How to get boxing back in the mainstream?

[gigogreco]

But don't you think this is because boxing has been long removed from mainstream television? People aren't exited about boxing because most people don't know who any fighters are, besides a few names like de la hoya, mayweather, Mike Tyson.

If boxing were on mainstream TV, people would slowly learn about fighters and become fans, and there would be more of a buzz.



This is where my idea would come in - mandatory fights on mainstream television. This will still allow for PPV matches so big name fighters could still make big paychecks, only the difference is every 3rd or 4th title fight is must be on mainstream network, like ABC or something.

The thing is though, in the long run it would allow for boxers to make more money because more people would be interested in boxing again.

actually no.. the days where boxing ,was the only combat sport is gone..

you cant neglect, that other sports have been made available for everyone..

boxing doesnt just compete with ufc or k-1, they compete with every other sport.. it competes with everythin that comes across as entertainment..

let say you have an average fan of boxing he might be an average fan off a lot of different sports, he might be interested in movies, and so on and on and on, what should make him choose boxing now..???

he wants to be entertained, but he can pick and choose whatever he likes on that given day, why boxing..??

i would agree, that it could generat more interest from the average fan, but at the end of the day, i still question, how much it would help..

when i saw my first fights live, and by the way only one, it was a friend of mine, not even that good, club level amateur, i was entertained as hell.. it didnt cost me anything.. so this is what i would consider an answer, or maybe a possible sollution..

make it a working class sport again, say **** to the celebrities and tell the to **** of, make it possible for daddy and his son to go, without they are using their entire life savings..

say **** it, put the ring in the middle of a big stadium, instead of taking 100 dollar for 1000 spectators, then take 10 for 10000, the result on the dotted line is the same, except people experience the atmosphere, which is addictive ;-)

that would be my solution, and possibly giving away free or very cheap tickets to kids under a certain age.. if its a local show, give away tickets to the local school, so they know they can watch boxing, make family sections.. cut ticket prices..

get boxing to be a sport you want to watch live, if you want to watch it live and enjoy the atmospherem you will automatically see it on tv..

[cupcrazy01]

Why are you making an attempt to discredit the UFC? Steroid busts will never bring a sport down. Look at the NFL, MLB, NBA and every other sport that has steroid busts.

I never said the UFC steroid story should bring it down. I was saying that if it happened to boxing right now, the media would be all over it and we would be seeing obituaries about the complete death of boxing as a relevant, mainstream sport.

We are already seeing way too much of that as it is, apparently the media just want to ignore the atmosphere at a fight like Cotto-Judah or Hatton-Castillo and just write it off. Think about ESPN. They showed like a 10-second highlight clip of Cotto-Judah and that was that...they probably showed a few minutes' worth of footage of Arena Football games that night because they have an interest in that league. Is that fair?

But ESPN is on board with UFC (see the Chuck Liddell mag cover and the hype surrounding his fight with Rampage), so they won't be going out of their way to talk about steroids in UFC. It was such an underpublicized story.

[eazy_mas]

What are some ideas?
What are the reasons why boxing isn't on networks like ABC anymore? Is it strictly because of PPV and HBO/Showtime contracts? Is it purely because of money/greed?

If organizations, lets say the WBA for example, can set up mandatory matches from time to time, for example, belt holder vs. #1 contender, then whats holding them back from making a deal with lets say ABC and have mandatory fights on primetime television? They could do something like every 3rd or 4th title fight has to be non-PPV and this will still allow for the greed factor. If they did this with every weight class, you could have a championship title match just about every month.

This will allow the public to see big name, title fights for free, as well as expose unheard of names and create new stars. I'm sure you could still rank in a lot of cash with sponsors, advertising.

This would make the entire sport grow tremendously.

I don't fully understand why the various boxing organizations fail to see the big picture. Boxing could really be huge again if it were brought to the masses.

Thoughts?

There is WBC,WBA,WBO and IBF title that are consider as world title.each with different rule and regulation and each has so many scadals and corruption.

you got HBO and Showtime two of th biggest boxing PPV channels. you need to pay the station so it could be aired even if it's for free someone has to pay for it.

you got Don King, GBP, Gary Shaw, Top Rank many promotional organization.

you got the fighters on other hand and there terms and conditions. THey got there trainer to pay as well other cost for training and boxing managment.

you got the Public interst. you wont see a fight that is boring even if it for free or the person is rightfully mandorty to challenge. usally a slugger is baises because judges thing of the option of slugger to sell more PPV and attract more people. you could alway hear fighters compare themself to Tyson but you rarely hear fighters compare themself to Ali ?

you got the other managment stuff like the hotel MSG or Hardrock whatever and the company which going to make the posters and all the little managment stuff

so in other world all of these guy have to accepte on term and if one of them dont then there is no fight. see how much trouble you have to go throw to get a fight.

so in other word make the process of the fight much simpler for the fighters and fans.

Why are you making an attempt to discredit the UFC? Steroid busts will never bring a sport down. Look at the NFL, MLB, NBA and every other sport that has steroid busts.

Yes most pro athelts are using steriod it just because other are doing it as well. i alway not suprised to hear someone got caught because it a normal thing in pro sport there is so much money invovle as well as pressure to preform.