Did Don King send boxing into obscurity??

Yeah the promoters seem to think to short term imo, they should show there young fighters on free TV right up until there first couple of title fights then put them on HBO or PPV (not that i like PPV) that way they would have showcased there ability's to a wide audience and will give them a much bigger fan base before they put them on stuff like HBO. Great thinking!

PAY TV may have outbid the free networks, but it STILL killed boxing. Free to air may not have payed as much in the short term, but in the long term free to air would have kept boxing BIG. Your "closed circuit" analogy is irrelevant BTW. Yeah the promoters seem to think to short term imo, they should show there young fighters on free TV right up until there first couple of title fights then put them on HBO or PPV (not that i like PPV) that way they would have showcased there ability's to a wide audience and will give them a much bigger fan base before they put them on stuff like HBO.

PPV is really nothing more than an in-home alternative to closed circuit. They HAD ppv back in the day. It was called closed circuit, and the difference was you had to go to an arena or a theater to watch it. Now you can watch it from your couch. They still do closed circuit, but mainly now its only in the city where the fight is, if the fight itself is sold out.... And boxing didnt leave broadcast tv, broadcast tv left boxing. Where advertisers go, so goes the networks. And the advertisers left boxing. HBO maybe is partly to blame for that. As HBO outbid networks for the better fights, and those better fights went to HBO, the networks were left with ESPN quality fights (or worse), and alot of the advertisers tuned out...... PAY TV may have outbid the free networks, but it STILL killed boxing. Free to air may not have payed as much in the short term, but in the long term free to air would have kept boxing BIG. Your "closed circuit" analogy is irrelevant BTW.

I've also thought about this a great deal, and the above rings true, but even with the current premium model, boxing never had to leave TV. For example, HBO could throw the networks a bone and soft sell off a couple of their WCB main events a few times a year in a trade for ad space. A biggish fight with good promotion on primetime would increase PPV potential imho and give a channel like NBC ridiculous ratings for the night. Add the free pub and I don't see how the cable networks could lose. I continue to scratch my head at why this isn't done. Yeah back in the 50's you had stuff like teleprompter that showed all the big title fights and you would have to go to a cinema to see it, obviously lack of boxing broadcasts on normal TV wont help, when boxing returned to free TV in the UK in got a big boost, no one had heard of Joe Calzaghe in this country until he was on ITV.

PPV is really nothing more than an in-home alternative to closed circuit. They HAD ppv back in the day. It was called closed circuit, and the difference was you had to go to an arena or a theater to watch it. Now you can watch it from your couch. They still do closed circuit, but mainly now its only in the city where the fight is, if the fight itself is sold out.... And boxing didnt leave broadcast tv, broadcast tv left boxing. Where advertisers go, so goes the networks. And the advertisers left boxing. HBO maybe is partly to blame for that. As HBO outbid networks for the better fights, and those better fights went to HBO, the networks were left with ESPN quality fights (or worse), and alot of the advertisers tuned out......

your don kings alt? Now that's perposteriously perposterous and fraudulated.

First of all, that is perposteriously falsificated and vindictive of someone on a forum to say. Furthermore, he has helped the sport globaliferate and growify in his many years of hard work and dedication. LOL awesome!

first of all, that is perposteriously falsificated and vindictive of someone on a forum to say. Furthermore, he has helped the sport globaliferate and growify in his many years of hard work and dedication. your don kings alt?

First of all, that is perposteriously falsificated and vindictive of someone on a forum to say. Furthermore, he has helped the sport globaliferate and growify in his many years of hard work and dedication.

Anyone else feel it has altered the sports popularity?

I agree completely. I think it has hurt boxing A LOT.

Just been kicking this around for a minute. Is it possible that Don King contributed to the loss of popularity of boxing I mean seriously he was the first to really start PPV. Though DLH and others followed in his foot steps, it was put on to channels that required premium pay. I mean Golden boy promotions, Arum, did their part to help push it in to obscurity, but I mean back when I was a kid it was on regular channels. Imagine if they would have stuck with regular TV channels(NBC, ABC, and CBS), these boxers would still be making solid money(maybe not $20 Mill a fight) and boxing would still be huge. The popularity of boxing would still be very high because it would get a ton of national exposure. In fact it is feasible that they could make more. If the Seinfield cast could get over 1 Million a performance for a consistent amount of time imagine what 20 million people watching could produce a ton of money, Superbowl worthy popularity really. Seriously MMA only has gotten bigger at it's accelerated pace due to exposure. Boxing has what ESPN, FSN, HBO, and Showtime. Most people won't pay for HBO or Showtime and those are where the better matches are. But if every other Saturday it was on ABC, NBC, or CBS people would definitely pop in for a watch and the love and popularity for the sport over the years would have continued. Don't know but it seemed like when Boxing started switching over to the "premium" channels is when boxing lost a lot of popularity. There are no exposure to some great fun to watch boxers out there. Just seeing if anyone else thinks that it may have helped boxing if the PPV bs never started. In fact at this point I really truly believe that it would be far more financially enticing at this point if they had fights on those main stations still. I've also thought about this a great deal, and the above rings true, but even with the current premium model, boxing never had to leave TV. For example, HBO could throw the networks a bone and soft sell off a couple of their WCB main events a few times a year in a trade for ad space. A biggish fight with good promotion on primetime would increase PPV potential imho and give a channel like NBC ridiculous ratings for the night. Add the free pub and I don't see how the cable networks could lose. I continue to scratch my head at why this isn't done.