Boxing is so dead

[KidDinamita]

So it's not only me that I noticed that the sport is completely dead. There is nothing to follow and no boxers to follow as well. literally completely dead.

[ELPacman]

Eh? the UFC is on ESPN with a handful of cards a year on ABC. And they keep most of their bigger fights (and pretty much all title fights) for PPV. Boxing is on Fox, ESPN, Showtime and most of it is free.

Huh? I can't remember the last time I saw PBC air a fight on FOX or NBC. Showtime isn't free, nor is ESPN+ or DAZN. When did regular ESPN last show some free fights? I feel like it's been a minute.

[ShoulderRoll]

I think a big part of that is lack of basic channels that air fights anymore. UFC you can catch on various channels. Boxing, you need to seek out to view it. Whether paying for DAZN, ESPN app, having Showtime, etc. At least when PBC was around, you could turn on FOX or NBC and catch a free fight. That helped a little bit even if not all the matches were worthy. Heck, even ESPN showed a lot more fights in the past. Now they push a lot to ESPN+.

This lack of accessibility to a young audience who might catch a good fight by chance while channel surfing is going to kill the sport more. Less word of mouth, less interest, etc.

I don't want to get into a debate between MMA vs Boxing because I could care less as far as MMA putting on better matches. I've tried watching the sport multiple times and it just never catches me the same way. That said, if boxing goes away, I'll just be done, period.

With my niche love of a sport like boxing brought me to a new even more niche sport, arm wrestling, rofl. Huge difference I know, but watching the best face the best almost every 2 months is awesome. Very rare they take any significant injuries that put them out for awhile and the competitors have big personalities which make getting into the sport very easy. It's been my lack of boxing fix for awhile now.

Arm wrestling? What the hell?

What channel does it come out on? I might check it out next time instead of watching a Rigondeaux fight.

[Bullrider]

Boxing is more about showcasing fighters as I came to realize when I started watching. It's nothing like other sports where you follow a team reach the finals and compete with the finalists. You'd be massively disappointed if you're new and expect a boxer who just won big and see him fight at an even bigger level. You might never see him again at all. In sum, it's all about random fights that have no rhyme or reason to get made and sold to the public.

[Sheikh]

Do you guys notice how boxing has no buzz at all nowadays? I remember the days of de la hoya, mayweather, Tyson fighting and everyone was talking about it. Everywhere you would go that week people would know about it. Nowadays no one has heard of these guys. There's no buzz at all even for a lot of the main fights. Maybe Canelo is an exception

[BennyBlanco]

Having a visible, well known promoter with the gift of the gab is mostly a good thing tbh. Boxing used to have it with Don King and I guess today Hearn albeit to a much lesser extent and in his case mostly confined to the UK. The WWE had it with Vince McMahon too. Just having a guy to speak for/sell the product as a whole and someone who the average Joe goes "oh thats that boxing/MMA promoter guy". Its good to have recognisable announcers, referees etc too. Mills Lane bled into popular culture back in the day. Joe Rogan is famous as **** etc etc. I dont think any of this takes away from the fighters themselves.

Couldn't disagree more.

Every bit of ink and attention spent on the promoter - whether Dana White or Hearn or Arum or otherwise - is less ink and attention for the fighter. It's a zero sum game. When Dana hogs the spotlight at press conferences, that leaves less time for fans and media to hear from, and get to know, the fighters.

Mayweather is a great example. When Mayweather was promoted by Arum, his personality and marketability was muted. Floyd was recognized as good, but not a superstar. Arum took the limelight too much of the time and rarely stepped back to let Floyd shine. Plus Arum insisted on marketing Floyd as "Pretty Boy," which was a persona that didn't work that well. Floyd leaves Top Rank and BOOM - new persona, new brand, becomes a superstar. He wasn't toiling underneath a promoter who was suppressing him.

Who knows how many more marketable stars the UFC would have if Dana would share more of the attention and spotlight.

And that's the problem with UFC today. Ask any casual MMA fan - or any general sports fan - to name a UFC star, and 99% of them will say Conor McGregor. You'll get a few Silvas and Jon Joneses. But the vast majority of casual MMA fans and general sports fans can't name another current active UFC fighter (and McGregor barely qualifies as current active.)

If you look at the top 10 UFC fightes in terms of IG followers, 70-80% of them are RETIRED or INACTIVE.

You can say all you want about Poirier, or Adesanya or Usman or Periera or Ngannou or Gane. Casuals barly know them, and general sports fans don't know them at all.

The days of Liddell, Ortiz, Lesnar, Silva, Jones, Diaz bros, McGregor, etc. are long gone, UFC doesn't have any more transcendant mainstream stars than boxing does.

[BennyBlanco]

Boxing is more about showcasing fighters as I came to realize when I started watching. It's nothing like other sports where you follow a team reach the finals and compete with the finalists. You'd be massively disappointed if you're new and expect a boxer who just won big and see him fight at an even bigger level. You might never see him again at all. In sum, it's all about random fights that have no rhyme or reason to get made and sold to the public.

Not even close to true. I'm a big Tank Davis fan. His last 10 fights have all been on Showtime. 2-3 times per year, like clockwork.

Same for the Charlos. Wilder too. Spence, Crawford, etc. If you don't know when they're fighting, that's because you're not following the sport.

[al-Xander]

Not even close to true. I'm a big Tank Davis fan. His last 10 fights have all been on Showtime. 2-3 times per year, like clockwork.

Same for the Charlos. Wilder too. Spence, Crawford, etc. If you don't know when they're fighting, that's because you're not following the sport.

All of those people you mentioned here now fight once a year. Yeah, all of them. (You people need to fact check before posting.) The Charlos now fight once a year. Jermall hasn't been seen in the ring for a year and a half. Wilder almost retired after only 2 loses. Spence didn't fight at all in 2021, fought once this year. Crawford same story.

[TMLT87]

Who knows how many more marketable stars the UFC would have if Dana would share more of the attention and spotlight.

And that's the problem with UFC today. Ask any casual MMA fan - or any general sports fan - to name a UFC star, and 99% of them will say Conor McGregor. You'll get a few Silvas and Jon Joneses. But the vast majority of casual MMA fans and general sports fans can't name another current active UFC fighter (and McGregor barely qualifies as current active.)

If you look at the top 10 UFC fightes in terms of IG followers, 70-80% of them are RETIRED or INACTIVE.

You can say all you want about Poirier, or Adesanya or Usman or Periera or Ngannou or Gane. Casuals barly know them, and general sports fans don't know them at all.

The days of Liddell, Ortiz, Lesnar, Silva, Jones, Diaz bros, McGregor, etc. are long gone, UFC doesn't have any more transcendant mainstream stars than boxing does.

But Dana was just as prominent when all of those guys were around. Then on the other hand you have Bellator and PFL with nowhere near as much promoter presence and its not like they are churning out stars.

Usman is in the new Black Panther movie, Ngannou was in the last Jackass and Fast and Furious movie and was interviewed in the ring after Fury/Whyte, Adesanya is in a commercial for one of the biggest video games of the year, so they are bleeding over into wider popular culture to some degree, although they arent Conor big. Its not the most star studded time in UFC history but I dont think thats anything to do with Danas presence, i think its just the natural ebb and flow of things, and it can always change very quickly. I mean, 2014 was considered a really weak year devoid of stars at the time, and then 2015 Conor and Ronda both blew up huge. Jorge in 2019 is another instance, he went from being a veteran journeyman to being one of the biggest stars in combat sports in the space of a few months, nobody could have seen it coming.

[ELPacman]

Arm wrestling? What the hell?

What channel does it come out on? I might check it out next time instead of watching a Rigondeaux fight.

Youtube. Then once in awhile, they put together a PPV with 15 matches for 15 bucks. Granted, it lasts 6 hours but you can catch the replay once you order it and just fast forward to the good stuff.

If you REALLY want to get into with a big personality that will probably get you hooked immediately like it did to me, look up Devon Larratt highlight video. Then if you want to know whose the GOAT in the sport, look up John Brzenk. he's 58 yrs old still competing at the highest level because in arm wrestling you get stronger as you age, opposite to boxing, thus why I got into it (at my advanced age of 37). The dude has been at the top since the 80s and he's rather a smaller dude taking on giants and taking them down. He just competed this weekend and took down another titan. No other sport in history can you say that.

There is also crazy technique once you actually understand it and isn't a simple calling your friend to arm wrestle you on a table. There is so much more to it than that once you learn.