Has the World Grown Too Soft For Boxing?

[Rath]

Boxing has been away from public eye. How is the sport supposed to grow when the only when the younger generation can watch is illegal streams or hoping their family pays for HBO and/or Showtime?

Boxing is a niche sport anyways, it's not even a common extra-curricular in high schools unlike basketball, football, soccer, and baseball.

was it because of some smart promoters and that practitioner of sweet science that turned off the new generation?

[Cinci Champ]

oh no doubt about it i got buddy granted hes kind of a ***** as is but he was telling me boxing was disgusting violent and how people evolve and shouldnt watch it how its not a real sport yada yada yada obviously i went off on his ***** ass.

the point being tho i think there is no question people are getting to soft just look at football let alone boxing people to soft even for football

[Rath]

generally floyd fans are soft.

they get rattled by every single negative threads, every single negative posts they came across to.

like pretty boy 32 the snitch

[Scipio2009]

Obviously the more comfortable our life styles become, the more the majority would want to embrace comfort and the more even boxers would embrace it as well. So these safety first fighters are as far as I can see, something we should have expected. Not that they are lazy, but in ages past, the one thing you did not want to be as a boxer was a coward. Now there are many, who dodge the tough fights and clinch and hold and run. The standards clearly have dropped. I only wonder if on down the line, the sport is snuffed out for good based purely on society growing too soft to tolerate it.

"Being a coward" was never an issue; no man who would willfully put their bodies through a full fight camp and even step into the ring can be seen as a coward, regardless of what you think about their style.

The thing that did change, in a major way, was that folks who were interested in boxing saw what the game did to Muhammad Ali, saw what the game did to Meldrick Taylor, and Rid**** Bowe, and a host of other fighters.

They saw their parents/grandparents comfortably living into their 70s and 80s, yet saw fighters is their 40s being utterly ruined.

The old timers who made it through, with any actual care for the young guys coming in, started to do their best to prevent the young fighters in their care from ending up like some of their peers who the sport ruined. You add that Roy Jones Jr and Floyd Mayweather showed a lot of these trainers that there was a way for the young fighters to actually make it while not having to be face-first brawlers, and there was nothing to slow down the move.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

"Being a coward" was never an issue; no man who would willfully put their bodies through a full fight camp and even step into the ring can be seen as a coward, regardless of what you think about their style.

The thing that did change, in a major way, was that folks who were interested in boxing saw what the game did to Muhammad Ali, saw what the game did to Meldrick Taylor, and Rid**** Bowe, and a host of other fighters.

They saw their parents/grandparents comfortably living into their 70s and 80s, yet saw fighters is their 40s being utterly ruined.

The old timers who made it through, with any actual care for the young guys coming in, started to do their best to prevent the young fighters in their care from ending up like some of their peers who the sport ruined. You add that Roy Jones Jr and Floyd Mayweather showed a lot of these trainers that there was a way for the young fighters to actually make it while not having to be face-first brawlers, and there was nothing to slow down the move.

I disagree. Duran, Chavez, Sr. and others brought aggressive styles in and never took terrible beatings and appear to be fine today. Not every fighter ended up brain dead. Foreman also had an exciting style and did not wind up hurt. You don't have to run around the ring and put fans to sleep in order to have a long career. In fact Duran had one of the longest at 35+ years and he still sounds fine.

This is a contact sport. People are going to get hurt. Taylor should have retired after the first Chavez fight. I think Richard Steel should have stopped it earlier actually. And it is a shame. No doubt. No one of any decency wants any fighter to end up with dementia or in financial ruin. However life is hard. Lots of non-famous people end up that way too.

My point is that if this sport is to thrive again as it once did, the safety first style is not going to get it. Morales and Barrera had exciting styles and appear to be doing fine so far. So did many other fighters and besides, it is boxing. If the sport is that horrible, then ban it. If not, then let's see real fights again that will attract casual fans.

[Alpha & Omega]

The world is growing too soft period and it's filled with *******. Boxing is a very tough sport which takes years of focus and dedication to the craft. Which is why the younger generations like the UFC better. It's a sport that takes way less time and dedication to compete in and someone can literally have never fought a day in their life and become a champion in a few fights. People have shorter attention spans now and want things faster and with less effort. That is why. Boxing is such a narrow deep skillset that takes so much time to excel in at the professional level. Personally, I think I only know one guy over 30-35 years old that even watches the UFC? Most people I know grow out of it and move to boxing.

Not sure who mentioned it but it will be quote the reverse soon. The UFC will be the niche sport like WWE is and boxing will still remain. The UFC is not continuing to gain popularity, it has plateaued and the only reason it is even as popular as it is, is because it is SO over marketed it is absurd. It is on tv 24/7 and they have an event every other day. The skill level of a lot of these guys is pretty mediocre too. We have seen so many MMA guys come into the boxing and Muay thai and get their asses beat it's hilarious. Remember boxing has been around for basically 2500 years and for 120+ years in it's current form. MMA has been around for what, 22 years now? And has already evolved and changed dramatically? Things that start and get popular fast also lose popularity and end fast. UFC is the Everyman sport where "Joe Regular" guys can watch and see themselves competing in. The fan base for pro wrestling, the NFL and UFC are all 90% the same.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

The world is growing too soft period and it's filled with *******. Boxing is a very tough sport which takes years of focus and dedication to the craft. Which is why the younger generations like the UFC better. It's a sport that takes way less time and dedication to compete in and someone can literally have never fought a day in their life and become a champion in a few fights. People have shorter attention spans now and want things faster and with less effort. That is why. Boxing is such a narrow deep skillset that takes so much time to excel in at the professional level. Personally, I think I only know one guy over 30-35 years old that even watches the UFC? Most people I know grow out of it and move to boxing.

Not sure who mentioned it but it will be quote the reverse soon. The UFC will be the niche sport like WWE is and boxing will still remain. The UFC is not continuing to gain popularity, it has plateaued and the only reason it is even as popular as it is, is because it is SO over marketed it is absurd. It is on tv 24/7 and they have an event every other day. The skill level of a lot of these guys is pretty mediocre too. We have seen so many MMA guys come into the boxing and Muay thai and get their asses beat it's hilarious. Remember boxing has been around for basically 2500 years and for 120+ years in it's current form. MMA has been around for what, 22 years now? And has already evolved and changed dramatically? Things that start and get popular fast also lose popularity and end fast. UFC is the Everyman sport where "Joe Regular" guys can watch and see themselves competing in. The fan base for pro wrestling, the NFL and UFC are all 90% the same.

The everyman is a good asset to have. Boxing may always remain but it's hard to picture at this point. No one cares about the heavyweight division and even the lower weights are not producing crowd pleasers the way they used to. I am not a UFC fan. Just can't get into it, especially when they go to the ground. Some of the stand up fights are pretty good but once the grappling starts, I tune out. Speaking of which...

When boxers start grappling stand up(clinching), it is pretty easy to turn the channel as well. Just because boxing has been around for a lot longer does not mean it should not be held to standards. Given the Fight of the Century and what casuals and potential fight fans observed there, the opinion of boxing can't be that high right now. It may stay around, but how watered down can it get?

Boxers like Mayweather and Ward get the respect. Why? They put on boring fights, usually with little action. If I want to see a chess match, I'll watch Bobby Fischer. I think excitability should be factored into the top ten any day. This is a business after all and people turn out when they think a fight is going down, instead of a track meet.

If boxing is here to stay regardless, I suppose I would have been happier had I been born in the forties- 8 world champions, no runners or clinchers and two guys who would go after each other for 15 rounds.

[Doctor_Tenma]

I disagree. Duran, Chavez, Sr. and others brought aggressive styles in and never took terrible beatings and appear to be fine today. Not every fighter ended up brain dead. Foreman also had an exciting style and did not wind up hurt. You don't have to run around the ring and put fans to sleep in order to have a long career. In fact Duran had one of the longest at 35+ years and he still sounds fine.

This is a contact sport. People are going to get hurt. Taylor should have retired after the first Chavez fight. I think Richard Steel should have stopped it earlier actually. And it is a shame. No doubt. No one of any decency wants any fighter to end up with dementia or in financial ruin. However life is hard. Lots of non-famous people end up that way too.

My point is that if this sport is to thrive again as it once did, the safety first style is not going to get it. Morales and Barrera had exciting styles and appear to be doing fine so far. So did many other fighters and besides, it is boxing. If the sport is that horrible, then ban it. If not, then let's see real fights again that will attract casual fans.

It's all about variation of styles, it wouldn't thrive if it only had aggressors.

[-PBP-]

Fighters have become smarter, better managed and are no longer being ****d by savages like Don King. They look at guys like Meldrick Taylor and Terry Norris and have a visual of how they don't want to end up. So they fight smarter, look to maximize their value and hope to make enough money to retire healthy and take care of their families.

[Pigeons]

Boxing causes brain damage. This cannot be denied.