Why isn't their more fighters in boxing?

great thread and great replies. boxing is very hard and demands more than any other sport by far. I used to play baseball before I started boxing. Baseball wed stretch, run, stretch, play lazy catch, stretch, batting practice, go home and eat a burger and drink soda. you cant do that sh*t for boxing training lol. I heard a line somewhere that I liked, something along the lines of training for boxing is not training to be in shape or be strong, but rather training your body to take torture

Shit, forget about even being an athlete. Why all the blood, sweat and tears when can make that much money working a decent job? There are precious few truly talented athletes in any sport. Everyone else does it for the love of the game, or better be, 'cause making a good living at it is an uphill battle. Even the lowest of the lowest level NBA, MLB, and NFL players make more than like 95% of pro boxers, maybe 99% of pro boxers. I don't know salaries for rugby or football or hockey, but I assume it's mostly the same for them. It is too damn hard to make a living as a professional boxer for any decent athlete to want to do it. Those athletes that are out there will pick those sports before they'll box, unless they were raised around it. The rest will nearly all try other sports and maybe, maybe, decide to give boxing a try.

Health come first so they're into other sports like golf or hockey. They want to be able to spend the rest of their life a healthy man with their family, just look at Ali. hockey is not a good choice if you want long term health

Because everybody wants to be a rapper. Just take a look at your neighborhood. How many people wanna be a Boxer? Now how many people wanna be a Rapper/Singer/Music Star? They also are getting into watchman.

Health come first so they're into other sports like golf or hockey. They want to be able to spend the rest of their life a healthy man with their family, just look at Ali.

Being a skilled professional boxer is very hard. It requires a ton of dedication and hard work. It was rated the hardest sport for a reason. Also you don't make a great income unless you become a damn good fighter to begin with...doesn't start off well. Then you have younger kids who want to take advantage of more accessible sports with a better chance at pay. You have kids who want to get into a good university on scholarship which boxing does not grant. Finding a quality gym to get started in is not easy...and it's a very dedicated sport to be great at. That's the main reasons those two. Talent is hard to come by if there were more talented boxers we would know about them. That's what makes them so special the fact that their so unique and very few people can do what they do. That's why their making millions while everyone else sits around calling them bums and accusing them of ducking. The lack of talent isn't a promoters fault there's just simply not many elite fighters out there. Another thing to add...boxing is an individual sport.....not a team sport. Look at most professional sports....how many GREAT players are there? Not great teams....but great individual players. Great point there's probably like 7 elite QB's in the whole world out of so many candidates in a sport much less complicated to gain exposure. And you can make that point about every sport. Getting started is hard, especially if you're an adult. You must have the will power to work a 9-5 job (with crappy pay) then go in the gym, give it your all, rinse and repeat. Most American boxers these days didn't even choose to box, they didn't go out and actually pursue boxing, find a gym, find a trainer etc. most of their fathers or family were former boxers and that's how they got into the sport. Andre Ward's dad was a boxer, Danny Garcia's dad was a boxer, Mayweather's dad was a boxer, Robert Guerrero's dad, De La Hoya's father, Mikey Garcia's dad, etc. the list goes on and on. Great posts! :headbang: :boxing:

Most people dont like to get hit in the face, bro

Football Basketball MMA And the didication and hard work it takes Along with no team scholarship for college. Its too high a gamble and dangerous for anyone to support you.

Because everybody wants to be a rapper. Just take a look at your neighborhood. How many people wanna be a Boxer? Now how many people wanna be a Rapper/Singer/Music Star?

Another thing to add...boxing is an individual sport.....not a team sport. Look at most professional sports....how many GREAT players are there? Not great teams....but great individual players. This is a great point. When you think out of all the major team sports (or any that involve several athletes) Football, Basketball, Soccer etc...Compared to the amount of teams there are a tiny amount of individual big names. Good point. I would also say the fact that there are TONS of fighters out there, its just that breaking onto the main stage of the sport is extremely hard. Also extremely hard to maintain a name for yourself. Boxing as a sport doesn't get half of the coverage it used too, so that doesn't help up and comers. It seems these days you have to bring a fair but of hype with you, and even then you can only do that if you get given the chances and opportunities. The numbers of those opportunities when compared with the amount of boxers in the world is tiny too. Getting onto the main stage is a hard game in a one man sport.

Only 25000 pro boxers in the whole world? That's bad :(

There's something like 1200 or 1300 professional fighters in each of MW/JMW, 1700+ at LW...etc. I think there's something like 25000 pro boxers all together - a bit short of the peak periods in the great depression and post WWII, but still quite a lot of guys are boxing. The guys we think of as Elite, good or even Journeymen represent the best, the top 1 or 2% of a career which itself takes exceptional dedication and requires unusual physical and mental toughness. It's not that there's 'so few' boxers - it justs that there's 'so few' boxers who ever rise to the relatively elite status of being televised - the guys we see represent the best of the best. For every top 20 fighter, there's 60 or 80 who aren't. Even a fighter we might call average represents someone who's already better than maybe 98% of other guys in a sport considered the hardest in the world...worth remembering next time you get the urge to call a top 10 or 20 boxer a 'bum' or a 'can'. Only 1 in every 250,000 people choose and have what it takes to be a pro boxer, but less than 1 in 100,000,000 is a beltholder. 90% of fans haven't got a clue how difficult it is to become a known name, let alone a household name. It's incredibly difficult to rise to the top of any field. I may not like certain athletes, but I could never deny their achievements.

There's something like 1200 or 1300 professional fighters in each of MW/JMW, 1700+ at LW...etc. I think there's something like 25000 pro boxers all together - a bit short of the peak periods in the great depression and post WWII, but still quite a lot of guys are boxing. The guys we think of as Elite, good or even Journeymen represent the best, the top 1 or 2% of a career which itself takes exceptional dedication and requires unusual physical and mental toughness. It's not that there's 'so few' boxers - it justs that there's 'so few' boxers who ever rise to the relatively elite status of being televised - the guys we see represent the best of the best. For every top 20 fighter, there's 60 or 80 who aren't. Even a fighter we might call average represents someone who's already better than maybe 98% of other guys in a sport considered the hardest in the world...worth remembering next time you get the urge to call a top 10 or 20 boxer a 'bum' or a 'can'. Only 1 in every 250,000 people choose and have what it takes to be a pro boxer, but less than 1 in 100,000,000 is a beltholder. Great comment, agreed!

Because boxing's popularity has gone down the dregs and no one wants to do it. Why spend 5-10 years trying to reach a level where you make half a million for a fight when you can make more than that playing any other sport? Shit, forget about even being an athlete. Why all the blood, sweat and tears when can make that much money working a decent job? There are precious few truly talented athletes in any sport. Everyone else does it for the love of the game, or better be, 'cause making a good living at it is an uphill battle.

There's something like 1200 or 1300 professional fighters in each of MW/JMW, 1700+ at LW...etc. I think there's something like 25000 pro boxers all together - a bit short of the peak periods in the great depression and post WWII, but still quite a lot of guys are boxing. The guys we think of as Elite, good or even Journeymen represent the best, the top 1 or 2% of a career which itself takes exceptional dedication and requires unusual physical and mental toughness. It's not that there's 'so few' boxers - it justs that there's 'so few' boxers who ever rise to the relatively elite status of being televised - the guys we see represent the best of the best. For every top 20 fighter, there's 60 or 80 who aren't. Even a fighter we might call average represents someone who's already better than maybe 98% of other guys in a sport considered the hardest in the world...worth remembering next time you get the urge to call a top 10 or 20 boxer a 'bum' or a 'can'. Only 1 in every 250,000 people choose and have what it takes to be a pro boxer, but less than 1 in 100,000,000 is a beltholder.

People don't like getting punched in the face is my guess ;) Usually what it comes down to.

People don't like getting punched in the face is my guess ;)

Yeah, generally it's really tough to grind out a living in the beginning. Way back when I was making $1300-$1800 for a 4 round fight at the Palace when it was rolling. Funny thing, looking back, at that time I had it going on. The norm for 4 round bouts at the time was $250-$400. In the short time that it was rolling I had countless fights cancelled. Toughest sport that any one could ever jump in to, but it's the greatest all the same.......... Rockin':boxing: You used to fight? What weight class?

Because boxing's popularity has gone down the dregs and no one wants to do it. Why spend 5-10 years trying to reach a level where you make half a million for a fight when you can make more than that playing any other sport?

Agreed the talent pool in boxing in relatively small. That is why is never ceases to amaze that the few talented boxers out there are constantly crapped on by people on this site. They're all hypejobs, bums and need to be their asses kicked and run out of boxing. Then what. No boxing, sounds like fun.