How to save boxing

Doing something about the corruption would help a lot. So would requiring the organizations to rank each other's champions. I am less sure that having one organization only would be better, because we can already see the logjams in divisions with an undisputed champion. I think we'd likely see far fewer good fights. And there'd likely be even more corruption. Monopolies are basically never good for anyone except the company. I do think it would help splitting the money more between the fights on the card. Having an ok main event and a bunch of crap as support, especially on PPV cards, isn't really good for the sport. And when the main event ends in controversy because of terrible judging or ref decisions, it's even worse. I wouldn't be surprised if the lack of pay and transparency in the UFC ultimately sinks them. They're coasting on the glory days, but IMO they're getting less and less relevant especially because they've put so much effort into making sure that they don't have any more superstars. They want to make it still feel like UFC is the best, but they don't actually want more Conor McGregor's.

Look. Fans are to blame. When they pay to see ****ty fights, when they watch them on cable, when they go to the arena to see a good fighter fight a nobody. Why would figters risk and make the good fights, when they can make a living fighting nobodies because most people will still watch? Boils down to what I have been saying, make equally-competitive fights more often, then MORE fans would watch and it would ignite the world in the sport a lot more than what it is now.

yes u do hear a lot of 'what time is the main event on' in boxing ufc does seem to have more fan interest deeper into cards but, ufc also distribute the pay more down those cards as well dont they didnt their big heavy champ only get paid 300k (fury guy now) for his fights lol lets take guys at LW, if tank, shakur, loma, haney etc all had to fight each other multiple times that would generate a hell of a lot of interest and rivalry, now they just social media yap at each other, that just cant be good no matter what way u look at it i guess, boxing fights take ages to make often, even hardcore fans get bored with the crap for years It all boils down to what I have been saying, make more equally-competitive matchups more consistly. There's no way around it. And, maybe not pay these fighters so much. I feel they get paid too much for mediocre matchups and they have gotten complacent. Dana White and David Feldman have been doing it right from the jump, which is why they are super successful.

Look. Fans are to blame. When they pay to see shitty fights, when they watch them on cable, when they go to the arena to see a good fighter fight a nobody. Why would figters risk and make the good fights, when they can make a living fighting nobodies because most people will still watch?

marination is the bane of boxing one top guy just wont fight the other and both sets of fans often say the other is the one marinating, marination results in endless discussions of who is actually the marinator lol

Well, yeah. And how will they be engaged and interested?? By what I am saying, more equally-competitive matchups, unifications and undisputed bouts in all divisions. yes u do hear a lot of 'what time is the main event on' in boxing ufc does seem to have more fan interest deeper into cards but, ufc also distribute the pay more down those cards as well dont they didnt their big heavy champ only get paid 300k (fury guy now) for his fights lol lets take guys at LW, if tank, shakur, loma, haney etc all had to fight each other multiple times that would generate a hell of a lot of interest and rivalry, now they just social media yap at each other, that just cant be good no matter what way u look at it i guess, boxing fights take ages to make often, even hardcore fans get bored with the crap for years

fans like team sports, maybe boxing could become a team sport, USA v Mexico or Latin America, Euro team, east coast US v west coast, if the numbers dont match up then 2 teams could combine to get opponents to put forward this may be well a terrible terrible idea, my mind wont figure it out today tho It's a nice idea, but it does not address the problem of equally-competitive matchups at all levels. The team thing wouldn't work unless there is more equally-competitive matchups MORE consistently-All year around every year.

Its hardly like boxing is terminally ill or something, its actually having one of the better years in recent memory commercially. Of course the sport has a lot of issues (and i'm not making excuses for them) but they're mostly issues that have been present for decades now. Also as far as the UFC gaining momentum etc, thats also been a factor for like 15 years, and MMA itself plateaued ages ago. Worst case scenario in that regard already happened in 2016 when the UFC had as big a year as its ever going to have while boxing was in a post Floyd/Pac hangover, and yet here we are many years later and boxing is still here and can still pull big numbers. Well said. But the issue here is Boxing has slacked off for several years now beause of letting off the gas in regards to equally-competitive matchups. The sport has settled with inactive stars and elite fighters and giving them so much money which has caused them to be complacent while feeding them with lame competition WAY TOO OFTEN. I am not against a fighter making great money, but they need to be fighting more legit competition. And that is precisley what has been happening for so long. Promoters and fighters need to implement this more and fans will watch, and it will get back to more of the 'glory days' of the sport as we knew it hostorically (Muhammed Ali, George Foreman, DeLa Hoya, Barrera-Morales etc days).

The reason UFC or BKFC can explode and grow is because boxing already has. There's no need to save boxing when boxers are still some of the highest paid athletes on the planet. What market can be opened up to boxing? Has BKFC or UFC held an even in North Korea? No, but boxing has. Boxing's all over the planet. Broke nations box, rich nations box, all the religions box, all languages box, free peoples box, dictatorships box. No where to grow to because everywhere already knows. Boxers as a whole are not paid that well, but never have been, and the state of boxing is reflected in its top because it is an individual sport with no league. If boxing was actually in a dire state top paid boxers wouldn't be top paid athletes. The focus here isn't if Boxers are being paid so well. Everything you said is quite known universally- BUT what are UFC and BKFC doing MORE OF than Boxing (which is why thehave been growing immensely)? More equally-competitive fights in all tiers. Boxing simply needs to do MORE OF that as they have historically, yet it has watered down in the 'Protect your 0' and 'big payday fights'. Protecting your 0 mentality has made MANY fighters fight mainly mediocre competition for too long. A snowball effect which has given the sport a huge stain.

Unifying the governing bodies is the first step. You won’t do anything to change the sport until that happens. Get rid of WBO, IBO and merge the other three. 1 champion per weight class and make them defend against the top contenders. That’s a start. But realistically-speaking that is more of an impossible task. But making more cross-promotional fights is more probable. And making more equally-competitive fights is too.

Its hardly like boxing is terminally ill or something, its actually having one of the better years in recent memory commercially. Of course the sport has a lot of issues (and i'm not making excuses for them) but they're mostly issues that have been present for decades now. Also as far as the UFC gaining momentum etc, thats also been a factor for like 15 years, and MMA itself plateaued ages ago. Worst case scenario in that regard already happened in 2016 when the UFC had as big a year as its ever going to have while boxing was in a post Floyd/Pac hangover, and yet here we are many years later and boxing is still here and can still pull big numbers. One of the 'better' years that's obvious, but out of HOW MANY years??? THAT'S precisely the BIGGEST issue man. Too many people are short-sighted with short-term memory loss. Too many people focus on, '2023 has been the best year'. It's actually sad to say that because MANY years should leave that type of trail. This is why Boxing has a big open wound. It can be fixed by more equally-competitive fights in all tiers, all the way up to championship level which would force more unifications and undisputed bouts

its complicated stuff looking in from the outside, bums on seats and tv viewers are needed for a sport to thrive, fans need to be engaged and interested in fights, fighters and outcomes Well, yeah. And how will they be engaged and interested?? By what I am saying, more equally-competitive matchups, unifications and undisputed bouts in all divisions.

Its hardly like boxing is terminally ill or something, its actually having one of the better years in recent memory commercially. Of course the sport has a lot of issues (and i'm not making excuses for them) but they're mostly issues that have been present for decades now. Also as far as the UFC gaining momentum etc, thats also been a factor for like 15 years, and MMA itself plateaued ages ago. Worst case scenario in that regard already happened in 2016 when the UFC had as big a year as its ever going to have while boxing was in a post Floyd/Pac hangover, and yet here we are many years later and boxing is still here and can still pull big numbers.

fans like team sports, maybe boxing could become a team sport, USA v Mexico or Latin America, Euro team, east coast US v west coast, if the numbers dont match up then 2 teams could combine to get opponents to put forward this may be well a terrible terrible idea, my mind wont figure it out today tho

Unifying the governing bodies is the first step. You won’t do anything to change the sport until that happens. Get rid of WBO, IBO and merge the other three. 1 champion per weight class and make them defend against the top contenders. That’s a start.

its complicated stuff looking in from the outside, bums on seats and tv viewers are needed for a sport to thrive, fans need to be engaged and interested in fights, fighters and outcomes

cryin, loopy lopez & where the hell are my flowers are on the case, boxing is in good hands whew