Did Don King send boxing into obscurity??

[~?DUFFGUN]

I've also thought about this a great deal, and the above rings true, but even with the current premium model, boxing never had to leave TV. For example, HBO could throw the networks a bone and soft sell off a couple of their WCB main events a few times a year in a trade for ad space. A biggish fight with good promotion on primetime would increase PPV potential imho and give a channel like NBC ridiculous ratings for the night. Add the free pub and I don't see how the cable networks could lose.

I continue to scratch my head at why this isn't done.

Yeah back in the 50's you had stuff like teleprompter that showed all the big title fights and you would have to go to a cinema to see it, obviously lack of boxing broadcasts on normal TV wont help, when boxing returned to free TV in the UK in got a big boost, no one had heard of Joe Calzaghe in this country until he was on ITV.

[Bad Boy Dazza]

PPV is really nothing more than an in-home alternative to closed circuit. They HAD ppv back in the day. It was called closed circuit, and the difference was you had to go to an arena or a theater to watch it. Now you can watch it from your couch. They still do closed circuit, but mainly now its only in the city where the fight is, if the fight itself is sold out....

And boxing didnt leave broadcast tv, broadcast tv left boxing. Where advertisers go, so goes the networks. And the advertisers left boxing. HBO maybe is partly to blame for that. As HBO outbid networks for the better fights, and those better fights went to HBO, the networks were left with ESPN quality fights (or worse), and alot of the advertisers tuned out......

PAY TV may have outbid the free networks, but it STILL killed boxing. Free to air may not have payed as much in the short term, but in the long term free to air would have kept boxing BIG.

Your "closed circuit" analogy is irrelevant BTW.

[~?DUFFGUN]

PAY TV may have outbid the free networks, but it STILL killed boxing. Free to air may not have payed as much in the short term, but in the long term free to air would have kept boxing BIG.

Your "closed circuit" analogy is irrelevant BTW.

Yeah the promoters seem to think to short term imo, they should show there young fighters on free TV right up until there first couple of title fights then put them on HBO or PPV (not that i like PPV) that way they would have showcased there ability's to a wide audience and will give them a much bigger fan base before they put them on stuff like HBO.

[Bad Boy Dazza]

Yeah the promoters seem to think to short term imo, they should show there young fighters on free TV right up until there first couple of title fights then put them on HBO or PPV (not that i like PPV) that way they would have showcased there ability's to a wide audience and will give them a much bigger fan base before they put them on stuff like HBO.

Great thinking!