Comments Thread For: How Much Might Forgettable Thurman-Garcia Fight Damage Future Viewership?

[mrlopez]

I say make the ring smaller (10ft) for all prize fights. Itll definitely bring more action imo.

[filup79]

The only thing killing boxing is the writers and fans who complain and try to tear down everything about it. Certain writers bash certain fighters and boxing cards due to being aligned with certain promoters. The fight didn't live up to the hype but what fight in recent years has? Frampton vs Quigg was another big fight that didn't live up to expectations. When you have 2 boxers on top of their game fighting each other, more than anything it's going to be a tactical fight due to the respect they have for each other. Most of the action fights come from fighters who only stand there and trade punches or mismatches that produce KOs. Boxing is the only sport where the same people who cover it tear it down.

[ruedboy]

forgettable is the word to describe this fight.

On the plus side there weren't a whole lot of clinches.lol

[MrClutch85]

Shawn Porter made Thurman fight not box that was a great fight.Thurman style he likes to go for the KO rounds 1-4 if he can't take you out he goes to his secondary style out boxer and out point you.Danny Garcia is a patient fighter who fights at a slow pace.the fight was decent not great

[GMAN SUPREME]

On the plus side there weren't a whole lot of clinches.lol

yeah it could have been worse haha.

[MrRolltide91]

Run Time Thurman

[FLY TY]

This is terrible writing from this platform (which is supposed to be helping to build the sport). It confirms for me that the contributors for this site participate in the comment threads (and may represent some of the worst of the bunch in terms of analysis).

This piece has me questioning the integrity of this site. This type of "writing" is why boxing has been challenged of late. Perpetuating unsubstantiated claims of a "dying" sport, when recent data shows boxing is actually out performing UFC in the Saturday prime time slot on Network TV since the launch of PBC and sites like this are actually experiencing consistent growth on social media platforms.

Where is the evidence for this dying sport? It seems that since the premium channels have lost their monopoly, the sport is starting to experience growth (although gradual). Where's the data for these "dying" assertions?

Yes, this isn't the 1980s, fights aren't pulling in 20 million eyes (although may - pac likely pulled in close to that many eyes). But boxing is actually right in the middle of the pack in terms of viewership for sports content. All of television viwership in down in comparison to 20 years ago. (Go check out data on the leadinh shows every year). Just provide some objective data when making these silly claims.

This fight was decent, it didn't need to be some unbelievable affair. It just had to be competitive, which it achieved. The viewership will keep rising with quality matchups. All that other stuff about "slugging" or "boxing" is for Internet trolls, like this author.

I'm willing to bet anything when Mikey Garcia fights in prime time on Saturday night on network TV, the ratings will be even higher.

i agree. with every sport, you're going to have matchups that don't perform from a competitive standpoint, as many thought. Keep feeding the public quality fights, and people will keep coming back. some fights will live up to the hype, some won't. that's life.

Not much, it wasnt that bad, just a little underwhelming. The beginning showed how awesome boxing could be.

agree also. it wasn't a bad fight. the second half was a little underwhelming.

I love what pbc is doing for boxing, but call a spade a spade. This wasn't a great fight to rep boxing to the mainstream audience. Wasn't the best, wasn't the worse. Im just curious , are you a Thurman fan? It seems like the Thurman fans are being most defensive about this topic (all due respect, I'm not being flip, I'm really curious).

being able to unify the belts was kind of a big thing to the guy. the second half of the fight, his trainer kept telling him, he's winning the fight, don't do anything ****** (i.e. unnecessary exchanges, or getting clipped because you're trying to knock a guy out). all thurman did was follow the correct advice of his trainer, who's paid to help the guy win fights....no more, no less.

i'm not making excuses for thurman, i'm not saying it was aesthetically pleasing, but i understand WHY he was on his bike the last few rounds. as we saw in the porter fight, thurman will go toe-to-toe when he has to, so i think the strategy employed towards the latter third of this fight, had more to do with team thurman feeling like the only way they lose this fight, is if they lose it themselves. it takes two to tango though, and danny's ineffectiveness at cutting off the ring played just as much a part, as keith deciding to "move."

floyd mayweather was also a guy that didn't give a damn about appeasing the crowd, his goal first and foremost, was to win the fight. that worked out pretty well for him. keith thurman won the fight, has 2 belts, and will likely be involved in another big unification fight later this year or sometime next year. danny garcia? who knows who he fights next....once again, not making excuses, but i understand.

[stiff_back]

The fight wasnt that great as it seem it was going to be. I was expecting this fight to be fight if the year candidate. This was suppose to be the best fight of the year. Two undefeated champions. I say this was a 50 50 Fights. It has nothing to do with PBC. Thurman vs Porter was great and it was also PBC. He is just stating the fact that it underperform to spectations. It was being compare to Lenard vs Hearns.

This to me sums up why casuals won't be put off by the fight. I think the reason that some hardcore boxing fans are upset is because they were almost demanding a FOTY before it happened. However, casuals don't follow the hype as much for a fight like this, so they probably got what they expected: a pretty entertaining fight.

[hitking]

I sat a eye level with the ring in the lower level and thought it was a good fight. You had exchanges. You had adjustments. You had quality defense. WTF else do you want in a championship level fight? Everybody loves KOs. But, it was very obvious early in the fight neither fighter was gonna hurt the other with a single shot. So the game plans were adjusted accordingly. If you weren't entertained by it, boxing just isn't your thing.

[hitking]

The only thing killing boxing is the writers and fans who complain and try to tear down everything about it. Certain writers bash certain fighters and boxing cards due to being aligned with certain promoters. The fight didn't live up to the hype but what fight in recent years has? Frampton vs Quigg was another big fight that didn't live up to expectations. When you have 2 boxers on top of their game fighting each other, more than anything it's going to be a tactical fight due to the respect they have for each other. Most of the action fights come from fighters who only stand there and trade punches or mismatches that produce KOs. Boxing is the only sport where the same people who cover it tear it down.

Excellent post. Its sad reality that boxing is in nowadays. A lot of so called boxing writers and "hardcore" fans will sit around and circle jerk each other over GGG KOing the janitor at the arena he's fighting in. Then criticize a guy like Rigondeaux or Floyd for outclassing an elite fighter over 12rds.