Realistically if we got any fights we wanted, boxing would still behind NFL, NBA, etc

[-MAKAVELLI-]

Any sport that involves judges will never be mainstream

[Bigg Rigg]

yea but in baseball ur not selling that one single indivudual, you are selling the team rather,,and since baseball is entrenched in years of history,fans of a certain baseball club will remain and pass down being fan of that specific club no matter who the players are,even if every single one of them were foreign and didnt speak a hint of englich

in boxing ur selling one individual only,theres no "club" or "team" or "history" to ride on

For fans from countries with a rich tradition in Boxing, it is like a team. Puerto Rico is my team. And American born Puerto Ricans too. It's the same way for Mexicans and blacks. Sanchez, Chavez, Ali, Sugar Ray, they're all like the all time great team USA or Mexico.

[Barcham]

Floyd v paq took he most massive sh it on every sport in the world. Close this damn thread.

No, that fight took a massive shit on boxing FANS is what it did. It did more harm than good for the sport.

[SlySlickSmooth]

If you want to be a fan of those sports you can essentially just follow your team that plays at least weekly.

If you want to be a fan of boxing you have to follow more than just one boxer to enjoy it, understand different styles, and other intricacies of the sport. Top level boxers will do 3 fights a year at most which also makes it difficult.

When fights come around you're asked to sacrifice a Friday/Saturday evening watching a sport most other people don't care for and don't understand too.

Boxing doesn't revolve around putting a ball in an area of play or through/in an object to score points and scoring "points" in boxing is anything but concrete if you just look at official scorecards.

[STAX ON DECK]

For fans from countries with a rich tradition in Boxing, it is like a team. Puerto Rico is my team. And American born Puerto Ricans too. It's the same way for Mexicans and blacks. Sanchez, Chavez, Ali, Sugar Ray, they're all like the all time great team USA or Mexico.

so then why does boixng have such a small and garbage fanbase compared to the major sports?

like pbp mentioned,the lakers could be 14-68 and still have close to a sell out at staples center

[SilverMiles]

Two reasons why boxing has slipped in popularity.

1. The sport isn't dominated by Americans anymore. When the biggest American boxing star is a Filipino you have a problem.

2. America have become soft both literally and figuratively.

And the fact that you couldn't catch boxing unless you have premium cable didn't help. Boxing as sport has really benefitted from the popularity of YouTube.

[Eff Pandas]

Any sport that involves judges will never be mainstream

Interesting point. I think this is probably one of the few points people have mentioned as problems for boxing being more mainstream that has no counterpoint or counterbalance.

I've often said I'd be a fan of a more open & universally approved judging system thats less subjective but idk that you could ever fully alter the scoring concept in boxing to make it more like mainstream sports. I've also been a fan of open scoring, but I think you'd need to make rules to score against a lack of aggression or penalize a lack of aggression too is the thing & that seems like it could be subjective af to just based on hearing people talk about who they think are boxers or runners.

[Bigg Rigg]

so then why does boixng have such a small and garbage fanbase compared to the major sports?

like pbp mentioned,the lakers could be 14-68 and still have close to a sell out at staples center

Same reason there's teams in American who even when doing good, still can't draw a good crowd to their stadium. It's like that sometimes.

[-PBP-]

so then why does boixng have such a small and garbage fanbase compared to the major sports?

like pbp mentioned,the lakers could be 14-68 and still have close to a sell out at staples center

Basketball fans enjoy a Spurs defensive shut down. Baseball fans enjoy no hitters and perfect games. Football fans enjoy great defenses like the 85 Bears and the 2000 Ravens. Hockey fans enjoy a great goalie doing his thing.

But in boxing, they don't enjoy the various styles and strategies. They just want to see blood. I think a part of it has to do with familiarity. A lot of fans of other sports actually played them so they know strategy.

Every sport has different styles. The difference is those sports enjoy all the styles.

[The Gambler1981]

Basketball fans enjoy a Spurs defensive shut down. Baseball fans enjoy no hitters and perfect games. Football fans enjoy great defenses like the 85 Bears and the 2000 Ravens. Hockey fans enjoy a great goalie doing his thing.

But in boxing, they don't enjoy the various styles and strategies. They just want to see blood. I think a part of it has to do with familiarity. A lot of fans of other sports actually played them so they know strategy.

Every sport has different styles. The difference is those sports enjoy all the styles.

Even beyond that it has to do with how styles mesh because that plays a huge role in how fights pan out.

Plus there is the whole fact that if someone is too good at boxing it causes problems because it sucks the excitement out of a match. If you can't really enjoy the best performing then what is the point of watching~