As Boxing fans how do you rate the current state of the sport?

[Mr. Philadel]

Boxing is in an Alright state at the Moment but the only way it can really be a mainstream sport again is if the Heavyweight Division becomes more Exciting and develops a lot more Characters

i agree! the HW's have to step up!

[mrpain81]

MrPain I do agree with you that MMA has helped boxing get off its ass and give us fights. No longer can boxing leaders give us piss poor matchups and expect us to just give em money. We have options but I disagree I dont think MMA fans will start watching boxing. If they were interested in boxing they would have been watching it a while ago, its two completely different styles. Last time I was in Vegas there was no boxing so I went to see the IFL at the Orleans and boy did it blow. MMA fans will be MMA fans until they realize that boxing is just an overall better sport and boxing fans are boxing fans. I give MMA some credit its okay but it isnt that exciting to me, people that watch MMA are kind of dumbed down I think when it comes to fighting. The matches are boring, usually not very techincal, poor punching skills, and their fans are just obsessed with blood.

That's the thing though, most the MMA fans are young and might have never been exposed to boxing or even cared. We also have to take into consideration, most young people that have never watched a boxing match and have heard nothing but bad things about the sport. I have had friends who thought Boxing was "dead" or "Corrupt" or "Don King fixes fights" or had only watched maybe a fight on FNF and thought it was boring.

One of the major reasons that MMA has grown so much is they have invested alot in the internet promotions. Boxing has been slower to see the potential in the internet, they are catching on though.

If you take a look at HBO is finally putting video's on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=HBO

They have been doing it for 3 months and already 10 of the 20 most viewed videos are Boxing, and 4 of the top 5. The Cotto vs Gomez highlight has over 1 million views.

Boxing promoters need to head out of their asses, I need to become a promoter and start giving the fans what they want.

[mrpain81]

[Domain]

With no Heavyweight Division Boxing is basically losing steam big time.

The other divisions besides heavyweight are all doing amazing! and are exciting its a shame though imagine if we had a booming heavyweight division? then all those smaller weight guys would get wayyyyy more exposure because more people would start going to boxing websites and search boxing just because of the heavyweights.

[The Hammer]

The sport of boxing is better than ever, with more top fighters from all over the world.

No American qualified for the 2008 Olympics at over 200 lb (super-heavyweight). The heavyweight division is in good shape, it's just that it's no longer dominated by Americans and won't be in the near future. So we can expect to hear a lot of whining about how the heavyweight division sucks, because it will take awhile for people to get used to European champions.

I've heard that the next generation of heavyweights from Eastern Europe (boxers age 17 to 21 now) are going to be even better than the current ones.

[mrpain81]

Found this at another site, very interesting.

The future is not American.

A quick look at the most recent issue of The Ring Magazine ratings confirms this.

Of the 180 fighters that are currently ranked - there are only 44 Americans, or 24% of all the fighters that are ranked.

Only 2 American heavyweights - Tony Thompson and Johnny Ruiz.

Below 126 pounds there are still 6 weight divisions. Of the 60 fighters ranked in those divisions there are only 2 Americans ranked in the top 10 - Abner Mares at 118 and Jose Navarro at 115. That's it!

Boxing has become much more global than it was, say 25 years ago.

A check of the ratings from the April 1982 edition of KO Magzine has 120 fighters ranked in 12 weight divisions. 9 of the 10 ranked heavyweights were American.

But a total of 63 Americans were ranked in the top 10 of the 120 fighters. So over 50% were American in 1982 versus 24% today in 2008.

My guess is that if we go another 26 years into the future that about 10% will be American.

The future is in the Philippines, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics. You'll still see a lot of fighters from Mexico, Central and South America and England in the future.

But boxing here in the USA is dead and dying.

Numbers don't lie.

[Pugilistic™]

i'm happy with everything but the heavyweight division.