Comments Thread For: The Beltline: Boxing is bigger than it has ever been in the UK, sources say

[BoxingUpdates]

Is British boxing as healthy and vibrant as some would like us to believe? asks Elliot Worsell
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[drablj]

uk has ball and crocker now. 2 champions.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

It’s as niche as it’s ever been. Boxing is dead over here. I’ll kill the argument with one example. The Chris Eubank vs Nigel Benn rematch had close to 17m viewers, that’s nearly double ITV’s largest audience last year which was 8.6m for United vs Liverpool in the FA Cup. Now let’s look at the rematch between the two son’s which is referenced in the article, will it even have 5% of the viewership the fight between their dads did? The first fight did 600k buys per reports. Boxing is way smaller here than it could and should be and a lot of the blame falls on Warren and Hearn for prioritising monetisation over growth by limiting the audience. They’ve s*cked money out the sport for decades and it’s essentially left a wasteland, with no major broadcasters and very few future stars.

Why the f*** is s*cked censored?

[daggum]

if calzaghe is the best fighter you have ever had you need to do better, in fact you need to be best as a certain someone would say

[TMLT87]

I think its cooling off after arguably all time peaking during the AJ and Fury boom period.

[M312]

Lots of good eras, but more recently, I think the 2000s-2010s ish was probably the best period. Lots of world champions, and the likes of Calzaghe, Hatton, Froch, Haye, Khan, alongside fridge champions like Maccarinelli, Witter, Rees, Rhodes, Cleverly.

Then the 90s had Lewis, Benn, Eubank, Bruno, Naz

British boxing is hot right now though, that is exactly why Turki is so invested in it. It's a decent debate.

[Coverdale]

It’s as niche as it’s ever been. Boxing is dead over here. I’ll kill the argument with one example. The Chris Eubank vs Nigel Benn rematch had close to 17m viewers, that’s nearly double ITV’s largest audience last year which was 8.6m for United vs Liverpool in the FA Cup. Now let’s look at the rematch between the two son’s which is referenced in the article, will it even have 5% of the viewership the fight between their dads did? The first fight did 600k buys per reports. Boxing is way smaller here than it could and should be and a lot of the blame falls on Warren and Hearn for prioritising monetisation over growth by limiting the audience. They’ve s*cked money out the sport for decades and it’s essentially left a wasteland, with no major broadcasters and very few future stars.

Why the f*** is s*cked censored?

You're not wrong but I think you're decontextualising and being somewhat reductive. Boxing's shift onto subscription platforms didn't happen in a vacuum, almost all sports have made that transition. Boxing may have reached a bigger audience in the 90s but the top fighters are making better money now. Do these fighters particularly care about abstractions such as the 'size' of the sport when they're making good money? I very much doubt it.

Given the sneering reaction on this forum to Ben Shalom's deal with BBC it would appear many fans don't care about the size of the sport here either. They're locked into some brand loyalty/wealth worshipping cult and want to see others fail.

[TMLT87]

You're not wrong but I think you're decontextualising and being somewhat reductive. Boxing's shift onto subscription platforms didn't happen in a vacuum, almost all sports have made that transition. Boxing may have reached a bigger audience in the 90s but the top fighters are making better money now. Do these fighters particularly care about abstractions such as the 'size' of the sport when they're making good money? I very much doubt it.

Given the sneering reaction on this forum to Ben Shalom's deal with BBC it would appear many fans don't care about the size of the sport here either. They're locked into some brand loyalty/wealth worshipping cult and want to see others fail.

I think the other thing when looking at ratings for Benn/Eubank 2 back in 1993 is that there were 4 basic channels back then, very few people had the internet, no smart phones, no social media, video games were pretty much exclusively for kids etc etc. So there was much more of a culture of gathering around the tv to watch something live, whereas now everyones attention is fragmented across a million different streams of entertainment, that has a significant effect on traditional tv ratings. That fight would have done half as many viewers on the same channel today, its a different world.

[PRINCEKOOL]

What people need to understand is that boxing is an individual sport, whether it be? Hardcore boxing fans or casual sports fans 'they are fans of the individuals first, and then fans of the sport second. With casual sports fans this is more prominent'.

Was Track and Field Athletics at its peak during Usain Bolts era? Or did Bolt just have a very passionate and big fan base? Do you get what I am saying?

Boxing in my opinion is no different in popularity since the 2000's, naturally as the 90's boxing era concluded 'I think society switched up furthermore, with combat sports not really being a focus with people in general society'.

Note: In team sports, and the more modern day mainstream sports 'hardcore fans of them sports, and casual sports fans are? Fans of the sport and teams first, and then the individual players second. That is the difference between individual sports like boxing and sports such as Soccer'.

There is the usual bunch of complainers in this thread, all going on about boxing being a niche sport 'well if it is a niche sport, all that means to me is that it is a sports of expertise. Whether you are participating in it or an avid supporter of the game. I don't think this is a total negative'.

Like I have stated many times before in similar threads, society operates like a hive mind. The hive mind is not deep, and it struggles to deal with details. Sports or activities which the hive mind like? Are sports where you only need a surface level amount of effort to follow, and sports that are predominately group orientated. Because this is what makes people feel comfortable'.

Boxing has never been that type of sport 'it was not created by maybe the powers that be to subdue the masses during their leisure time. Soap operas and the more civilized modern day sports only really became popular after the global wars of the 21st century. And in my opinion this was deliberately manufactured'.

So this statement that boxing is bigger than it has ever been in the UK 'really I don't think there is much difference to 25 years ago. As certain folk have stated in this thread? During the 2000's, British boxing most likely had many more bigger and significant fighters than it does now. And in reality? It is the individual athletes which create fan bases, they are the brands, and they are the assets to the sport'.

Boxing is not a brand or business that exists on a high street 'It is a global sport, that is interwoven into the fabric is society. And it will continue to exist whether it has a chief executive officer like Dana White thinking it is a business in mall'.

That is the difference the UFC and boxing 'the UFC is a brand, and it is actual an individual business that does exist on a high street metaphorically. It is not a Global sport combat sport in the same way that boxing is'.

To conclude: Right now the two most influential and significant fighters in British boxing are still Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. Those two fighters have masses of supporters, who after their retirement they may never support another fighter with the same level of passion'.

And I think that is currently where British boxing is at? It is actively looking for its next Super stars 'and those Champions and Super Stars will come along, but? It is going to take something really astonishing to eclipse both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua' etc.

[Sheikh]

No matter what is going on boxing is way bigger in the UK than it is in the usa. At least in the UK all of your top fighters are household names. In the USA the only active fighter that I can think of that is a household name is canelo. Even guys like Crawford Spence Deontay Wilder Devin Haney and many others no one knows. That's a fact. When I was growing up everyone knew De La Hoya Trinidad Vargas Lennox Lewis Tyson Mayweather Etc