Boxing is so dead

[Offensive Wizardry]

Relative lack of star power (Canelo isn’t enough) and fighters avoiding each other are the two main reasons boxing is in a doldrums. Even hardcore fans are having a tough time staying interested. Fury had a real chance of raising the sport, but he’s just not motivated enough. A shame.

exactly.

the entire sport is devoid of any transcendent superstars.

canelo isnt enough. he doesnt give enough off court entertainment value the way past boxing icons have.

fury has the personality but doesnt fight enough and after beating wilder, he has nobody to tango with.

there's nobody hitting the the mainstream consciousness.

then there's the trouble of making great fights because everybody is trying to protect their undefeated record like floyd....

lomachenko was suppose to be the next big thing but he's fizzling out.

charlo brothers?

boring.

ditto spence and crawford who cant fight and going the floyd manny route with how hard to set up a fight between the two.


boxing will never die but right now, its in zombie the walking dead mode. aka a terrible tv show.

[Offensive Wizardry]

it would have to come out that tyson fury is part of the kinahan cartel for boxing to be in the mainstream again because these fights being set up and taking place are not doing it.......

i mean ryan garcia?

really?

that's the future of boxing?

another de la hoya wanna be type star? (in every way)




no thanks.

[al-Xander]

Sad to think that a Youtube sensation like Jake Paul is keeping it alive. Not hard to imagine how confuse new boxing fans must be. They have no clue which fights are legit.

[BennyBlanco]

The only fights or fighters worth a **** are benvidez vs canelo.

Benevidez vs plant i can get up for

The lighter 135-140 fighters porentially fighting but they wont actually fight

Spence vs crawford


Welterweight division is dead. 154 dead
all these fighters suck and are not worth watching

To make matters worse, not only is it a talent issue but none of these prima donnas want to fight

Boxing is dead

Ive been watching a ton of ufc lately and its way better. The best fight the best. End of story. No politics.

They also fight once a year now...fight 1 tomato can a year.

LOL. "The best fight the best" in UFC? That's hilarious.

You need to start thinking for yourself instead of swallowing whatever B.S. Dana White spews.

The UFC is not about the best fighting the best. The UFC is about making the most money. So worthy challengers get passed over reguarly, and UFC chooses who they believe is the most marketable and will make the most money. Sometimes that's the best fighting the best, often it's not.

UFC kept trotting out Nick Diaz and Sonnen for repeated title shots long after they had peaked. They weren't the best but they kept getting main event headline matchups because they talked a lot and generated publicity. But they weren't the best.

Covington got starched by Usman and then got a rematch simply by beating a washed Woodley. Was Covington the best? Of course not. But he got to fight the best because he was marketable. And then after losing the second time to Usman, he got another PPV headline vs. Masvidal. NOT AT ALL the best vs. the best.

Sonnen fought Jon Jones for the title coming off TWO STRAIGHT LOSSES. Predictably, Sonnen lasted only one round. That's not best vs. best.

EACH OF JOSE ALDO and YOEL ROMERO GOT TO FIGHT FOR THE TITLE COMING OFF TWO CONSECUTIVE LOSSES. Same for Frankie Edgar and Holly Holm. That's not the best vs. the best.

You probably don't remember JEREMY HORN. Horn got a title shot against Liddell despite the fact that Horn hadn't been in the UFC for years and was then fighting on a third-tier regional promotion. That's not best vs. best.

I could go on all day:
- Couture got KO'ed TWICE IN A ROW, then retired...and then came out of retirement and instantly got a title shot. He wasn't anywhere near the best. Plenty of other more worthly title challengers.
- Gustaffson got KO'ed and then immediately got a title shot vs. Cormier, when Bader was availabie and far more deserving.
- Masvidal is the poster child for undeserving fights. He keeps losing but still gets opportunities, because he's fun to watch. But he's NOT the best

The UFC is run like a TV show, not a sports league. Like WWE, the way to get opportunities is to build a good character and make lots of noise - Diaz, Masvidal, Covington, etc. Being the best has nothing to do with it.

[BennyBlanco]

The only fights or fighters worth a **** are benvidez vs canelo.

Benevidez vs plant i can get up for

The lighter 135-140 fighters porentially fighting but they wont actually fight

Spence vs crawford


Welterweight division is dead. 154 dead
all these fighters suck and are not worth watching

To make matters worse, not only is it a talent issue but none of these prima donnas want to fight

Boxing is dead

Ive been watching a ton of ufc lately and its way better. The best fight the best. End of story. No politics.

They also fight once a year now...fight 1 tomato can a year.

Ive also spenr over 20k in tickets over the last 15 years so anyone not calling me a fan can kick rocks.

Good riddance. Last thing the sport needs is more cynical, negative fans.

Welterweight division is dead??? LOL. Spence, Crawford, Thurman, Ennis, Ortiz is a dead division? LOL. You're clueless.

154 dead? The division just crowned an undisputed champion for the first time ever, and there are plenty of worthy and entertaining challengers: Fundora, Tzsyu, Garcia and probably ultimately Spence and Crawford.

Heavyweight division is as entertaining and unpredictable as it's been in years.

135 is one of the hottest divisions in the sport. Davis and Garcia WILL FIGHT IN THE SPRING, with more big fights to come.

Benavidez, Plant, Charlo, Canelo...168 strong too.

But clearly you're more interested in a sport where the person who gets the most attention is the promoter Dana White. The guy who dominates the press conferences, puts his name on everything and shouts down anyone who dares have a different opinion. Last thing i want to hear at a press conference is more promoters talking. But you go ahead and be a Dana White fanboy.

Enjoy the White Power Slap League.

[ELPacman]

Its really bad right now...its losing viewership and fan base.

None of these guys fight each other and fight once a year

They need to rework their promotional company bull**** or the sport is dead.

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.

[CubanGuyNYC]

exactly.

the entire sport is devoid of any transcendent superstars.

canelo isnt enough. he doesnt give enough off court entertainment value the way past boxing icons have.

fury has the personality but doesnt fight enough and after beating wilder, he has nobody to tango with.

there's nobody hitting the the mainstream consciousness.

then there's the trouble of making great fights because everybody is trying to protect their undefeated record like floyd....

lomachenko was suppose to be the next big thing but he's fizzling out.

charlo brothers?

boring.

ditto spence and crawford who cant fight and going the floyd manny route with how hard to set up a fight between the two.


boxing will never die but right now, its in zombie the walking dead mode. aka a terrible tv show.

Agreed. Fury is a disappointment. Here is this giant with skills, and a personality to match his size, and he just isn’t interested enough. What an opportunity for the sport to come roaring back. De La Hoya, Floyd, Manny, their eras were memorable, but the heavyweight division has been and will always be king.

[Offensive Wizardry]

Agreed. Fury is a disappointment. Here is this giant with skills, and a personality to match his size, and he just isn’t interested enough. What an opportunity for the sport to come roaring back. De La Hoya, Floyd, Manny, their eras were memorable, but the heavyweight division has been and will always be king.

they had a chance. the heavyweights.

floyd manny no longer hogging up the spotlight.

fury and wilder finally fight and its exciting... but anthony joshua doesnt live up to hype which is a huge blow to the sport. wilder doesnt rise from the ashes of a devastating ko the way a duran did, the way a hearns did, the way a pacquiao did, the way a tyson did.... usyk has some nice skills but he fights like a little guy.....

heavyweight was in the cusp right there with fury, wilder, joshua but they fizzled out...

there's nobody that's upcoming that is anticipated by the mainstream.

ryan garcia?

barf.

[TMLT87]

But clearly you're more interested in a sport where the person who gets the most attention is the promoter Dana White. The guy who dominates the press conferences, puts his name on everything and shouts down anyone who dares have a different opinion. Last thing i want to hear at a press conference is more promoters talking. But you go ahead and be a Dana White fanboy.

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.

[TMLT87]

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.

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.