Tweet
There is a lot of hand wringing lately about the state of boxing. Boxing, at least in the states, seems to have lost the casual fan.
One might argue that the lack of press coverage is to blame. Boxing is no longer shown on free television. Boxing results or match-ups are rarely covered in the traditional press. For example, what does your local sports page say about tonight's Cotto-Mosley fight? Not much if at all, I would guess, unless you live in New York. But is this lack of coverage to blame for the lack of casual fans, or is the lack of coverage caused by it? A classic example of the chicken or the egg. One thing seems certain though, if the media covered more boxing, more people would be into boxing.
There is no lack of proposed solutions to make boxing more fan friendly. Smaller rings, lighter gloves, altered scoring, etc. But, in the end, would it be worth the price to separate boxing from its roots, to forgo pure boxing in order to court the knockout happy casual fan?
One might argue that the lack of press coverage is to blame. Boxing is no longer shown on free television. Boxing results or match-ups are rarely covered in the traditional press. For example, what does your local sports page say about tonight's Cotto-Mosley fight? Not much if at all, I would guess, unless you live in New York. But is this lack of coverage to blame for the lack of casual fans, or is the lack of coverage caused by it? A classic example of the chicken or the egg. One thing seems certain though, if the media covered more boxing, more people would be into boxing.
There is no lack of proposed solutions to make boxing more fan friendly. Smaller rings, lighter gloves, altered scoring, etc. But, in the end, would it be worth the price to separate boxing from its roots, to forgo pure boxing in order to court the knockout happy casual fan?