Is Boxing Dying?

[johnkraus]

Haters say DLH is done which means boxing is done. Well DLH made Floyd a mainstream crossover, I think he did the same with Manny so boxing does have a future. The sad thing with boxing is everyone knows the problems (promoters, too many weight classes, too many world champs...) but the guys running the sport are doing NOTHING to fix it.

[Im Horny]

why is it old?

[MANGLER]

Boxing ain't goin anywhere. There's always been alphabet bull****, politics, overpriced PPV's, and cherrypickin fighters. The sport has gotten thru it before and will keep on doin so. Some people can't resist whinin that the HW champ ain't a global figure anymore, but that's old news just like the whole **** about MMA overtakin boxing.

[Clegg]

Boxing is fine and we seen it last saturday. 1.25 million people bought a fight, over in the UK they had 2 major events going on. Joe may think boxing is dying because his PPV did **** numbers but it really isn't. Joe should of realized to make big time money you better get your ass on PPV and come to the states. Well he didn't do that, his numbers tanked, and now he bitches. Anyone outside of the UK that wasnt hardcore into boxing didn't even know the name Joe Calzaghe before 2006. This would be like putting Karl Froch on PPV. He would probably say the sport is dying too.
P.S. no one in the boxing public wanted to see the woy owns fight.(dawson v calzaghe woulda done better) Joe needs to realize fans want to see real fights.

Lol, you seem to do an awful lot of crying these days.

[Liaison]

Boxing as a sport has technically been 'dying' since the 50s. The Griffith-Paret and Ramos-Moore tragedies in the 60s didn’t help. The Ali & 70’s contingent factor masked this to a great extent, and the Leonard-Hagler-Hearns-Duran era and Tyson's emergence kept boxing in the spotlight. However, boxing had gradually turned into an event-driven sport that was important only for a few nights a year. Now it struggles to be that and with Hoya soon to be gone, well yeah, we still have Europe…

[alphaqfrankie]

I disagree. I think we would all be lying to ourselves if we said boxing is at it's peak. It's not. Right now boxing is the underdog compared to the other mainstream sports. Which in my eyes is not necessarily a bad thing. Boxing has thrived on being the underdog. There have been many men(boxers) who were underdogs at one point, yet found success in this sport. Boxing embraces it. We maybe "knockdown" as a sport, but we are not out for the count. We will come back and fight our way back.

I hope to be apart of this change in some way. Even if its in a minor way. I just want to help move boxing in a positive direction. . But boxing will be ok. Trust me...

[badboypeenoy]

I like mixed-martial arts, but when there's a real good boxing match-up, I tend to chose boxing.

[Equilibrium]

Today I was surprised to read Joe Calzaghe said boxing is dying.

What do you think? Poll coming.

Is it dying? No.

Is it as popular as it once was? Hell no.

30 years ago you could ask anybody on the street who the heavyweight champion was and they would tell you.

Nowadays? About one people out of ten will know.

Too many belts, expensive ppv, boring sub cards, greedy promoters. Take away all of that a boxing will go through the roof again, until then i'm bootlegging big fights on the internet.

[mishka80]

I disagree. I think we would all be lying to ourselves if we said boxing is at it's peak. It's not. Right now boxing is the underdog compared to the other mainstream sports. Which in my eyes is not necessarily a bad thing. Boxing has thrived on being the underdog. There have been many men(boxers) who were underdogs at one point, yet found success in this sport. Boxing embraces it. We maybe "knockdown" as a sport, but we are not out for the count. We will come back and fight our way back.

I hope to be apart of this change in some way. Even if its in a minor way. I just want to help move boxing in a positive direction. . But boxing will be ok. Trust me...

Great post. I agree completely.

[SalSanchez]

The reason boxing is making millions and millions more than UFC, is because of their target market. UFC is aimed at teen - mid 20's white kids from the burbs. Boxing events are marketed towards rich folk who have time shares in Las Vegas, who are willing to pay 7500 for a ringside seat and watch ****ty undercards like last weekend.

UFC is more popular right now. And annual revenue is not a good case for proving which is more popular.

Dream on.About UFC being more popular than boxing talk to me if bisping can bring 30k of his fans or Vera bringing thousands of his fans to vegas.