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How is US the bench mark for boxing? If MMA is bigger than boxing in the state, that's their business but boxing is far much bigger world wide and that's all that matters.
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MMA more or less got as big as boxing by like 2007/2008 already tbh. Boxing was extremely lucky to have Floyd and Pac blow up and become huge stars bigger than any UFC names around that same time because they carried boxings profile and ensured every year through 2015 that boxing would have sometimes a handful of really big PPV fights that were bigger than any of the UFCs. But when those two werent fighting hardly anything in boxing moved the needle, while the UFC was a consistent PPV draw. Once boxing couldnt rely on those two anymore the UFC clearly took over, especially considering that Conor and Ronda blew up right around the time of the Floyd/Pac fight.
Boxing still has its big moments though ie the Canelo/GGG and Fury/Wilder fights in the last few years were high profile, and AJ/Fury would probably be bigger than any UFC fight that could realistically be made right now. But those spikes in popularity are relatively infrequent for boxing, and there are no Floyd or Pac type guys that can do a million buys fighting practically anyone, Conor is the only one that can do that nowadays.Comment
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Its not that clear cut at all. The UFC likely gets far more global viewers on the typical weekend than any single boxing events, with the exception of like AJ or Fury fights being on. Its a recognizable "brand" like the WWE, it has video games like the WWE, and it also tours (well...pre COVID) extensively like the WWE. in 2019 alone there were multiple UFC events in Brazil, Australia, Russia and Canada and they also went to the UK, China, Mexico, South Korea, Czech republic, Sweden, Uruguay, Denmark and Singapore - again, thats one single 12 month period.
Also people tend to downplay the non-UFC promotions. Yes the UFC is obviously by far the largest but theres also ONE FC, Rizin, Brave CF and Road FC in Asia, ACA, M-1, FNG and RCC in Russia, KSW in Poland, Cage Warriors in the UK etc. Those are not negligible sized promotions. KSW did a crowd of like 60,000 at a stadium a few years back, Rizin did 30k for their New Years eve show a few months before Corona hit. Bellator (a US based promotion) has toured to other countries a fair bit too.Last edited by TMLT87; 03-29-2021, 01:47 AM.Comment
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I live in the UK but thought it was common knowledge MMA (or UFC at least) leads boxing in America, and has done for a good 15 years. The decline and eventual exit of HBO from boxing was, in my opinion, a huge blow to whatever passed for organisation in the sport. Back when HBO was the platform to get paid on, it at least ensured a certain amount cohesion, they wanted the fights, the fighter/promoter knew they needed HBO to get paid, so the fights tended to happen. Now with too many channels, guys signed to exclusives to this one or that one, there' way to much A side vs B side being strung out, and the guys are getting paid so there's no incentive to make the real fights.
Over here, I honestly don't see massive interest in MMA, UFC is the brand and has its following but outside of that and the occasional peak for a big UFC fight, it's not becoming a major sport here. Not that boxing's in any kind of golden age, thanks to Eddie Hearn monopolising Sky there's never been worse coverage in this country that I can remember, There's big interest in the big names, AJ, Fury, they can sell a football stadium out but interest in the level below that isn't high anymore. Going back a few years there were fights on Sky every Friday or Saturday, now there's hardly any, the coverage is fractured between too many platforms, only people who are already big fans who seek out the fights get to watch them, and are getting milked more and more for every penny, new people aren't getting into the sport.
Boxings only got itself to blame for it's current standing, when something big happens the interest is still there but the industry seems intent on keeping anything interesting from happening so they can milk out second rate fights for ever!Comment
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MMA has definitely overtaken boxing in America. Just look at the Usman/Masvidal PPV buys as an example. One way they did that was to make undefeated record irrelevant, American boxing is built around unbeaten records, once a boxer loses they seem to dump them right away.
With MMA it’s all about making the top fighting the top, and using that to generate interest and money for both their fighters and company. Hence why Usman and masvidal are fighting again, hence why Dustin and Conor are fighting again. Because the interest is there and people want to see it.
With American boxing their fans don’t call for the fights, they don’t put pressure on their boxers, they don’t ask the relevant questions, most of them are cheerleaders, how long has the Crawford v Spence fight been talked about now? Have you seen one single offer been sent from one side to one side? Whatever claimed to be the A-side? Nah...
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UFC is run much better than any boxing promotional company. You get great cards pretty much every PPV, best fight the best. 1 belt per division.
No long ass intros or National anthems. The commentators are positive and big up their fighters. Not everyone is a bum because they have losses.
A good boxing match is the best event in sports but unfortunately it’s not as common as it should be.Comment
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Exactly, Conor got beat by Dustin. What happened? They doing a rematch... The defeat doesn’t mean it’s over for Conor career, Stipe was poleaxed and people were talking about a trilogy right away or a Jon jones fight. Boxing just talk the talk especially in america. They don’t walk the walk anymore like they used to do before the Tyson/Holyfield era.
There has been a steady decline in america when it comes to boxing, instead of sitting down and making or negotiating for fights they would rather talk about splits, this started around the Roy Jones era with the P4P thing..Comment
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Boxing is still the preferred thing for me to watch despite me actually fighting within MMA.
Problem is, if MMA gets its act together and starts properly renumerating its fighters (in a model similar to that of the NFL/NBA) then indeed boxing is truly ****ed. Despite the many orgs and promoters making harder to make fights, it also makes it easier to build stars...something which the UFC still lacks.Comment
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LOL no the **** its not. UFC is run horribly and has actually seen a lot of interest decline over the years. You may hate the intros and anthems but it adds an element of nationalistic pride and personality. In nations like Japan, UK and Mexico boxing is still massive because the sport allows the cultivation of personalities. The problem with MMA is that everyone is forced to conform the Zuffa/Reebok brand and thus few fighters can build brands for themselves. The only ones who ended up doing so, McGregor and Rousey, were weakminded cretins who lacked the intelligence to ensure better conditions for themselves or other fighters.
As much as I do hate the marination, it also does mean that fighters actually get paid what they're worth.Comment
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