Hearn: "American Boxing Is About To Through A Real Bad Spell & Downturn" (VIDEO)

[FlatLine]

Hearn thinks American boxing is about to go through a dark depression & downturn due to the frequent necessity to hand out free-tickets to random people, and the failure to build fighters from the grass roots in their own hometowns in order to establish a genuine, loyal following:



Just banter from an unqualified party or do you think Hearn's prediction could sadly be accurate?

[SugarRayCurtain]

lol at eddie dissing al haymon
Eddie you do the exact same, the only difference is that you charge ridiculous prices for your ****ty cards. Kell brook-jo jo dan, Tony Bellew-Cleverly, Joshua-Brazealle. All PPV.
Al Haymon puts on better fights and puts them out for free

[Eff Pandas]

I agree, but for different reasons. American boxing has been going thru a downturn outside of Manny & Floyd for years & now with Manny & Floyd out of the game there is very little out there to take their place. Canelo is the king of boxing in the US it would seem now, but I think most see him as a lesser version of the bigger stars over the last 20-30yrs & more of a manufactured star then the Tyson's, Pacquiao's, Mayweather's & De La Hoya's of recent times. I also think all the confusion with titles & rankings & a non-unified sport has turned the once loyal American fan base away from boxing & more into mainstream sports like the NFL or high profile sports or even boxing's stepbrother MMA.

It sounds like Hearn is largely talking about PBC **** which is barely a blip on the US boxing radar. I suppose I could see how that could have some impact on US boxing, but I think there are way bigger issues going on then PBC. Plus I'd say PBC, based on what I've seen, heard & some speculation, is going for some big risk, big reward play that'll either alter the game in the US (& maybe the world) in a more positive way than most can envision right now or it'll burn out & ultimately will be a footnote in US boxing.

[Pigeons]

Boxing has been in a dark depression in America since the '90s.

[al-Xander]

Spending half a billion dollars with nothing to show for it is disastrous. It's all gone. Most of it went to his top fighters fighting cab drivers.

[about.thousands]

He rushed to America to get AJ a deal.

[boliodogs]

British boxing is due for a setback when DeGale, Frampton, and Khan all lose their next fights. The USA has a Brook beater coming up in Spence. USA boxing is far from perfect but it's doing OK. The best fighters in the world like GGG and Crusher Kovalev move to the USA. They don't move to the UK. They know where the biggest boxing is at. It's Vegas, not London.

[.!WAR MIKEY!.]

wtf he talking about. USA still got





THA TROOF

[Dr Rumack]

Surprised at how much I agree with Hearn here. Premium network money killed the tradition of building a hometown following, because compared to the tv money the gate didn't matter a fuck.

They had to build fighters that way, and fighters had to be more active too.

And he's 100% right about a great tv product needing energy in the arena. Another thing missing from a huge number of US boxing broadcasts. It's bizarre watching world class fighters going at in a venue that looks and feels like a hotel function room. Like there's only a couple of hundred people in the room.

That's one of the big things you notice when you watch fights from the 1980s. Packed houses and electricity in the air. One of the reasons Chacon-Limon IV is such a classic is the claustrophobic feel of the whole thing. The energy is like nothing you get nowadays unless you have popular PR boxer fighting on the island. Or like when Carl Froch fought Bute in Nottingham.

Would be great to have that back again.

[Dr Rumack]

This is what made boxing a great American sport.

10,000 fans there to see a home town grudge match