How popular was boxing in the US at its peak?

[davros2010]

Boxing was the no2 sport in America and the heavyweight title was probably the no1 sporting event in the country. From the 60's onwards boxings popularity slowly declined but it was still a popular sport at the start of the 90's it then sharply declined when it was stuck on HBO and Showtime. It's a shame because i think boxing if run properly could have maintained it's early 90's level of popularity.

[jabsRstiff]

I can tell you that the Philadelphia Daily News devoted 5-6 pages of stories about Hagler-Hearns the day of and the day after. The day after it was on the front page, and not in the top corner of it. "HIT MAN HIT" in bold, baby. So, in 1985 boxing was still a very big deal, though not quite what it was in previous decades.

Floyd-Cotto will get 1/3 of a single page

[JMoney18]

I know now a days I don't see hardly any boxing fights, just on ESPN classic. MMA has become way more popular

[TBear]

I know now a days I don't see hardly any boxing fights, just on ESPN classic. MMA has become way more popular

I watch the average of five live boxing cards a week. I don't know of any live mma shows not counting ppv and a reality show that I heard is going to be canceled. But admittedly I don't look to see if MMa is on.

[Anthony342]

Well there are live MMA shows on Showtime, Fox, FX and Fuel TV. Boxing, of course, has HBO, Showtime, ESPN 2, not counting PPV.

[New England]

the fight for the HW championship of the world used to be the biggest sporting event on the planet and in the states

and the top ten athletes in the states in terms of notoriety were usually top ten HWs and baseball players, with the HW champion (almost always american,) at the top


god bless the usa