"Boxing has been dying for the last 100 years"

[WaRCoTTo]

A quote by the great Jim Lampley as he chuckles and as UFC's Dana White claims that he's learned so much about the business through boxings mistakes..

"de la Hoya-Mayweather was the 10th fight to "save boxing" that I can cite you" -Jim Lampley


So I was watching a special on CNBC called "UFC -from bloodsport to mainstream"..

And they were kinda bad mouthing boxing and how they have fell off especially with the likes of Mike Tyson Evander Holyfield, and now Oscar de la Hoya retiring their BIG FIGHT DAYS are pretty much done..

I have to agree with Lampley tho..I'm sure Boxing has had it's phases of dull moments wit weak or not the right public appealing boxers..

But it will never die..it just has this weak no skill needing sport to compete against because it's the closest you can get to a street or bar fight in which everyone seems to love to see..

I know boxing and MMA has been compared alot lately but I still think boxing has the edge over MMA and will continue to do so..

But boxing needs to get smarter with promoting and doing some shows on network channels like ABC or CBS etc..a way to expose the talent there is for free once in a while..they still profit wit the right marketing..

PPV is hurting boxings revenues and fanbase for that matter IMO it's instant money for the promoters and boxers but in the long run it's slowly ruining the sport...especially if they are fights that leave fans disappointed with spending $50 for a half-assed performance..

just my thoughts on the subject..Thanks and GOOD NIGHT!!!

[KILLA RIGHT]

Did they have dana and lampley go at each other on a show or something

[WaRCoTTo]

Did they have dana and lampley go at each other on a show or something

I wish!!..

but nah it was seperate interview clips they were showing..and Lampley threw a shot at MMA right after the DLH-Mayweather bout saying that MMA's skill-level is "Light-years behind that of boxings"...

funny ****!..lol

[mrpain81]

Agreed, this sums it up.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the first essay in a series about boxer Oscar De La Hoya, his looming retirement and rebirth as a promoter, and the saga leading up to his upcoming bout against a five-foot-six-and-a-half-inch lightning bolt from the Philippines named Manny Pacquiao. The fight is expected to rake in at least $165 million, the most in boxing history. The bell sounds on December 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Critics make poor morticians, so with sorrow many have told us: boxing is dead. They said it in England in the 1820s, when the bare-knuckle fighters of the time were said to pale in comparison to a champion in the 1740s named Jack Broughton. They said it in 1951, when Joe Louis retired from the ring. They said it after Muhammad Ali. They say it today. What they remember is the Ali-Frazier “Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden, where Frank Sinatra snapped photos ringside for Life magazine; they remember the unparalleled agility of Sugar Ray Robinson; and they long for the heroism of bare-knuckle heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan, who knocked out Jake Kilrain after a scant 75 rounds. Boxing is a sport whose popularity always seems on the decline—until a major fight is on the horizon. “My event with Manny Pacquiao is going to be probably the biggest in the history of any fight game—so that’s an indication boxing is alive and well,” Oscar De La Hoya told me recently. He was unwittingly paraphrasing the poet Randall Jarrell who wrote, “The people who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks.”

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/culture/2008/10/14/anatomy-of-a-fight-part-one.html

[Cadillac Man]

Above comments are well said...BOXING WILL NEVER DIE...Lampley IS right when he says MMA is lightyears away from Boxing as far as skill goes. Once the Heavyweight division comes back aound mainstream will come back around HISTORY proves it and the divison has peaks and valleys and right now it is in that valley but some time soon it will climb back to the peak.

All Boxing needs to do is market the fights and fighters better. Stop over hyping 1 fight when the styles don't mesh see odlh-pbf. Imagine if the mainstream saw Vazquez-Marquez,JMM-Pacquiao,Casa-Katsidis. Somehow Boxing atleast needs to replay thOSE fights on network TV even if it is at 2 AM and show those fights and the fans will come back in DROVES.

[The Scientist]

MMA is like the crass young man that doesn't have much respect for the old timer. Boxing has been traced back to Ancient Egypt, has been around for Millenniums, is still here, and is going nowhere. Even IF that was the case an underground scene would keep it alive with hardcore fans.

[Irish Catholic]

I think it has since the 1950's. There's been popular champions of course since then and people obviously still make alot of money but back then I think like everybody boxed. Part of that is probably demographics because back then most cities, were mostly white ethnic people who would walk down to gym and box and watch boxing but now demographics are totally different most people live in suburbs but still most boxers come out of those same neighborhoods.

[-MAKAVELLI-]

Agreed…they can make MMA a regular TV sport and they could be as big as football, but boxing has too many addicts to let the sport die…there’s a history of grandpas to fathers to sons that pass the love for the sweet science from generation to generation…you can’t kill that…boxing is as much culture as it is ‘sport’….

[Truth]

boxing is always dying according to everybody, but it doesn't seem to ever actually die. which is good for us!!

[boxasmash]

It will never die.

every year a new influx of fans get interested because of heroes from their town.

like joe calzaghe, kelly pavlik.. pacquiao etc