How big is boxing in your country?

[gingerbreadman]

In the UK there is some boxing on free tv (Channel 5) but it's mostly domestic level. Lots of people have access to Sky, the harder-core fans subscribe to BoxNation and/or stream, and the biggest fights and fighters are very visible in the sports media at the moment. Boxing in good shape over here and getting better as more talent hits the front.

[luis007]

In Mexico it is probably the second most popular sport, not counting wrestling, only after football (Soccer). The two main TV stations air at least a fight every Saturday night on free TV. Azteca and Televisa.

[Black Barty]

In my native Hungary, the domestic boxing scene is not exactly thriving (though we do have one promoter that's trying his best to put shows together and guide his fighters to world title shots), but the sports channel has been spoiling us for years. They air nearly all the big events from the US, the UK and Germany, including the PPVs (for free of course, with the downside being that they are usually at 4-5 AM).

In my second home, Bulgaria, the Pulevs are true stars, but beyond them, I don't know. What I do know is that there's much less boxing coverage on TV there than in Hungary.

[asgarth]

Well in Germany you have boxing on free tv, but they only show fights from klitschko, hernandez, huck, abraham, stieglitz and sturm. Rarely you see the undercard fights.
Foreign fights are never shown. Only Golovkin because he is promoted by klitschko and i think mayweathers last fight was shown.

Boxing is not really big in Germany. people are watching the fights on free tv but the general public has no clue about boxing, hence fighters like sturm are allowed to feed on cans.

[Weebler I]

I wouldn't say boxing is that big over here. Obviously the big fights get attention but apart from that, no one really cares. We have a boxing show on a free channel once every 3/4 months. Otherwise, you have to pay for the channels Sky Sports or a boxing dedicated channel ran by promoter Frank Warren for £10 a month.

Yeah, it's a niche sport really. It's behind the likes of football (soccer), cricket, rugby etc.

I think one of the only places where it's #2 sport is Mexico, it's behind ball games almost everywhere else.

[Black Barty]

Yeah, it's a niche sport really. It's behind the likes of football (soccer), cricket, rugby etc.

I think one of the only places where it's #2 sport is Mexico, it's behind ball games almost everywhere else.

Not that I doubt what you say, but it's hard to believe. I tried to watch a cricket match once and man, it was boring. I didn't even really understand what was going on. It was somewhat like baseball, except even worse.

[Killer_of_Sheep]

Here in Brazil its a pretty strange situation.

No one cares about boxing most of the time. But when a brazilian fighter makes some kind of noise the mainstream media jumps ALL OVER HIM, almost as much as the most renowed MMA fighters like Anderson Silva, Victor Belfort and etc.

Hope the Falcão brothers make some kind of noise so they can get Brazil to turn its attention to boxing again.

[Uklad]

Not that I doubt what you say, but it's hard to believe. I tried to watch a cricket match once and man, it was boring. I didn't even really understand what was going on. It was somewhat like baseball, except even worse.

Cricket is a really interesting sport, it takes time for a new viewer to understand the game, if you're able to do so you'll find it interesting.

[soul_survivor]

I was wondering how mainstream boxing is in Ukraine, Engeland, Russia, Fillipines etc. Especially Ukraine, they are really dominating the Amateur scene.. How big is boxing in Ukraine?
And is PPV everywhere a big thing? In my opininon PPV is the main reason boxing is not mainstream anymore in the US ;(

I agree, I'm curious about the Ukraine, they really have burst onto the scene from the l ate 90s onwards and are starting to dominate the higher weights. Heck, a lot of former Soviet states are doing very well, take a look at Kazakhstan. The best heavyweight for a decade or so have been from Europe, namely Eastern Europe, tonnes of top guys at cruiser and these days LHW are from Eastern Europe, it's a true take over at the moment.

In terms of the UK, boxing is probably the 4th biggest sport, after Football, Cricket and Rugby. Maybe Tennis at times has a say but since the rise of Hatton and Khan's early exploits shown on ITV, boxing has had a huge boost. The biggest since the days of Eubank/Watson/Benn. And this time round it's a sustained growth with amateur success, professional success and exceptional gyms with exceptional facilities.

All in all, the power shift in boxing has been quite dramatic, from the US to Europe. In a few years I think the world's biggest promoters will also reside in Europe.

[Dirk Diggler UK]

Boxing is growing in the UK but it's still very much a niche sport. Go to the BBC Sport website and you'll see a row of sports at the top of the page - you have to go into a separate sub-section to even find boxing.