Can USA boxing upper weight boxing be fixed?

[DeeMoney]

Wow! I don't know how old you are but I am 60 and as a kid we used to wait by the gates for autographs. This was when the Yankees were first playing at Shay for a while because the stadium was being rebuilt, then in the new, the then new lol Yankee stadium. The players would come out and some of them were really cool about autographs. When Thurman Munson died in the plane crash I think I cried he was my favorite player as a kid.

Turn 45 next month, So-Cal born and raised but a lifelong Yanks fan. This wouldve been at the Big A sometime in the mid 80s; Mattingly was my favorite, but loved Randolph too.

Been to a couple games at the old Yankee Stadium, havent made it out to the new one.

[billeau2]

Turn 45 next month, So-Cal born and raised but a lifelong Yanks fan. This wouldve been at the Big A sometime in the mid 80s; Mattingly was my favorite, but loved Randolph too.

Been to a couple games at the old Yankee Stadium, havent made it out to the new one.

Randolph was actually local talent lol. I think he was a "Ty Cobb" I played for the Cadets and Gil Hodges league... These are teams based in Brooklyn New York. If you ever catch a rerun of "Welcome Back Kotter" in the intro is a guy wearing a Ty Cobb jacket. I used to travel the subways from East Harlem to play in Brooklyn lol. Sometimes I really wonder how I made it to 60 considering some of what I encountered on the subways at night coming home after practices lol.

[The D3vil]

I dunno. I had a kid get recruited to Michigan recently, won't make it to the NFL and won't see the field for a couple years, but will still get over 70K a year. Thats just the base NIL deal for anyone who plays football there. Or look at Oregon's roster where over half their scholarship players are clearing 100K, I get those are a big name schools, but virtually anyone playing football or basketball for a p4 school will make a lot of money just from the school's NIL collective.

Yeah, thats not the millions that Arch Manning or Cooper Flagg are getting. But you'd have a hard time convincing a kid to throw away at minimum 40K a year, and free education, free housing, free meals, etc.

So at best $400 thousand?

If you're the HW champion, you could make $400 million.

Hell, I'm sure somebody like Derek Chisora's probably made $20 million

[DeeMoney]

So at best $400 thousand?

If you're the HW champion, you could make $400 million.

Hell, I'm sure somebody like Derek Chisora's probably made $20 million

Yeah, but thats $400k GUARANTEED, thats the point. These kids making NIL money, thats money in hand. I think a college kid will have a hard time giving up all that cash, plus free room and board, and a free education. To have a slim chance to make it in boxing.

Because here is the thing, if someone were to give up NIL for boxing, their next step wont be into wealth and fame. Their next step will be to living paycheck to paycheck, probably working to make ends meet and then training outside of work. No longer a guaranteed degree at the end of the day, all for the outside shot at making it in boxing.....not many are gonna choose option B.

[billeau2]

So at best $400 thousand?

If you're the HW champion, you could make $400 million.

Hell, I'm sure somebody like Derek Chisora's probably made $20 million

Fight sports can be tempting but there is much more self discipline involved. A kid on a football team takes on a set of friends, mentors, various yes men... And kids are not real able to look critically at risk factors as they evolve. Football often results in bad injuries that materially affect your ability and subsequent worth. This risk depends on things like the position, the team... For example, as a QB do you have a crackerjack offensive line? or will you be concussed relatively easily?

The Samoan QB, who went to Alabama (Crimson Tide) plays for Miami I believe? Or did... has had like 4 concussions already! My point is, football is probably more dangerous than boxing considering all the factors. And getting a kid who can understand "this is a weak division, if you start young, train properly you have a good crack at fame" is not easy. But they do exist. Moses Ituema, Torres, I mean they are both strong and athletic enough I could see them playing a team sport.

You mention Chisora and he is an interesting example because he has found a way to really make boxing pay off. He never really had the chops to be elite, but has shown a roadmap to success. I wish we had more "Chisoras!" Guys who would fight once a month if allowed, were able enough to always be a threat, and made a great living doing so... the cherry on top would be if they would retire before hurting oneself.

[Dr Z]

I always wished they would have legit collegiate boxing, but there are some hurdles now with the collegiate landscape.

- In collegiate athletics, basketball and football make a ton of money. Baseball and women's basketball basically break even. Most every other sport loses money. You'd be adding a sport to an athletic department that would be running in the red. There are plenty of collegiate club sports, sports that are affiliated with the school and are populated by athletes, but not directly under the athletic department, but that wouldn't do much for boxing.

- Title IX could be an issue. You need to offer the same number of women's sports as you do men's, and have roughly equal number of athletic scholarships and participants for each gender. So if you add boxing, you would need to either add women's and men's (making it even more of a financial albatross), or get rid of an already active men's sport

- Boxing already has an established minor league system. Collegiate baseball relatively is less popular than other major collegiate sports partly due to its already established minor league system. College football is the pipeline to the NFL, as is NCAA basketball for most Americans. For baseball though its split between NCAA and directly going to the minor leagues, this contributes to their being less attention given to NCAA Baseball. Collegiate Boxing, with an already established amateur system and no true major league, could suffer a similar fate.

Suppose college put their own sweet 16 tournament for boxing after College football ends but before March madness in basketball.


These college sports rivalries are fierce.


A team can consist of five divisions: Welters, Middles, Light heavies, Cruisers and Heavies. With the winners advancing and the school fight song played. It will not cost much to field a team, just a trainer, 2 corner men, and a medic. Let the ladies fight for title IX.

The athletes can compete on Big TEN, SEC or equivalent networks. I do not think there will be a problem with such a small team.
, or TV rights.

I think it could make $$$. And give the USA a better chance to compete at upper weight pro boxing in the pros.

[DeeMoney]

Suppose college put their own sweet 16 tournament for boxing after College football ends but before March madness in basketball.


These college sports rivalries are fierce.


A team can consist of five divisions: Welters, Middles, Light heavies, Cruisers and Heavies. With the winners advancing and the school fight song played. It will not cost much to field a team, just a trainer, 2 corner men, and a medic. Let the ladies fight for title IX.

The athletes can compete on Big TEN, SEC or equivalent networks. I do not think there will be a problem with such a small team.
, or TV rights.

I think it could make $$$. And give the USA a better chance to compete at upper weight pro boxing in the pros.

I would love it, I think it would take time to establish and it would need to, at least initially, be organized as club teams. Thats not writing it wouldnt get coverage, just that it would get less direct school funding, but allow the teams to avoid the aforementioned pitfalls

[billeau2]

Suppose college put their own sweet 16 tournament for boxing after College football ends but before March madness in basketball.


These college sports rivalries are fierce.


A team can consist of five divisions: Welters, Middles, Light heavies, Cruisers and Heavies. With the winners advancing and the school fight song played. It will not cost much to field a team, just a trainer, 2 corner men, and a medic. Let the ladies fight for title IX.

The athletes can compete on Big TEN, SEC or equivalent networks. I do not think there will be a problem with such a small team.
, or TV rights.

I think it could make $$$. And give the USA a better chance to compete at upper weight pro boxing in the pros.

Decent idea Z! Look at how much college has done for wrestling and it really hasn't destroyed the academic landscape for wrestlers the same way it does for the more popular sports (at times).

It would probably be a decent thing to do if it could be done. But like some other posters have pointed out these are traditional club sports.

I can attest to some aspects because when I want to college we had a crackerjack martial arts club which I was at the helm of. And we actually got a lot of support.

We didn't get a tremendous amount of money but we got funds that we used to go to tournaments, have seminars, have guest instructors, etc. All in all It was a very enlightening experience for all involved.

[DeeMoney]

So collegiate boxing does exist...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Collegiate_Boxing_Association

but it seems to be dominated by the academies (which seems to make sense). There are some decent athletic universities that have boxing, just gotta get more eyes on it I guess.

[QueensburyRules]

One thing about British boxing fans is that we really get behind our favourite fighters.

I will never forget Fury's entrance v White.

The atmosphere was simply electric.

I do love that Joshua proved what a total w*nker he really is. That toddler tantrum after the second Usyk fight was pure comedy gold.

- - AJ well won the last round in a fight I had even going into that last round.

So he threw the Rubbish Ring belt out of the Ring that he more than any deserved to own after he obliterated Blubber as Ring Coward and unified the titles Blubber never defended...yer welcome...