This is why boxing is in trouble

guru17y ago

For the third year in a row, boxing only has two PPV events in the top ten bought PPV's for the year. MMA(UFC) had 7 out of the 10 and the WWE had one, wrestlemania. The two fights for boxing were oscar/pac and tito/RJ. Three out of four those guys will retiring soon if not already retired. When Oscar retires, there will be a HUGE dropoff cause nobody (not floyd, pac or hatton) can draw PPV buys like oscar. I dont think boxing will die, but IT IS dwindling and will be in serious trouble when oscar bids farewell. The problems as I see it are: - lack of exposure for up and coming fighters and boxing in general. back in the day you had boxing on USA tuesday night fights, ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC. Today its still on ESPN but also on other networks that alot of people dont see like Versus, Fox sports, etc. - top fighters "ducking" each other. i'm not gonna mention names cause I dont wanna turn this thread into a nuthugger/hater fight, but some of the top fighters are avoiding their biggest threats to take on easier opponents. Lack of fights that people want to see and are willing to buy on PPV is one cause of the poor buyrates. - the fans themselves. The UFC turned the corner with their hit reality show The Ultimate Fighter. It got big ratings and drew millions of new fans to the UFC . When Boxing got the Contender on NBC, boxing fans and writers bitched and moaned and didnt support it. Although it made stars out of Mora, Manfredo and Gomez, the lack of support form boxing fans made it go from a MAJOR network(NBC) to ESPN and now Versus, where even less people can watch it. Has there been ANY boxing on a major network since? http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=AvEyepm1T5qEFylsifdy3xQ9Eo14?slug=dm-ppvbuys121208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Comments (20)

KakutogiGumi

The reason Wrestlemania is there is because of Mayweather vs Big Show umm.......no. It was Ric Flair's retirement match.

17y ago

Hagler9733

The reason Wrestlemania is there is because of Mayweather vs Big Show

17y ago

guru

What exactly do you mean, 'in trouble'? Specifically. What bad thing is gonna' happen? We won't be able to see it? It will become outlawed? What? Nobody's gonna fight anymore? It won't be on TV anymore? No more fights at the casinos? What? Please share with us your epiphany. What is it that you prophesy? Frickin' drama queens... :pat: boxing will not die, but here in the U.S. boxing is dwindling, it's fanbase shrinking, its getting less and less tv time, while MMA gets more..... 15 years ago boxing was on every major network (ABC, NBC, CBS) and USA, today its on none of them... but CBS and NBC do have MMA as does HDnet, VS, Fox and of course ****e which is like a UFC channel.... now for the third year in a row the UFC dominates the top 10 PPV's and they still have one BIG card left fro the year... if thats not evidence that boxing is becoming less popular, I dont know what is...

17y ago

guru

any way to give this thread red K? Boxing has been dying for ever its been said, so why is it still around? i agree, i dont think boxing will die, go back and read my original post...

17y ago

Cadillac_Man

Bottom line if u think Boxing is dead,dying or fading UR A CLOWN. Have u ever heard the phrase "History repeats itself" From Johnson to Dempsey to Louis to Marciano,Ali, To Leonard,Tyson To DLH do u see the pattern there? After every big star retires Boxing is put on it's death bed but then another star comes along and the cycle continues Boxing will be just fine history proves it will!

17y ago

Mr_Philadel

Boxing will NEVER die!!! If guys like Joe Calzaghe and Floyd Mayweather Jr. weren't so much in love with being recognized as UNDEFEATED fighters then we could see more hot fights.....those 2 guys play politics with opponents :lol1:....you have to earn the RIGHT to fight these dudes which I think is BS! Props to Cottomite, Pacman, P-Will, Is Real Vaz, and his dance partner Ra Marquez for not being afraid to step up and FIGHT who ever WE the FANS wanna see them fight!

17y ago

Doc_Holliday

There was no star after marciano left...Then the greatest Era came... There was no star after Ali left.... Then 4 kings era filled the void... The 4 kings dwindled out and left... Then The Baddest Man took the throne.. The Baddest man was humbled... And then the golden age started.... The golden age has just freshly ended..... All these Era's Brought about the highest paydays of their time and then were surpassed by the following KING... Your Tellin me you believe its really done right there? Great post.

17y ago

Vasyls_dad

Its true what rocky is saying about boxing. For the hard core fans you can look beyond race and see a great boxer and just follow their career. But think back to when you first started watching boxing you found a fighter that on some level you could relate to and moved on from there. For me it was James toney he looked like me, he talked like people i knew, he was cocky and i loved it. Im a 24 year old black man and the one thing i have learned from my years on this planet is that if white people like it then it will be successful. So i see the point rocky is making. There needs to be something for young white men to relate to in boxing. Thats mma's appeal. many of the young up and comers are coming from the same communities where the guys who follow it live. MMA doesnt need to have a white fighter at the top to prove Rocky's point. As long as there is a chance that they guy they are following can possibly reach that spot there is always "hope". Boxing doesnt have that right now. It doesnt have a crop of young white fighters to follow. Cause i think to myself if i was white and was just starting to pay attention to boxing who would i follow? what fighter right now would be the one to draw me to the sport? If i wasnt a fan of kelly pavlik, what fighter out there would i look at and say wow he looks like me and talks like me.... Its 2008, not 1950. The spending power of minorities in todays society in the united states is more than enough to keep the sport afloat in this country.

17y ago

Vasyls_dad

17y ago

Motofan

How many MMA PPV's are put on a year? Most of the fights? How many Boxing matches are on PPV? Not many. With Showtime and HBO we have more fights then just PPV's. If you consider that, PPV doesnt mean nearly as much.

17y ago

KakutogiGumi

ufc is a fad, give it a year or two... As long as there is a grappling culture, this statement will always ring false.

17y ago

Vasyls_dad

any way to give this thread red K? Boxing has been dying for ever its been said, so why is it still around?

17y ago

lefthook2daliva

17y ago

Pullcounter7451

if white people like it then it will be successful. . LOL... but boxing can't let white people win just cause their white... its a no win situation.

17y ago

RapidFire_Royce

17y ago

KakutogiGumi

ok... why wasn't he knocked out by a KICK... Wasn't that a PUNCH? actually a 1-2... and wasn't this guy sorta moving around like mayweather taking pot shots until he could land one Big punch... What happened to the kicks right there? Strategy. Liddell fustrates easy when you're not on offense. Fustration breeds mistakes.

17y ago

DA1CATAS

p4p best mma fighter in the planet: Anderson Silva, very black. Liddell's last fight: ok... why wasn't he knocked out by a KICK... Wasn't that a PUNCH? actually a 1-2... and wasn't this guy sorta moving around like mayweather taking pot shots until he could land one Big punch... What happened to the kicks right there?

17y ago

Allucard

What boxing needs is more white american boxers, like pavlik then the white youth would get more interested in it again, people need fighters they can relate to, and in boxing espcially america the majorty of american boxers are black hispanic mixed race etc, theirs hardly any white elite guys, you look at ufc and theirs white americans from every part of the us fighting, they can relate to guys like liddel etc p4p best mma fighter in the planet: Anderson Silva, very black. Liddell's last fight:

17y ago

KakutogiGumi

If MMA is so succesful why does every company that is not UFC go out of business. UFC is succesful but that is a promotional outfit like Golden Boy or Top Rank. Because those groups lack patience and passion. When they do their first show, they expect everything to pop off. Then, when they start losing money, they panic. They got to keep at it to produce the results they need. Except ELITEXC. They can go f.uck themselves.

17y ago

LEFTYGUNZZ

it is doing relatively well in europe, it has certainly been almost rejuvinated in the uk the attention towards boxing had slowly drifted away with the demise of naseem hamed, however personalities such as calzaghe,hatton and haye are keeping the interest from mainstream audiences.The klitchsko's,and other eastern european boxers are generating alot of interest in their respectivve regions!! it also begginning to pick up in other countries such as India where boxing is starting to generate interest amongst the youths who are getting involved as they have a few boxer who fought in the olympics and now proffesional ranks!!! The reason it has dwindles is because that in America the top fighters dont seem to fight each other as they used to- and for a long spell in boxing america hasnt produced a top heavyweight contender!! in addition to this boxing has become too much of a de facto sport, where boxers move up and down at will-the belts have lost all meaning and credibility!!! True belts mean nothing and it has more to do with so many alphabet belts being out there. it used to mean alot to be world champion but now eferyone I see has a belt. Every fight is 12 rounds. I mean Oscar vs Pac was 12 rounds what belt was that for??? Hopkins beat Pavlik but he kept his belts. Even when pavlik fought Taylor the second time it was for his titles. You have to limit the Governing bodies down to like 3 or 4 and make it mandatory for title holders to try to unify the belts. I dunno just running off at the mouth but going up in weight takes away from seeing sometimes good fights but can you argue when there is more money to be had at a higher weight class????....Lefty

17y ago