How it used to be...

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

This was COMMON back then for all the big fights (Leonard-Duran, Leonard-Hearns, Hagler-Hearns, Holmes-Cooney, etc)...local papers used to do it up like this...the N.Y. paper had stories EVERY FEW DAYS on the big fights...they treated them as big as they do Super Bowl's or Presidential elections...no more, though, even the biggest fights today are lucky to get a mention on page 2...(this is my local paper, The Hartford Courant, I have this issue along with the day after papers rom Ali-Berbick, Leonard-Hagler, Holmes-Cooney, etc)...

[Roy Jones Jnr]

Boxing politics and money is to thank for that.

Hopefully this CBS Mayweather **** is a step in the right direction back towards reviving Boxing back up to where it should be.

[Frank Ducketts]

This was COMMON back then for all the big fights (Leonard-Duran, Leonard-Hearns, Hagler-Hearns, Holmes-Cooney, etc)...local papers used to do it up like this...the N.Y. paper had stories EVERY FEW DAYS on the big fights...they treated them as big as they do Super Bowl's or Presidential elections...no more, though, even the biggest fights today are lucky to get a mention on page 2...(this is my local paper, The Hartford Courant, I have this issue along with the day after papers rom Ali-Berbick, Leonard-Hagler, Holmes-Cooney, etc)...

Those were the days. The Social Media Networks have taken over. Say good bye the Newspapers.

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Holmes-Cooney, Hagler-Leonard, etc took up the whole front and back pages back then!!

[Roy Jones Jnr]

Holmes-Cooney, Hagler-Leonard, etc took up the whole front and back pages back then!!

Which fights would do that now?

Maybe Mayweather-Pacquiao even still after all those years of waiting but i can't think of many others that would. Doubtful even May-Pac would do that now.

[SN!PER]

I was a bit too young to remember those times. My parents were of the even earlier Ali era. They said that when an Ali fight was happening, streets became empty and all the kids in the college campus were inside, gathered around televisions to see the fight.

Boxing used to be such a huge sport before basketball and football gained popularity in America. I saw a documentary about Dempsey, and he actually earned millions of dollars in the 1920s before the great depression hit. I can't imagine what figures that would translate to in today's economy, but I'm sure it would make Mayweather Jr. look mediocre by comparison.

[CubanGuyNYC]

This was COMMON back then for all the big fights (Leonard-Duran, Leonard-Hearns, Hagler-Hearns, Holmes-Cooney, etc)...local papers used to do it up like this...the N.Y. paper had stories EVERY FEW DAYS on the big fights...they treated them as big as they do Super Bowl's or Presidential elections...no more, though, even the biggest fights today are lucky to get a mention on page 2...(this is my local paper, The Hartford Courant, I have this issue along with the day after papers rom Ali-Berbick, Leonard-Hagler, Holmes-Cooney, etc)...

I haven't thought about that in a long time, John. You just had me dust-off the files in my memory banks. In my mind's eye I can see huge, full-page images of Ali, in the New York Daily News, versus a dozen different adversaries. I see Images of Duran-Leonard I & II. I see hazy images of several smaller contests.

The days where boxing regularly stoked the interest of the average sports fan, and attention from the man on the street, are long gone. It would be nice to get some of that back, but I'm not holding my breath. It's interesting to wonder, though, if there's some as yet unknown hero that will re-ignite public interest in the sport.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

There are no more papers today.

Politics aren't to blame, it's the decline of the sport, plain and simple.

[F!x]

I remember the days when I'd order recorded fights on VHS - back then it was like state of the art, even though the quality was like third or fourth generation, jumping images, flickering lines. When the internet first was introduced, that same company had a website still selling them on VHS because streaming still wasn't possible back then due to the slow speeds. It's funny how things change.

How will it be in 15 years time. Surely by then 3D tech will be the norm so you'll feel like you're the referee in the middle of the ring or something. Hopefully boxing will be back in the limelight but I doubt it because of the brutal nature of the sport. I suspect it will get less and less exposure in the mainstream but as long as it survives its all good.

[Sam Donald]

as said above... technology.. internet.. etc