Dont yall think boxing need more stars

[Mr. Showtime]

I love this sport to death but i get tired of hearing the same names over and over. Many ppl say the sport is dying and i think a lack of stars is the reason.

All i hear is Mayweather, Hopkins, DLH, Taylor, Wright, Jones Jr.

[neils7147933]

The mainstream public needs a few recognizable names to keep a casual interest.

Boxing DOES have stars in every weight class. Everyone just hasn't discovered it yet...

[majestiC]

America needs more stars everywhere else seems pretty damn gd if u ask me at the moment

[THe TRiNiTY]

There are GREAT fighters in all weight classes, just not well-known. You LOVE the sport, look for them. **** who gets the most attention. The sport isn't dying.. It's just not the popular item it has been. Trust me.. when one fight generates 150 million (a movie pulls in less often times, in a months span), the "game" isn't dying.

[majestiC]

PPV ruins the sport, you can tell this in the UK, since Calzaghe went on ITV in the UK is popularity shot right up, before ITV he would struggle to sell 10,000 now hes selling 35,000, maybe even 70,000 in next fight. The more people see a fight the more chance he has of becoming a star, no one else apart from boxing fans r going to see that fighter fight.

[JakeNDaBox]

Why is it that everyone keeps claiming that boxing is dead, yet it's a non-issue that ratings are down in every other major sport.

Oone of the games from this year's Stanley Cups finals registered (or at least equalled) the lowest prime-time rating in NBC's history. The NHL is affored a much greater budget - and a lucrative network deal - yet consistently produces lower ratings than boxing on any network where the two appear (ESPN, Versus, etc).

NBA ratings drop ever year, and can't figure to improve in light of their most recent scandal (refs ******** on, and potentially attempt to fix, games they've officiated).

Monday Night Football was a 30+ year tradition, but was shown the exit last year (at least from ABC) due to a steady decline in ratings.

Hell, even ratings for American Idol dropped 15% from the previous season.

Boxing's fine. It's not the mainstream sport it once was, but other sports are feeling the same and in some cases far worse effects as they are being shown less and less on local networks. And when they crash and burn and are forced to eventually go the PPV route in orde to keep up with absurd salary demands, boxing will still be alive and kicking.

[majestiC]

Boxing's fine. It's not the mainstream sport it once was, but other sports are feeling the same and in some cases far worse effects as they are being shown less and less on local networks. And when they crash and burn and are forced to eventually go the PPV route in orde to keep up with absurd salary demands, boxing will still be alive and kicking.

I agree its not dead and its fine, but you have to realise why it's not what it was back in the day. Fighters getting paid too much money, too many fights in Vegas, PPV costs far to much. How are kids suppose to get into boxing when they gotta ask there parents $50 to watch there fav fighter, most boxers come from poor backgrounds and its just killing the base and the future of the sport.

[Ace Rockolla]

Let's face it. Boxing has been unpopular for a few years now (In the US) and it's basically on the verge of becoming irrelevant. A lack of stars is part of the problem, but it's only a small part.

The biggest obstacle to boxing's growth in the US, in my opinion, is the fact that nobody is going to become a boxing fan by accident. What I mean by that is nobody is going to be flipping through the channels when they come across a great boxing match, and that's because there are no big matches being broadcasted to the majority of viewers. The best fights being broadcasted on basic cable are ESPN's Friday Night Fights, and I can't really picture someone coming across a FNF fight and saying "Hey, I like this! I'm gonna start to follow this sport".

The best thing that could ever happen to boxing would be to get big fights back into the living rooms of the general public. I'm talking about ABC, CBS, NBC etc. I know this is pretty implausible, but can you imagine a superfight being shown for free on NBC? Imagine if Corrales-Castillo I was shown on NBC during primetime instead of on Showtime. That's the only thing that will save boxing in the US in my opinion: big fights getting into the living rooms of Americans without them having to subscribe to premium channels or fork over 50 bucks for PPV. Sorry I got off subject a little bit.

[p1mpinp3rfect]

fully agree with this , the money needs to mean less than the sport does to at least build up stars the public can identify with , making for bigger pay days later on , the public cant wait on another tyson to up and happen , you need to make it catch their attention and then the stars will build themselves , us or international

[grant555]

I would say yes, and the proof is that it has been years since boxers have been on the cover of mainstream magazines like Sports Illustrated. I am not sure who was the last boxer to garner such attention?