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**** ESPN and the rest of the mainstream sports media, they'd rather watch their 100th college football game of the day then pay for a big fight. They know nothing about boxing and Im glad they keep theyre nose out of it for the better part of the year. theyre nothing but promotion machines, and if ESPN got a cut of Boxing PPV revenue then youd bet it would be all over their networks, just like anything else that they actually do air is.
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Revamped
Here's my two cents on the matter:
Bonus purses for Knockouts: What boxing fan doesn't look forward to or hope for a knockout? Sure distance fights are great when there's a high exchange rate with one or both men hitting and climbing off the canvas to continue but bonuses for knockouts would give added incentive to gun shy fighters or fighters who might want to "play it safe" and those who enjoy putting on a boxing clinic during a prize fight. More action, more aggression, more money!
Financially penalize long slow boring gun shy fights and fighters: While I respect fighters who possess a high level of boxing skill, I often find myself routing against those fighters simply because they either don't have power to close the show or they just lack the confidence. Either way I'd like to see governing bodies penalize fighters who aren't aggressive enough, get lazy, or just run away from their opponents. A fighter like Paul Malignaggi is an example of a fighter with strong boxing skills but my god, even for a 25+ year boxing enthusiast such as myself he's boring as hell to watch and you know there's not chance of a knockdown let alone a knock out. Time to start forcing fighters to think twice about running, holding, etc. Force the action!
Less early/bad stoppages: Nobody wants to see any fighter get seriously hurt but more often than not doctors and/or referee's stop fights after a guy gets sent to the canvas just one time, while other stoppages come after a fighter is rocked or wobbled. The "better one punch to early" mentality really hurts sometimes. Casual fans watch boxing for violence and the the chance of a conclusive fight...meaning knockdowns and allowing someone to finish their opponent.
More active fighters: This applies more the champions than anything else. To many of the top fighters wear Silk Pajama's and among other unproductive things, they take more than a few months off in between fights. I think all fighters should be made to fight at least once every three months...at least. Casual fan tunes in, likes a guy he sees fighting but then doesn't see another fight from this guy for 4, 6 months, sometimes longer. This makes the sport difficult to follow and slow.
Rules in place to make unification's mandatory: Boxing currently has too many alphabet champions and to many meaningless titles. It can be confusing for hardcore fans to keep up with who's who in boxing, I can only imagine how disjointed this must appear to casuals and how much of a turn off it is. Let the fans get behind one guy!
Physical requirements that fighters must meet prior even being licensed: My god, how many out of shape fat guys must we endure? Of course boxing enthusiasts will be able to spot skill amongst the flabby bellies and man boobs, but casual viewers look at these slobs and think, "this is a boxer, this is what boxing has to offer?" BMI requirements should be created and heavily and strictly adhered to. Boxing should be full of athletes not fat guys. This will force those out of the sport who don't take the sport as serious as they should.
Age Limits: Bernard Hopkins being the exception (and it's only a matter of time before time catches him too) most fighters in their very late 30's and 40's put on slow boring fights which they sometimes don't even win only to come back again and try once more a year or so later. To make matters worse the networks air many of these fights or put these over the hill fighters in with younger fighters, creating a predictable mismatch. I've heard casual fans comment on this as well as most of us who follow the sport closely. 40 years old should be the cut off mark for boxers. If they want to continue to fight then boxing should create a senior class and turn it into a novelty under card type of thing like they did with Butterbean years ago. Networks should be focused on today's fighters, and tomorrows contenders/champions, not yesterdays.
Fewer Pay Per Views: I know I'm not the only one who thinks there's too many PPV's and that many of those don't even belong on TV let alone on PPV. Overpriced and often under-delivering PPV's often suck plain and simple. Bad under cards followed by dull main events featuring little known fighters or rising star prospects. If networks want a bigger audience try taking at the very least, some of these fights off PPV and put them back onto HBO, Showtime, etc. Why is Pavlik's next fight on PPV? After that abysmal performance last time out, networks should be begging people to tune in to his next fight for free. PPV's should be reserved for unification bouts, comebacks, and other big marquee type stuff.
Better under cards: Nuff said! I miss women fighting, and the Tough Man Butterbean style under cards.
Double Main Events: I would say this applies more to PPV's than anything else but the more big names you have the bigger the draw. For 50 dollars I think casual and core fans deserve more than one big name fight. Especially when many of the biggest fights go the distance.
Clean up Corruption: Yea, like this will ever happen.
There is a lot more I'd like to list here that I think would help draw more people to the sport like reducing the number of sanctioning bodies, and the use of smaller gloves, but since I don't believe boxing will ever do anything outside of what it does now to pull in more fans, I don't think it really matters.Comment
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Good reads.
Also, add in getting rid of 10 oz gloves. I'm not sure they used 10 oz back in the day...not even for HWs. George Foreman was wearing 8 oz; that's all I need to know. I know Tyson wore 8 oz in at least one of his fights...but most were 10 oz I think. Eh; bring back 8.
Seeing these little guys having to wear sparring gloves is terrible; Screw Vegas. They allow MMA guys to wear 4 oz gloves
Many things need to change...Comment
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I thought about this as well. I was thinking if there was a "Superstar," say a HW Olympic star...why should HBO get him when ESPN and NBC do all the work covering Olympic boxing. The Fighter should take advantage of the ESPN/NBC machine and mix it up fighting between NBC and ESPN. Fight every month against C class opponents if you have to for at least a year; then start to go to B-class; and then A-class by your 3rd year or so. Let ESPN take the PPVs with you and they'll be certain to make you a hyped up boxer exposed to the World.
The more well known you are, the more money you can make outside the ring and for a long time after your career is over.
Keep the Mega fights on PPV...the rest, ESPN and NBC.Comment
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