Morrell To Fight Radivoje Kalajdzic At 175 In June

[Eff Pandas]

100% disagree. I see it all around me and in my own life. My friends who used to be much more into boxing aren’t so much anymore. Neither am I. Members of this forum complain about the state of the sport, how top guys won’t fight other top guys, all the time — and with good reason. Boxing’s heyday is long gone. It was aided in great part by wide dissemination and high activity from top fighters. I doubt we’ll ever see such a thing again. Champions these days avoid each other and fight only a couple of times a year. You need to capture the public’s attention, and that is accomplished by greater visibility and star power. Only a couple of years ago you could tune-in to ESPN every Friday night and catch some decent boxing matches. It satisfied the thirst of hardcore followers and helped create new fans. How many new fans could possibly be created these days? Everyone has to pay exorbitant prices to watch any boxing event. Boxing will survive in the sense that it will probably always exist…but just barely.

This forum represents the hardcore fans not all fans. The casual fans make the sport big or small. And rn there are more casual fans paying attention to boxing than anytime since I've been a fan.

High activity being dead is probably how things were bound to go. Getting hit in the head unsurprisingly is bad for ones health. And it does seem like as guys have gotten less active we've seen less severe injuries & less punch drunk boxers.

Bro theres fights on more now than anytime I've been alive. DAZN & ESPN regularly show the opening prelim fight to the main event like we are at the venue lol. That was never a thing back in the day. I remember being regularly pissed off to miss big prospects or amateur stars fights on ESPN or USA cuz they only showed the comain & main usually with some potential to fit in other fights if something ended early.

A ton. Theres so many YT creators, podcasts & social media talking about boxing these days I can't keep up with it. Thats gonna have massive influence over the yrs that some ppl don't grasp yet. And I've said this a few times now & I 100% it believe it in 10-15yrs there is gonna be some high level Floyd, Shakur, Tyson-like mfer who'll say they got their initial interest in boxing cuz of Jake Paul. Most older cats got no clue how these younger influencers are nearly worshipped by their followers & all these guys being into boxing right now will have lasting impact & which will become undeniable & obvious to all eventually.

[Eff Pandas]

Does that business model benefit Boxing? Does Boxing have a big enough audience for the subscription model to work....or does Boxing need to be subsidized by other more popular sports? Could all of the major promoters unite and create a true BoxNation?

The fact that Beterbiev/Bivol is on ESPN+ and not ESPN........

Its 2024 not 1984. Virtually nothing is on free tv anymore. Idk if you got an antenna tv or whats going on but the world & marketplace has changed.

So this business model is the one almost everyone is doing. Oddly it appears to me as if boxing was among the first to go this route & now everyone else is joining boxing slowly but surely.

I think there is a possibility boxing could all align in one place at some point, but I think it'll take a passing of the guard & the sport to fall off from the high its on right now. I think it'd be harder to align everything with older school guys like Arum & Haymon around + when so many ppl are slanging money around like high rollers playing poker. You need new school players thinking logically + with the wealth to put together a one stop shopping boxing ent^ty.

[kiaba360]

Its 2024 not 1984. Virtually nothing is on free tv anymore. Idk if you got an antenna tv or whats going on but the world & marketplace has changed.

So this business model is the one almost everyone is doing. Oddly it appears to me as if boxing was among the first to go this route & now everyone else is joining boxing slowly but surely.

I think there is a possibility boxing could all align in one place at some point, but I think it'll take a passing of the guard & the sport to fall off from the high its on right now. I think it'd be harder to align everything with older school guys like Arum & Haymon around + when so many ppl are slanging money around like high rollers playing poker. You need new school players thinking logically + with the wealth to put together a one stop shopping boxing ent^ty.

The cord-cutting phenomenon started in the 2010s, so you didn't have to go all the way back to 80s lol. Isn't the ESPN channel still bigger than the ESPN+ service? Beterbiev/Bivol being on ESPN+ makes it seem like less of a priority. I know Beterbiev/Bivol are Russian, but it's still a big fight.

I'm interested in seeing what happens to TR and BOXXER when their contracts end next year. Surely SKY and ESPN aren't going to get out of boxing too? These promoters are constantly having to look for new $$$ streams for their budgets, but IDK where they would go. I don't think DAZN can afford to house ALL of the major promoters.

[Eff Pandas]

The cord-cutting phenomenon started in the 2010s, so you didn't have to go all the way back to 80s lol. Isn't the ESPN channel still bigger than the ESPN+ service? Beterbiev/Bivol being on ESPN+ makes it seem like less of a priority. I know Beterbiev/Bivol are Russian, but it's still a big fight.

I'm interested in seeing what happens to TR and BOXXER when their contracts end next year. Surely SKY and ESPN aren't going to get out of boxing too? These promoters are constantly having to look for new $$$ streams for their budgets, but IDK where they would go. I don't think DAZN can afford to house ALL of the major promoters.

I'd assume more ppl got espn than espn+, but as a boxing fan you are missing a ton of boxing if you only got espn. They are still going old school style on espn showing the comain & main usually. The value for real fans is espn+ & I say this as a dude whos constantly frustrated with how espn+ is designed to show me a ton of bs idgaf about & won't let me prioritize boxing & mma, the only two things I've ever watched on espn+ outside of a documentary here & there.

Ppl like to doomsday these big deals promoters have like they'll always end upon the current contract ending but I'm getting no such vibes.

Hell Boxxer pretty much just got in the game & I think Sky is one of those ent^ties in the UK that is invested in boxing altho I say this as a US person so there could be angles I'm unaware of over there. I definitely don't foresee Eddie or Frank coming in to replace Boxxer either so if Sky is gonna continue with boxing it'll likely be with Boxxer unless there is some emerging UK promoter I'm unaware of.

ESPN & Bob seem as close as ever. I suspect I see a better chance Bob sells TR than the espn deal doesnt get renewed.

So idk that I see much changing with those situations.

For any sort of one platform boxing world I'd argue you need some super rich Bezos or Musk type guy who decides he wants to do it or you need a bunch of major promoters, who can't even agree to make certain fights today, to somehow agree to some kind of group ownership/regional split of the country & world which I have a hard time seeing with the current personalities promoting.