Is boxing in it's worst state in modern history?

I don't personally like this era of boxing and I think it's in one of it's worst states in modern history. For a start, I don't like watching the giant boxers who are dominating the heavyweight scene now. We see people like Fury, Joshua and Klitschko who are 6'5+ and it doesn't really give the small guys a chance (this is just my opinion) and I'd like to see some smaller guys kicking ass. I tend to watch >middleweight because I don't find smaller fighters as entertaining unless it's a huge fight or something. More importantly, it all seems to be about money now. The overhyping of boxers and press conferences is crazy and all the boxers are basically the same. "I think I'm going to win the fight, says some trash talk to the other boxer" and then the fight proceeds. I'd love to see some new Mike Tyson style fighter. Not some kid who has been raised from royalty like Klischko but someone who has had a terrible upbringing and just wants to kill people and wont shy from a fight. The Klit brothers were not raised from royalty I don't believe haha. They probably have worked harder than most heavyweights post 2000 to get where they are. I completely agree though on the big heavyweight thing. They keep taking logic from smaller divisions playbook like fighting extremely conservatively, putting everyone to sleep, all because it's the safest way to ensure victory. (With smaller fighters, it is somewhat accepted because theoretically having a massive pool of boxers fighting at one distinct weight makes it more acutely competitive. Also they are metaphorically subordinates to the big bad heavyweights.) Heavyweights aren't supposed to be the biggest but more the baddest on the planet. It's why you look back to the early 20th century and see 185lb Dempsey, 185lb Marciano, and 200lb Louis running train on anybody at any size fighting at their best weight. But now you have these "geniuses" like the Klits who use their size as a strength in the low risk conservative school of thought rather than what they should and are capable of doing condoning a more offensive George Foreman school of thought. The problem is by being an offensive fighter focusing on the knockout you put yourself at a risk that wouldn't be their if you just fought like a p*ssy. It's a cancer plaguing boxing and largely the heavyweight division. The large casual base doesn't sit well with a 6'6ft 250lb guy treating the 6'0ft 210lb guy with the respect as if he is Mike Tyson himself. It's a competitive sport, we the people expect the "favorite" to act as such and blow through the smaller guys like a Heavyweight Champion of the World should. The Heavyweight Champion shouldn't be about who's the biggest guy who can fight the most conservative and pull off a W. Valuev is the perfect picture for this theory. At least Joshua and Wilder are showing a new future

I don't personally like this era of boxing and I think it's in one of it's worst states in modern history. For a start, I don't like watching the giant boxers who are dominating the heavyweight scene now. We see people like Fury, Joshua and Klitschko who are 6'5+ and it doesn't really give the small guys a chance (this is just my opinion) and I'd like to see some smaller guys kicking ass. I tend to watch >middleweight because I don't find smaller fighters as entertaining unless it's a huge fight or something. More importantly, it all seems to be about money now. The overhyping of boxers and press conferences is crazy and all the boxers are basically the same. "I think I'm going to win the fight, says some trash talk to the other boxer" and then the fight proceeds. I'd love to see some new Mike Tyson style fighter. Not some kid who has been raised from royalty like Klischko but someone who has had a terrible upbringing and just wants to kill people and wont shy from a fight.

Agree, this era is terrible The best dont fight the best anymore, everybody wants to make the most $$$ doing the least effort, blatant ducking and cherrypicking is at an all time high, at least among the top fighters. I blame the current state of affairs on three culprits: 1. Greedy, corrupt alphabet organizations with their miriad trinket belts. Really, whoever came with the idea of the regular, interim, diamond, silver, super, etc belts needs to be hanged 2. Floyd Mayweather - by showing fighters they can get rich by fighting overly defensive snoozefests against hand picked opponents, overinflating the value of the ¨0¨, etc. he chased away the casuals who watch the sport for exciting fights and showed fighters that cowardice is rewarded in this sport, and now everybody's following his bad example 3. Al Haymon - by overprotecting and overpaying his fighters. why take risks against decent opposition when you can make as much money fighting the Rod Salkas of the world? Those are the 3 reasons the sport is at an all time low honorable mention for the network issues GGG is fighting nobodies all the while being paid very well. He's only fought one world champion who had never had a succesful title defense. And no one who is not a hardcore fan of boxing knows who GGG is. So please stop trying to find one guy to blame it on.

man we have fransico vargas vs orlando solido coming up this week , that very well could be the next gatti ward. Then you got thurman porter and crawford postol this summer. Ward supposed to fight kovelev in november thats a superfight. Only thing thats wrong in boxing is canelo ducking.

Boxing is f*cking terrible right now. Porter vs Thurman can't come any sooner. Watch it end prematurely with a headbutt or something. :lol1: We were saying the exact same things when Bradley-Alexander was looming :lol1:

I actually like the MMA and their fighters. I wouldn't be making fun of it except for your vicious attack on boxing. Since you make it clear you hate boxing and only visit here to laugh at us you are obviously just looking for a fight with us boxing lovers. I am just giving you the fight you want. There are lots of things wrong with boxing today that I don't like but I still love boxing and always will. Boxing will still be here after you die so get used to it. Why can't you judge the popularity of a sport from how much the athletes get paid? Football and basketball stars make even more ridiculous money than boxers because those sports are so popular in the USA. That money isn't falling out of the sky. It's coming from paying fans of the sport. If boxers are overpaid MMA fighters are surely underpaid for risking their health in such a brutal sport. Greedy promoters like Dana White make most of the money and orders them around like mindless, powerless puppets. I'll bet Mayweather is better known world wide than any tennis star or MMA fighter or soccer player although it can't be proven one way or the other. Top soccer players are some of the most internationally well-known athletes on the planet. I don't think you quite understand how far reaching that sport is outside the States.

Boxing is f*cking terrible right now. Porter vs Thurman can't come any sooner. Watch it end prematurely with a headbutt or something. :lol1:

Yea true. I was gonna say nah I don't see this to your post, but when I thought about it for a second I could see Spence becoming this era's Floyd more than I had 3-6 months ago. I'm personally not sold on Crawford, but he's obviously in those discussions too. And there are more foreign guys then ever in the US boxing these days so a Manny or Lennox caliber foreign guy can become a big deal in the US off of those guys' back & their own talent in the future. I like Beterbiev or Loma for that. Few thought Manny or Floyd were gonna be huge PPV stars til they did, so me &/or probably others saying LOL at Spence, Crawford, Loma, Beterbiev or others becoming huge PPV stars right now probably isn't all that different. Furthermore, the foreigners are getting more exposure and more fans than they've ever had before.

People were saying this when Jones, Tyson and ODLH were getting up there too. You had Barrera and Morales fall off. Then Mayweather and Pacquiao bloomed and put up even crazier numbers.

Depends what country you're in. In the US I think this post-Manny & Floyd era looks dim at the moment & the dimmest time in quite awhile, certainly since I've been following boxing. In the UK doe things seem great if not the best in a long long time. And places like Russia & China still got their hey days ahead of them. I think this is the best era for British boxing, a lot of Champions right now, and very good boxing events across the UK. I'm jealous :) (from Spain) 👍.

I've been following boxing since the mid 90's...i mean watching every televised fight, ppv or otherwise, watching fights online, subscribing to boxing magazines and websites, travelling to live fights etc. I don't know if it was just cuz i was younger and naive, but i don't recall the sport ever functioning this badly on an elite level. I always remember the schedule being fairly consistent and there always being a good fight to look forward to. Now it seems like there's less fights lined up, and in my country(canada), the networks don't carry as many fights as they used to. I guess what I'm looking for here is some reassurance that things aren't really as bad and some perspective on how it's getting better. Yes it absolutely is in terrible straights. The worst part is, in past years you could assume that within a few years the next elite talents would be on the forefront because..well that's just the way competition works in life. But boxing and it's greed has put a noose around it's neck and cashing in shamelessly as much as they can, where ever they can. No respect at all for the vitality of the sport. MARK MY WORDS, an economic bubble is going to burst with this sport and it may have already bursted. With capitalism and competition, things are supposed to improve and get better. What we are seeing is competition getting worst and money earned getting exponentially smaller, when it should always be improving. The reason why? Because paper champions and their team of lawyers are raping the sport for all it's worth. New bold thinking is now used to mask the spineless lawyer type sentiment that is playing chess with paying fans and how much money they can make.

The reason its in such poor state, is because of money and control. Fighters come out with lines such as "he doesn't deserve a payday" or "if the money is right". In all other sports, be that Football (sawkur), Tennis, MMA. I could go on, we see the best face the best. Boxing is one of the few (possibly only sport) where sportsmen can go years without facing certain fighters. Avoiding such fighters. Name any other sport where this happens? and thats a genuine question as I think its only boxing where this happens.

I paid $15 a month for that piece of sh1t chanel just for showtime boxing. Same here. I remember it was $18 /mo in our area. I eventually cancelled it even before Rogers dropped it weeks later.

I actually like the MMA and their fighters. I wouldn't be making fun of it except for your vicious attack on boxing. Since you make it clear you hate boxing and only visit here to laugh at us you are obviously just looking for a fight with us boxing lovers. I am just giving you the fight you want. There are lots of things wrong with boxing today that I don't like but I still love boxing and always will. Boxing will still be here after you die so get used to it. Why can't you judge the popularity of a sport from how much the athletes get paid? Football and basketball stars make even more ridiculous money than boxers because those sports are so popular in the USA. That money isn't falling out of the sky. It's coming from paying fans of the sport. If boxers are overpaid MMA fighters are surely underpaid for risking their health in such a brutal sport. Greedy promoters like Dana White make most of the money and orders them around like mindless, powerless puppets. I'll bet Mayweather is better known world wide than any tennis star or MMA fighter or soccer player although it can't be proven one way or the other. I was with you til soccer...i doubt floyd mayweather has more world wide name recognition than ronaldo or messi, but like you said it can't really be proven.

Nah...I think at has to do with being young and not having an open eye to the corruption and politics. Also social media gives you 24/7 access to negotiations so stuff that used to go on behind the scenes is now public information. That's true...it's a whole lot easier to become negative about the sport these days.

Yea I'd say it's at it's worst There's no way in hell Manny or Floyd would have been Top Welters Hell at 140 Arron Pryor or Julio Cesar Chavez would have smoked them Hell neither would have won a belt at 154 can You imagine todays fighter who wanted to compete with Julian Jackson or Terry Norris at 154 or 152 for Floyd. Deontay Wilder would not be Champ I doubt if he would beat a Holyfield or Riddick Bowe I doubt he beats an Old George Foreman

it's not about skill. it's about heart!! COURAAAAGGGGEE!!!!!! this is what boxing is lacking big time. there is no more heart and heorism in this sport anymore. manny pacquiao didn't have much of a jab but what he had was heart. the heart to become a great ATG boxer respected world wide. where is this now????????? all u have are "smart" businessman in this sport looking to cash-in while doing the LEAST POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!! boxing is a sport for loser wannabe businessmen. it's not about warriors willing to bleed their soul and take risks. One quick google search shows who takes more risks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Deaths_due_to_injuries_sustained_in_boxing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatalities_in_mixed_martial_arts_contests Little kids get broken bones falling off of bikes. Don't act like it's the ultimate sacrifice to sport.

You don't even believe that yourself. :/ The most popular mma fighters that anyone (if anyone actually recognized them lol) would "know" are Ronda, Chuck Lidell, Mcgregor, Couture, and Brock Lesnar. Notice a trend? Mighty mouse could be standing in line infront of you and nobody would notice. Prestige? Lol.. Entire COUNTRIES get behind boxers. The majority of MMA fans couldnt even come up with a top 3 per division... It's basically if Joe Rogan or Dana hype someone...it must be true. I really enjoy mma but when Cain Velasquez walks around mexico as the hw (former) champ and nobody knows who he is in a fight culture it tells you a lot. Mma has a looooooong way to go....especially if you're not white. "we'd notice em in a bar down in alabama! That means da werld! " Serious truth! MMA has a long way to go for sure. There isn't any international amateur leagues to develop the youth. I actually believe that's half the reason that their fighters have weak chins. Besides that, the sport is still young and it's biggest league already has lawsuits kicking them in the dick daily. We haven't even seen MMA fighters start to wise up and challenge their slave contracts. That will be a funny one. As for boxing, I believe that the fighters are attempting to correct the market in their favor. We might not be getting all of the fights that we want right now, but they're on the doorstep.

boxers are being extremely overpaid and that's one of the reasons why its dying out. its not self sustainable with these big paydays. paying someone big money to have fights that are noncompetitive and no one cares about doesn't work. mayweather vs pac was the nail in the coffin. MANY people realized why they stopped watching boxing in the first place. u cant judge a popularity of a sport by how much the athletes make. mma is without a doubt much more respected sport than boxing. it's not even close. wwe is more popular than boxing. athletes from other sports are recognized world wide. tennis stars, basketball stars, soccer/football stars, mma stars, are internationally recognized easily. many people in the US don't know who mayweather is. boxing is for losers.I actually like the MMA and their fighters. I wouldn't be making fun of it except for your vicious attack on boxing. Since you make it clear you hate boxing and only visit here to laugh at us you are obviously just looking for a fight with us boxing lovers. I am just giving you the fight you want. There are lots of things wrong with boxing today that I don't like but I still love boxing and always will. Boxing will still be here after you die so get used to it. Why can't you judge the popularity of a sport from how much the athletes get paid? Football and basketball stars make even more ridiculous money than boxers because those sports are so popular in the USA. That money isn't falling out of the sky. It's coming from paying fans of the sport. If boxers are overpaid MMA fighters are surely underpaid for risking their health in such a brutal sport. Greedy promoters like Dana White make most of the money and orders them around like mindless, powerless puppets. I'll bet Mayweather is better known world wide than any tennis star or MMA fighter or soccer player although it can't be proven one way or the other.

fights no one cares about. again. NO ONE CARES ABOUT BOXING. it's just an absolutely mediocre sport on the brink of collapse. good riddance. u can look at ppv but that doesnt tell even close to whole story. boxers arent nearly as admired as mma stars. TRUTH. female mma fighters are more respected and popular than boxing "stars". TRUTH. Funny you would say that. Two of the biggest stars in recent MMA history had to use a boxers name to promote their careers. Once again, your insistence to push Dana White's opinion doesn't make it an absolute truth. Hell, there isn't even a single absolute truth in this world. Truth is subjective to perception. As for the death of boxing...it's not happening. Somehow in your mind, you've convinced yourself to buy into a promoters perception. Answer one question, do you truly believe that boxing promoters constantly throw fight cards every day while they're hemorrhaging money? Before you foolishly answer that, consider how well boxing is selling in the U.K., Ghana, Russia, and Mexico right now. Follow the numbers! But back to my original statement...why? Why do you tirelessly give a boxing website so many unique clicks only to trash the sport? I'm no psychiatrist, but it seems counter intuitive. If you believe the sport is dying, why are you attempting to breath life into it by stabbing it?