Who is killing boxing?

I try to stay positive though, there were always problems. If you remember in the early 2000s, don king still had a big grip on things. And he had almost all the belts in the heavy division. So you had all these champs like john ruiz, fighting aging holyfield but the division could never be unified because Lennox had a belt was clearly the best but King wouldnt let any of his ABC holders fight Lennox unless lennox signed a contract with King and his contracts were dirty and shitty, had extension clauses so everytime you fought you agreed to another fight for him to promote you so it kept extending and made it impossible to break away, i dont know if those were ever ruled illegal.

I should have said not enforcing mandatories is what i meant. In cases where is it undisputed i think should have priority like Usyk Dubois. But WBC for example should have ordered Canelo Benavidez a deadline or purse bids or drop the belt. They let Charlo keep the belt being inactive. I also think they should rank each others champs and interim champs, if 1 fighter becomes interim lets say for WBC and WBA, that fighter can then be both their mandatory. Also if they rank each other champions they can also come to agreements to enforce mandatory unifications these ABCs have been a problem since they started. You could make an entire sub forum about all of their problems. Look at canelo alone, first none will strip him for refusing to fight Benavidez. Then you got random ass mandatories like william scull, nobody knows who the fuk that is, out of nowhere hes number 1 challenger in the world for IBF, its a joke.

Tell that HBO, Showtime, Fox Sports, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. And ESPN is exiting boxing this year. The traditional networks had the best production quality. All the new app based promotions are pretty shit in comparison. DAZN is pretty lame, their boxing shows are lame. Thriller is straight up trash on some of their broadcast. them bringging in snoop dog at one point was fuking embarrassing

people have talked about boxing dying for the 20 years ive been watching. a lot of companies have bailed, HBO, showtime. idk probably more The saudis have made some fights like bivol-beter and fury-usyk that would have NEVER happened before. So there is some momentum there. DAZN was such a good deal when they came out but i think they were loosing a lot of money up front. i remember warning people about this that there was no way they were making money with the amounts they were paying canelo - GGG. i think after they burned through venture capital money they jacked up all the rates. I unsubscribed. I liked that app, i would watch old fights in HD on it all the time. but they want way too much money now. Boxing will always be around because nobody owns it and its a global sport. if someone exits others will step in to try to make money from it. its past the glory days, nobody can match the production quality of HBO fights in its prime. Im like OP in that I used to watch every weekend and now find myself less interested in watching the smaller up and comers fight but i do watch a lot of old fights on youtube and boxing analysis videos on youtube all of which never existed 20 years ago.

I can see it as part of the problem, but the boxers has the final saying. Buck always stops with the boxer, true. No one can force a boxer to fight someone he's scared of fighting.

i think daggum is ruining boxing with his hot takes I almost choked on my food while reading your post :mad:

i think daggum is ruining boxing with his hot takes

i agree with everything except enforcing mandatories. it's the best thing they do. champions would literally fight taxi drivers and in house fights until they hit 33-35 and then promoter would feed him to a talented younger stablemate to keep control of the belt. it would be unwatchable. we still have good fights, just not every year in every division. I should have said not enforcing mandatories is what i meant. In cases where is it undisputed i think should have priority like Usyk Dubois. But WBC for example should have ordered Canelo Benavidez a deadline or purse bids or drop the belt. They let Charlo keep the belt being inactive. I also think they should rank each others champs and interim champs, if 1 fighter becomes interim lets say for WBC and WBA, that fighter can then be both their mandatory. Also if they rank each other champions they can also come to agreements to enforce mandatory unifications

https://twocircles.com/gb/articles/b...-star-stories/ https://boxingjunkie.usatoday.com/20...ey-tennis-golf Etc. Where are you getting YOUR stats from? link you posted having boxing top 6. below is a quick search of the most popular/followed sports in the USA. port Major league TV viewing record Favourite sport declared (source: Gallup) American football NFL 111.9m 37% Baseball/Softball MLB 40.0m 9% Basketball NBA 24.4m 11% Ice hockey NHL 27.6m 4% Soccer MLS 27.3m 7% ​ The Top 10 Most Popular Sports in the USA American Football Basketball Baseball Soccer Ice Hockey Tennis Golf Motorsports Combat Sports (Boxing & MMA) Track and Field ​

not sure where you got your stats from but boxing doesnt even make the top 5 for most followed sports in the US. https://twocircles.com/gb/articles/boxing-genz-star-stories/ https://boxingjunkie.usatoday.com/2021/06/harris-poll-boxing-more-popular-than-mma-hockey-tennis-golf Etc. Where are you getting YOUR stats from?

if someone accepts that why even follow such a sport? it's not like we need boxing like air and water. nobody needs constant frustration. if you accept such disappointing state of boxing then it's better to just stop following. and that's exactly what a lot of fans did. inactivity is the worst for me. it directly impedes boxer's chance to develop their skills, to become a star, to build a legacy, to earn big money and not destroy broadcasters and promoters in the process. less skills and less star power equals less fans. very simple. Still.....Straight people need a combat sport too.

Biggest problem is the 4 belt organisations, their rankings, enforcing mandatories, and not rating each others champ/interim champs Second problem is hype from "fans" for match ups that are a waste of time and Fighters not making match ups when they should. Eubank Benn and Bud Canelo are mismatches but they got the hype behind them so will be big commercially and financially. For actual boxing fans and boxing, Canelo should fight Benavidez. Bud has plenty of talent he could face at 154, other champs, Charlo etc. Benn should be fighting at 147 could have fought world title vs Barrios, instead he fights Eubank for the payday loses then says not my weight im going back to 147. Eubank should be fighting someone like Sheeraz or Janibek, or move up to 168 and face people like Berlanga and Plant i agree with everything except enforcing mandatories. it's the best thing they do. champions would literally fight taxi drivers and in house fights until they hit 33-35 and then promoter would feed him to a talented younger stablemate to keep control of the belt. it would be unwatchable. we still have good fights, just not every year in every division.

And the boxers that decided to be inactive are not even at a retirement age. They're still in their late 20s or early 30s. I don't know man. Like I said it's best to just accept whatever the business side offers to fans. Hoping for best fights best all the time and as early as fans would like would just be having false hopes. So just accept it as it is now. if someone accepts that why even follow such a sport? it's not like we need boxing like air and water. nobody needs constant frustration. if you accept such disappointing state of boxing then it's better to just stop following. and that's exactly what a lot of fans did. inactivity is the worst for me. it directly impedes boxer's chance to develop their skills, to become a star, to build a legacy, to earn big money and not destroy broadcasters and promoters in the process. less skills and less star power equals less fans. very simple.

not sure where you got your stats from but boxing doesnt even make the top 5 for most followed sports in the US. My info comes from the Harris Poll, which is generally regarded as the last word on poll numbers.

not sure where you got your stats from but boxing doesnt even make the top 5 for most followed sports in the US. Who would fight a killer when u can face a Gabby Joe and make 3-5 mil...

Boxing is thriving. It has business side problems but it always has. The no. 4 most followed sport in the US. not sure where you got your stats from but boxing doesnt even make the top 5 for most followed sports in the US.

HBO, Showtime, Fox Sports, etc. would not have exited boxing if it's "a billion dollar industry." So that's nonsense. If it's a billion dollar industry fans would be watching big fights every week. I didn't say "sitting on your butt watching boxing" was a billion dollar industry. I said boxing was. And that's based on cold hard fact. The US market for boxing gyms/clubs by itself is over a billion dollars. Boxing gear represents over 2 billion globally. This is all based on official filings. And we haven't even added in the value of boxing promotions. Are you incapable of considering anything from any other perspective other than the one you first thought of? Maybe do even a little bit of research next time before you spout off.

Pbc the sport was promising as hell a couple of years back....we don't care no more and these new guys don't have half the talent of last generation due to them making too much money I can see it as part of the problem, but the boxers has the final saying.

Here in Aus boxing is pretty dead compared to UFC which f sucks. Think it’s to do with there being too many broadcasters, people don’t know where they have to tune in, means boxing ain’t in the mainstream. Also what doesn’t help is the wait times between fights, the lack of depths on cards and the lack of star power since mayweather left… Canelo only Recently came to English. Inoue, Crawford, Usyk and Crawford don’t exactly sell their fights in the lead up for the casual fan, as much as we may love em. ALSO the top fighters only f fighting once or twice a year ! It’s hard to get behind them and root for a fighter when he’s barely fighting. That is all about marketing.

Tell that HBO, Showtime, Fox Sports, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. And ESPN is exiting boxing this year. That's simply platform evolution. No relationship to boxing's viewership health. Where were those platforms during the prime of Dempsey, Louis, Ali? Presentation platforms change. Always. To be clear; boxing being number 4, behind only Football, Baseball and Basketball; and ahead of Ice Hockey, Golf, Tennis, Soccer, MMA in the US. That's a fact. ​​​​​​​https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/boxing-forums/boxing-history/31592510-boxing-is-the-number-4-most-popular-sport-in-the-us-harris-poll