Did Mayweather Harm or Help the sport of boxing

[ShoulderRoll]

He got more eyeballs on the sport than anyone in history and he brought a ton of money to it as well. If he was making upwards of $30 million at one point for each fight them just imagine how much the the networks, the MGM Grand, and the city of Las Vegas were making.

Without him the sport in the US would have had a hard time staying afloat after De La Hoya retired. He almost single handedly carried the flag for American boxing during that stretch.

[about.thousands]

lol Because people hated him that much and PPV has a wider range of availability than it ever has, not to mention viral marketing, etc.

Ali would have outsold him easily if PPV existed in his day.

Floyd did a lot for the sport and is an exceptional boxer who aspiring boxers should definitely study for his defensive abilities, but he also made it possible for lesser fighters to grant a big payday and to intentionally duck people and treat it much more as a business than a sport, which is a shame.

Viral Marketing? Nobody has better viral marketing than GGG. He was built on the internet. People started talking about him from watching youtube videos of his fights that weren't even broadcast in the U.S. Floyd became a star before Boxingscene, fighthype, and most of these online sites and forums existed. And boxing has always been treated as a business from the promoters side. That's why we didn't get a lot of fights we wanted. That's why we didn't get Pacquioa-Mayweather in 2010.

but did that help or hurt the sport. As a fan if i buy a boxing event i want it to be good, i want to be entertained, the hardcores would simply be entertained by the simple things but majority of fans or casuals look for entertainment and the biggest fight of his career was not entertaining to most people.

According to the die hard boxing fans Floyd's style is boring. Yet people continually paid to watch him fight. GGG has a fan friendly style but nobody pays to watch him fight. Your opinion isn't based on reality. Show me hard numbers that prove your opinion correct. Don't go off into what you think people are thinking.

[Irony123]

You're asking the the wrong question to the wrong people then.

I assume the majority of us here have a vast knowledge of the history of Boxing, we aren't casuals, this is our passion.

Hurt the sport because casuals aren't buying? The sport was hurt when fights were taken off TV and put on PPV. It takes a really huge draw for casuals to take interest in it and actually buy the PPV.

The late 90s early to mid 2000s, casuals weren't really watching Boxing unless it was Mike Tyson. No mention of;
Winky Wright
Mike MCcallum
James Toney
Tito Trinidad
Morales
Barrera
So many more.....

The casuals will tune in when they deem a certain fighter entertaining and they'll tune out when they don't. That has always been the case. The problem is that none of these current fighters (Not all of them, especially the HWs) have actually established themselves.

Someone said it best, "Everybody wants to be like Money May, but no one wants to put in the work PBF put in to get there."

I don't think i am asking the wrong question of the wrong people. We all have favorite fighters but they come and go... the sport stays and new fighters emerge. You like most people on this forum love this sport, very few casual fans would come on a forum and create an account, many act like fan boys but we still love the sport and enjoy it, i am not going to pretend i've been around for a long time but i did start watching boxing 15 years ago so i am not as familiar with the old timers, i am not ashamed of it i am just not as old school as some of the other fans.

every day there are fans that come on and say boxing is dying but this isn't that type of thread. Many things happen in boxing that are killing it slowly... like you said PPV hurt the sport because many of the best fights have been taken off free TV. In my view (at least in North America) boxing is moving towards the old UFC days and UFC is moving towards boxing glory days. fighter mentality in boxing has changed, where before we would get fights like Hagler/Hearns, Duran/Hagler, Duran/SRL etc. now it seems like these fights are less and less likely when you see Floyd making crazy money for fighting Victor Ortiz, Robert Gorrraro, Berto etc.

Someone once said, when you climb one mountain you start looking at a bigger mountain to climb for a bigger reward, but Floyd proved that this isn't the case.

This isn't about what floyd did in the past, its about what he did to the sport when he left it, did he inspire fighters to be great fighters or great businessmen? in my opinion he inspired them to be great businessmen and that's why i feel that the sport is worse off.

[The Big Dunn]

I don't think i am asking the wrong question of the wrong people. We all have favorite fighters but they come and go... the sport stays and new fighters emerge. You like most people on this forum love this sport, very few casual fans would come on a forum and create an account, many act like fan boys but we still love the sport and enjoy it, i am not going to pretend i've been around for a long time but i did start watching boxing 15 years ago so i am not as familiar with the old timers, i am not ashamed of it i am just not as old school as some of the other fans.

every day there are fans that come on and say boxing is dying but this isn't that type of thread. Many things happen in boxing that are killing it slowly... like you said PPV hurt the sport because many of the best fights have been taken off free TV. In my view (at least in North America) boxing is moving towards the old UFC days and UFC is moving towards boxing glory days. fighter mentality in boxing has changed, where before we would get fights like Hagler/Hearns, Duran/Hagler, Duran/SRL etc. now it seems like these fights are less and less likely when you see Floyd making crazy money for fighting Victor Ortiz, Robert Gorrraro, Berto etc.

Someone once said, when you climb one mountain you start looking at a bigger mountain to climb for a bigger reward, but Floyd proved that this isn't the case.

This isn't about what floyd did in the past, its about what he did to the sport when he left it, did he inspire fighters to be great fighters or great businessmen? in my opinion he inspired them to be great businessmen and that's why i feel that the sport is worse off.

How is this any different than Tyson earning $25 mil to fight McNeely or Bruce Seldon? SInce Tyson could sell a ton of PPV's, his compensation was more than other fighters.

[Irony123]

Viral Marketing? Nobody has better viral marketing than GGG. He was built on the internet. People started talking about him from watching youtube videos of his fights that weren't even broadcast in the U.S. Floyd became a star before Boxingscene, fighthype, and most of these online sites and forums existed. And boxing has always been treated as a business from the promoters side. That's why we didn't get a lot of fights we wanted. That's why we didn't get Pacquioa-Mayweather in 2010.



According to the die hard boxing fans Floyd's style is boring. Yet people continually paid to watch him fight. GGG has a fan friendly style but nobody pays to watch him fight. Your opinion isn't based on reality. Show me hard numbers that prove your opinion correct. Don't go off into what you think people are thinking.

People paid to watch him because of his personality outside the ring as well as the skills. Also he has built his brand for over a decade. His first PPV was vs. Arturo Gatti, he was very fun to watch back then. Anyways the point is that it took a long time to build his brand so using ppv buys as hard proof that he made the sport better isn't accurate. I'll be honest Floyd was good for the sport, but in my opinion that has changed years ago. Also comparing GGG isn't really a good comparison, GGG only started building his brand in the last 3-4 years. No one but the hardcores knew who GGG was before his Proksa fight, GGG lost majority of his career being mismanaged/mis-promoted. Even after Floyd's best win at the time in Diego Corrales it took him 4-5 years to do his first PPV against Gatti.

[Mr. Punch-Out!!]

Hurt.

Making the 0 seem more important that it really is, refusing to take risks, using the A-side mentality to get things his way, and none of his fights living up their hype is all is not good for the sport. It doesn't matter how much PPVs he's sold, it doesn't change the fact it was to see Floyd lose, not to see an interesting fight. In the end, his career was all about cheating people out of their money and using it to take advantage of the sport rather than truly doing something great.

[VERSION1 (V1)]

I don't think i am asking the wrong question of the wrong people. We all have favorite fighters but they come and go... the sport stays and new fighters emerge. You like most people on this forum love this sport, very few casual fans would come on a forum and create an account, many act like fan boys but we still love the sport and enjoy it, i am not going to pretend i've been around for a long time but i did start watching boxing 15 years ago so i am not as familiar with the old timers, i am not ashamed of it i am just not as old school as some of the other fans.

every day there are fans that come on and say boxing is dying but this isn't that type of thread. Many things happen in boxing that are killing it slowly... like you said PPV hurt the sport because many of the best fights have been taken off free TV. In my view (at least in North America) boxing is moving towards the old UFC days and UFC is moving towards boxing glory days. fighter mentality in boxing has changed, where before we would get fights like Hagler/Hearns, Duran/Hagler, Duran/SRL etc. now it seems like these fights are less and less likely when you see Floyd making crazy money for fighting Victor Ortiz, Robert Gorrraro, Berto etc.

Someone once said, when you climb one mountain you start looking at a bigger mountain to climb for a bigger reward, but Floyd proved that this isn't the case.

This isn't about what floyd did in the past, its about what he did to the sport when he left it, did he inspire fighters to be great fighters or great businessmen? in my opinion he inspired them to be great businessmen and that's why i feel that the sport is worse off.

name the fighter you are saying they are become great businessmen

[Irony123]

How is this any different than Tyson earning $25 mil to fight McNeely or Bruce Seldon? SInce Tyson could sell a ton of PPV's, his compensation was more than other fighters.

But at the same time everyone looked up at Tyson not as a business man, they looked at him a as a wrecking entertainment machine. Floyd is priding himself as the best businessmen.

In my Opinion Tyson elevated the sport because of what he was, even when he did make crazy money for ****ty fights. But yeah you do have a valid point i just think tyson brought something extra to the sport.

[ea22]

People here are very delusional. If you don't think Mayweather harmed the sport that's fine, but there is no way he made the sport better. Look around mother****ers tell me if the current boxing landscape is one that you are happy with.

[VERSION1 (V1)]

Hurt.

Making the 0 seem more important that it really is, refusing to take risks, using the A-side mentality to get things his way, and none of his fights living up their hype is all is not good for the sport. It doesn't matter how much PPVs he's sold, it doesn't change the fact it was to see Floyd lose, not to see an interesting fight. In the end, his career was all about cheating people out of their money and using it to take advantage of the sport rather than truly doing something great.

that depends on what you where expecting

the only people he cheat out of their money was the ones who want to see him lose