Has PPV Ruined Boxing By Depopulating The Audience?

**ChampBox@PR** · 07-06-2010, 12:59 AM

you r totally right!!!!!!!!!!!

**Vadrigar.** · 07-06-2010, 01:02 AM

100% agree. This needs to happen, for boxing to stand a chance at becoming mainstream again.

Something like ABC Wide world of sports would be nice.

**Thread Stealer** · 07-06-2010, 01:05 AM

It's not necessarily the fact that it's on PPV itself, it's the fact that so many fights are on PPV, even crappy ones, and there's no network TV in the states. There would be great fighters on network TV like Michael Spinks, "TV stars" who made great action fights like Ray Mancini and Matthew Saad Muhammad, just plain good fights on network TV.

It's hard for boxing to get sponsors, we have that hair club for men for ESPN.

Pre-PPV, in the 70s and 80s, the biggest fights weren't free either. They were on closed circuit. But now it's not just the biggest fights on PPV, it's sometimes just a mediocre fight designed to sell on a Mexican/Puerto Rican holiday, GBP flexing its power over HBO, a fight that can't get on any other network so it's on PPV, etc.

The best PPV ever, for "**** for your buck", is still probably Robert Quiroga-Kid Akeem Anifowoshe in 1991. That was $10. Then again I got pretty much everything for free pre-2001 due to the Black Box Era.

**Silencers** · 07-06-2010, 01:06 AM

Promoters deciding to put the sport on HBO instead of ABC and CBS on network TV in the 80s decreased the audience of boxing, it just snowballed from there.

**Alex_Hayden** · 07-06-2010, 01:23 AM

Originally posted by photomane

Agree/Disagree?

I agree. I feel PPV while it makes business and GREEDY MONEY sense, it actuality hurts boxing and all sports. It limits an audience of fans and hurts bringing in new audience demographic. For sports to thrive especially in a financial depression it needs to be on FREE TV, on one of the major networks.

I agree.

PPV cards should be stacked with great match ups. None of this lame **** we've been getting.

**cupocity303** · 07-06-2010, 01:31 AM

The Forces to Be in boxing (and you decide who they are) like Wall Street thugs in Corporate America (who are willing to destroy the country as long as they cash in on billions), are here to suck off the last remaining resources for themselves and make as much money as possible.

**Mr. Fantastic** · 07-06-2010, 01:46 AM

If they put the fights that we want to see with a good undercard, I'm pretty sure it won't be as bad as people make it out to be.

**benray4fun** · 07-06-2010, 02:00 AM

As long as people are willing to pay for pay per view, boxing is never gonna be as main stream as it used to be. There's always some greed involved where there's money to be made and impossible to ignore when you're the one being offered half a million to go private per fight..."who's gonna turn that down?"...ANSWER..."NO ONE" AND THERE YOU HAVE IT.

No doubt ppv has ruined boxing, but they could care less as long as their pockets keep getting lined with ca$h.

**Guest** · 07-06-2010, 02:13 AM

Originally posted by PED User

It's not necessarily the fact that it's on PPV itself, it's the fact that so many fights are on PPV, even crappy ones, and there's no network TV in the states. There would be great fighters on network TV like Michael Spinks, "TV stars" who made great action fights like Ray Mancini and Matthew Saad Muhammad, just plain good fights on network TV.

It's hard for boxing to get sponsors, we have that hair club for men for ESPN.

Pre-PPV, in the 70s and 80s, the biggest fights weren't free either. They were on closed circuit. But now it's not just the biggest fights on PPV, it's sometimes just a mediocre fight designed to sell on a Mexican/Puerto Rican holiday, GBP flexing its power over HBO, a fight that can't get on any other network so it's on PPV, etc.

The best PPV ever, for "**** for your buck", is still probably Robert Quiroga-Kid Akeem Anifowoshe in 1991. That was $10. Then again I got pretty much everything for free pre-2001 due to the Black Box Era.

The bolded part of this post captures the problems perfectly.

Has PPV Ruined Boxing By Depopulating The Audience?