Has boxing ever been this bad?

**deathofaclown** · 10-22-2022, 03:22 AM

Originally posted by The tucker

We have been hearing boxing is dead for decades now even before Tyson and Mayweather. But is it really safe to say boxing is in trouble?

I have never seen so many fights people wanted to see fall apart with such rapid succession only to be replaced with mediocre fights no one asked for.

pacquioa/Spence, turns to pacquiao vs ugas(not a bad match up but nobody wanted to watch from a fan perspective)

canelo was to fight Benavidez/charlo but it turned to bivol /ggg 3.

spence/Crawford turned to I don’t even know the guy Crawford is fighting

Fury/Joshua turned to fury vs chisora

and I have a feeling tank/garcia is going to turn to tank vs mares and garcia vs some dazn fighter no one has heard of. It’s like boxing is going out it’s way to put it self out it’s misery.

This probably happens in many eras though. Lewis v Tyson was years too late, as was Tyson v Holyfield probably. We never got to see Lewis v Bowe or Tyson v Bowe. That’s just a small example

But I do think it’s worse today. Partly because boxers get well paid for crap opposition. I don’t begrudge any fighter getting well-paid because of the dangers involved but it breeds lesser desire for hard fights, less incentive. So you only really get the fights we want if there’s mega money involved that the fighters can’t refuse, and in reality only a few fighters in boxing today have that crossover appeal to make tens of millions a fight.

Didn’t Leo Santa Cruz once say why would he fight a very hard fight for $2m when PBC were paying him $1m a fight at one point to fight factory workers. Obviously not those exact words. But for a period of time, he could just do that twice and get paid the same as one risky fight. But that’s the reality, less risks and get paid still, that’s what the teams around them will be telling them.

You know and I know we’re not getting Tank v Ryan Garcia anytime soon. I’d be willing to bet we haven’t seen it by the end of 2024. Not unless someone comes in and offers them insane money, which I doubt. Good fighters and have some appeal, but they’re not exactly stadium fillers like Canelo, Fury, AJ etc. so they might not get big enough offers to essentially force them into it. Especially when they’re with different promoters. You need to offer really serious huge money for promoters to work together on fight like this so they can both get their satisfactory share, otherwise they just stick to in-house fights.

**TMLT87** · 10-22-2022, 03:24 AM

It ebbs and flows. This time last year we got Fury/Wilder 3, AJ/Usyk 1, Canelo/Plant and Crawford/Porter within a few weeks of each other.

**Legends456** · 10-22-2022, 03:26 AM

Most of the best and strongest American athletes are playing football, and it’s been that way for some time now.

Didn’t Shannon Briggs, as heavyweight champion, get beat down badly by an NFL offensive lineman in a bar fight? Correct me if I’m wrong. But that would show how the strongest, most powerful, destructive tough dudes are not plying their trade in boxing.

And on top of that, the politics of boxing, different promotional companies, and the ridiculous number of belts just makes it all worse.

**TMLT87** · 10-22-2022, 03:28 AM

Originally posted by Legends456

Most of the best and strongest American athletes are playing football, and it’s been that way for some time now.

Most of the best and strongest athletes everywhere are doing something other than boxing and always have been.

**deathofaclown** · 10-22-2022, 03:34 AM

Originally posted by Legends456

Most of the best and strongest American athletes are playing football, and it’s been that way for some time now.

Didn’t Shannon Briggs, as heavyweight champion, get beat down badly by an NFL offensive lineman in a bar fight? Correct me if I’m wrong. But that would show how the strongest, most powerful, destructive tough dudes are not plying their trade in boxing.

And on top of that, the politics of boxing, different promotional companies, and the ridiculous number of belts just makes it all worse.

American football has existed in a time where boxing was thriving too. That’s always been a ****** argument. Plus boxing is a worldwide sport, what’s American football got to do with anywhere else? What’s American football got to do with the fact Fury v AJ haven’t fought yet?

We’ve seen people who played American Football come into boxing and get smashed up. And anyway, a bigger reality is probably that Americas only really dominated the heavyweight division when the soviet types weren’t in pro boxing. Once those Eastern European heavyweights entered the game, they basically took over, that’s fact.

Maybe the old American heavyweights weren’t that great, maybe they just had it easy because large parts of the world weren’t even in the game. That’s theory has a lot more substance to it than the American football one because it factually it did kind of happen that way.

Besides it doesn’t mean American football players would ever be interested in being a boxer anyway if they didn’t play Football. there’s no helmet and pads in boxing. It takes a different set of minerals to go in a ring, not many have them.

**Citizen Koba** · 10-22-2022, 03:37 AM

It's fine. Boxing is doing what it's always done - be a corrupt business masquerading as a sport - and boxing fans continue to do what they always did - complain about it's imminent demise.

**johncods** · 10-22-2022, 03:39 AM

Barely follow boxing anymore because it takes ages to see the meaningful fights happen.. I get surprised when a big fight gets made and I usually find out about it around fight week..

Used to count weeks and days leading up to big fights.. its easier to follow UFC now because the the best fights happen more frequently.

**hugh grant** · 10-22-2022, 04:14 AM

Boxing is frustrating as you don't get the matches you want and have to wait too long. Fighters should be fighting every 4 months.
So wilder fights Ruiz in january, joyce in April, josh in August

**RisAri0** · 10-22-2022, 04:53 AM

I also want to see Bivol vs Beterbiev next year.

Has boxing ever been this bad?