as to how we can improve boxing as a whole just PM and I'll add you to the group.
Boxers fight to infrequently. This is the problem. People loose interest between big fights.
well in all fairness Boxing can be a pretty brutal sport, and they need the time to recover from injuries sustained.
sure they could fight more, but the negatives out weight the positives IMO
as the last thing we'd want to see is a Boxer come into a fight with not healed up injures and re aggravate them worse.
We need more Big fights. More big fights. We need a big fight once a fourth-night.
Boxers fight to infrequently. This is the problem. People loose interest between big fights.
UFC PPVs vs boxing
in all fairness it's much EASIER for the UFC to stack cards because it's one big promotion with all the fighters in that respective organization
where boxing has Lou Dibella, Bob Arum, Don King and Golden Boy all competing for TV spots and often with each other.
which can potentially stop a fight from happening all together.
I know the "one title per weight class" is much more ideal in a perfect world, but the way it is now, I don't see how we can get from having the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO to just 1 recongnized belt.
I'd like to see the WBC and WBA join up as with the WBO and IBF
that would make it 2 Alphabet belts per weight division vs 4
of course it's unlikely, but it would give the sport a tad more credibility if the Alphabet Org's could join with each other, rather then compete.
**I've always felt this way about boxing when topics like these come up (and it's a good topic so im not hating) but I just see Boxing as such a hard sport to market IMO since all the mainstream media and ESPN focus on boxing are either 1. the big names. 2. the shit talking and 3. the knockouts
which if you follow boxing, it's about a lot more then that.
and anyway if you disagree with the ** personally look at a sport you don't follow (for me it would be Golf and Hockey) and look why you don't watch it.
mandatory fights, not up to the promoter.
one ring belt for each division.
fighters fight an average once every two months
in a draw situation, go three more rounds.
All fighters get some kind of pension plan for retirement
cut down on ppv fights, show them on regular hbo & showtime
17y ago
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