POLL: biggest factor for boxing's decline in US. PPV to blame the most?

[TheHayeMaker]

Boxing dying in the US is the result of them having no great heavyweight.

If/when they get another good/great heavyweight pounder you will see how it miracliously revived in the US

In terms of media coverage you could be right.

Seth Mitchell at this state is still a ****ing contenter at best. and yet ESPN actauly talked about his fight against Whiterspoon and they even did a little analaysis of Seth.

they wll not pay any attention like that to a lightweight fighter at that stage of his career

[ELHURACAN58]

In terms of media coverage you could be right.

Seth Mitchell at this state is still a ****ing contenter at best. and yet ESPN actauly talked about his fight against Whiterspoon and they even did a little analaysis of Seth.

they wll not pay any attention like that to a lightweight fighter at that stage of his career

Yes and as we all know, great media coverage leads to casual bandwagon fans. They wont see fighters cause they love the sport, they will think he's God in human flesh.

Happens in all US sports, be it the Yankees, the Red Sox the Lakers, the Heat, etc.

PS. Its not just the US this happens in, its in AT LEAST all western countries. I wouldnt know if it happens in other continents cause I havent lived there, though I would think they hyped up Ricky Hatton pretty well in the UK for english fans to fill the seats every time he's fought in the US.

[EdMon917]

I think it has to do with promotions. Big fights are on PPV or premium cable networks and the best are not fighting the best.

[TheHayeMaker]

Just a example of how much PPV really is killing boxing


Imagine the Lakers were PPV ONLY

how big does their rating base drop

[pacmanis1]

I believe PPV has a lot to do with it, but it's also just the lack of availability. If you want to check out boxing you have to seek it out. It's not just PPV, but the premium cable. Boxing is the most expensive sport to be a fan of. When I moved out on my own I got a cable with HBO and Showtime so I could finally actually follow the sport, but that cost 90$ a month. Also promoters and fighters not fighting the best obviously. Also crappy undercards doesn't help. There are a lot of factors but by trying to maximize revenue with stuff like HBO and PPVs I believe they really alienated a large segment of the market. I enjoy watching football but I don't know if I'd pay extra just for the channel to watch it if I had to. It would really be interesting to see what the numbers would be for Floyd/Cotto if it was on NBC or something. Sports to men are something of a pass time. Even guys who don't care about boxing would be tuning in just because it's sports. Just my $.02.

[TheHayeMaker]

I believe PPV has a lot to do with it, but it's also just the lack of availability. If you want to check out boxing you have to seek it out. It's not just PPV, but the premium cable. Boxing is the most expensive sport to be a fan of. When I moved out on my own I got a cable with HBO and Showtime so I could finally actually follow the sport, but that cost 90$ a month. Also promoters and fighters not fighting the best obviously. Also crappy undercards doesn't help. There are a lot of factors but by trying to maximize revenue with stuff like HBO and PPVs I believe they really alienated a large segment of the market. I enjoy watching football but I don't know if I'd pay extra just for the channel to watch it if I had to. It would really be interesting to see what the numbers would be for Floyd/Cotto if it was on NBC or something. Sports to men are something of a pass time. Even guys who don't care about boxing would be tuning in just because it's sports. Just my $.02.

That's a very very good post.

Talking to my friends about football (or as Americans call it soccer)

'soccer' is the most watched sport in the world, BUT the vast majority of my friends at uni said that 'if we have to pay for a Manchester United Game on a prem PPV deal or something, we will stop watching most of their games. Only the very big ones.

And this is the most watched sport in the world we talking about. Even a super sport like soccer (world wide) or NFL (America) will decline big time in popurality if you have to pay like 70 bucks per big event

[pacmanis1]

That's a very very good post.

Talking to my friends about football (or as Americans call it soccer)

'soccer' is the most watched sport in the world, BUT the vast majority of my friends at uni said that 'if we have to pay for a Manchester United Game on a prem PPV deal or something, we will stop watching most of their games. Only the very big ones.

And this is the most watched sport in the world we talking about. Even a super sport like soccer (world wide) or NFL (America) will decline big time in popurality if you have to pay like 70 bucks per big event

See football(soccer for us yanks) is a great example. I enjoy watching it, but I don't go out of my way much to check it out, but its a sport and I enjoy watching it when it's on. If I had to pay to watch the World Cup, I probably wouldn't cause I'm not a die hard fan, but as long as it's on free tv of course I'm going to watch it. The World Cup's probably a bad example because it's such a global event but it shows my point.

On a side note even though I'm not a huge football fan it is on my bucket list to go see a game in the UK at some point. At the very least I'd like to sit in a pub and watch Manchester United or someone play. I bet the atmosphere would be something incredible. I did grow up in Minnesota so I can fake a good Canadian accent.

[TBear]

One posibility is the fact that network tv dropped boxing years ago. Saturday and Sunday afternoons used to be filled with fights. American families would sit around the tv and see top athletes compete in boxing every week. Now that it is only televised late night on primarily on pay channels young people have no access to it especially in the inner citys. Kids in the states once would dream of growning up to be Sugar Ray Leonard or Muhammad Ali. The amateur programs and gyms were overflowed with wishful kids. Now they all want to be a NBA star like Kobie or Lebron. If not that they are now playing highschool and college football or basketball trying to get a scholarship.
Think about it,
You cannot get a scholarship to college with boxing really, yet thousands know they can with other sports and add the fact that kids today don't see boxing on national television so there is no one they can identify with or use as a role model like there was 10-20 years ago.

[TheHayeMaker]

One posibility is the fact that network tv dropped boxing years ago. Saturday and Sunday afternoons used to be filled with fights. American families would sit around the tv and see top athletes compete in boxing every week. Now that it is only televised late night on primarily on pay channels young people have no access to it especially in the inner citys. Kids in the states once would dream of growning up to be Sugar Ray Leonard or Muhammad Ali. The amateur programs and gyms were overflowed with wishful kids. Now they all want to be a NBA star like Kobie or Lebron. If not that they are now playing highschool and college football or basketball trying to get a scholarship.
Think about it,
You cannot get a scholarship to college with boxing really, yet thousands know they can with other sports and add the fact that kids today don't see boxing on national television so there is no one they can identify with or use as a role model like there was 10-20 years ago.

Just some random examples of how boxing is nowadays amongst the general population of high school-college age kids

Our Econ professor is a big boxing fan and I as a joke wanted hi mto ask the lecture of 400 students 'who did Floyd Mayweather beat'

at least a dozen people shouted 'mike tyson'
and another shouted 'ali'

the last 'general mainstream' event boxing ever had was probably
the lennox lewis knock out of Mike Tyson

PPV REALLY DON'T MEAN anything because its so exclusive.

Reading articles from the 70's they said streets were empty for the Ali Frazier fight.. you know that era where there was no PPV?
and boxing was on free tv?

Streets were just silent... during their first fight, Ali vs Foreman , Ali had the entire country following him and chanting his name.

In the 80's even the Leonard Hearns fight and Hagler Hearns made the front pages of every newspaper, entire sections.

[Cloud]

Just some random examples of how boxing is nowadays amongst the general population of high school-college age kids

Our Econ professor is a big boxing fan and I as a joke wanted hi mto ask the lecture of 400 students 'who did Floyd Mayweather beat'

at least a dozen people shouted 'mike tyson'
and another shouted 'ali'

the last 'general mainstream' event boxing ever had was probably
the lennox lewis knock out of Mike Tyson

PPV REALLY DON'T MEAN anything because its so exclusive.

Reading articles from the 70's they said streets were empty for the Ali Frazier fight.. you know that era where there was no PPV?
and boxing was on free tv?

Streets were just silent... during their first fight, Ali vs Foreman , Ali had the entire country following him and chanting his name.

In the 80's even the Leonard Hearns fight and Hagler Hearns made the front pages of every newspaper, entire sections.

My dad's 50 years old and he said everybody in Bradford (where he lived at the time) shot inside for the fight.

Same with Mike Tyson.

He's used to be pretty hardcore but now he's pretty casual.

I'm glad Mick Hennessey is putting boxing on Channel 5. His guys will become household names.

I hate Sky Sports. I hate PPV. I'd love to see it die TBH.

Only mainstream news I've heard with boxing mentioned is the ''controversy'' of Chisora-Haye.....never anything else.

BBC and ITV are ridiculous.