Improving Boxing appeal?

[KidDinamita]

I won't say less belts, because belts are what motivates a boxer to get better.

But for sure less weight classes and less "regular", "super champion" bulls*it

[iamboxing]

Less weight classes

Ban those ugly carnival shorts a lot of boxers wear

Stop "marinating" fights, fights are not meat

Fight more often

Stop paying boxers those millions that are being paid as this is one of the issues boxers are not fighting regularly as well

Agree with marinating fights. Just fight already. All this talk about "we need time to hype it up" is nonsense. Disagree about them getting millions. They deserve it. The amount of training it takes to reach their level and sacrifices they've made is huge, plus risking getting their brain wires being snapped and hemorrhaging.

[Last Roman]

Ideally you would get a private boxing organization that standardizes and makes the fight promoting system efficient. One of the great commercial advantages the UFC has over boxing is that the higher brass can simply order a fight to happen, also only one belt for weight class. If boxing was like the UFC, GGG would have already fought Canelo and Billy Joe wouldn't be defending a belt no one takes seriously against bum after bum.

[Eff Pandas]

Hijack a bunch of sh^t from the UFC which the UFC hijacked from boxing back when they were starting out.

Less divisions, I personally love the MMA weight divisions, 125, 135, 145, 155, 170, 185, 205 & 265. The asian countries can come up with their own lil guy divisions cuz largely in the biggest money boxing countries few care about any fighter under 140lbs who weighs less than their healthy weight teenage daughter & somehow there are 9 of the 17 divisions in those lil guy divisions (105, 108, 112, 115, 118, 122, 126, 130 & 135). Boxing in most countries would do fine to just reduce down to 8 or 9 divisions with a mere 2 or 3 in the under 140 range.

One champ per division.

Change the rules to make for a more engaging contest. How you go about this can be argued endlessly & continously as more info is learned about what works & doesn't work, but I think holding should be 100% banned. If you hold aggressively after being hurt or dropped I think a point should ALWAYS be taken for one easy example to make boxing more entertaining for fans.

Use lighter gloves. This would make for more KO's which would appeal to fans & oddly would likely make for a safer sport as I & others believe the brain damage many receive in boxing is from getting your lights blinked or turned out completely, but boxing rules allowing for a recovery time equals a guy getting his lights blinked or turned off again or several times before the fight is over. This has been one of the key causes of brain injury in studies so I think lighter gloves = lights being turned off once & than you are suspended for x days to allow for real recovery (I also tend to think the suspended time after a KO should be drastically lengthened to 6 months to a year).

A tier based system of development to allow for competitive fights at all levels of the sport. Just like in most sports where there is some sort of farm system from the amateurs to the minor leagues to the elite level boxing should make some sort of system like this. The sumo ranking system in Japan is what I'd really love to see in boxing. It could be made to easily fit into boxing despite no regular tournament offerings in boxing at any level by just moving guys up or down based on recent performance to better fit where their currently skill level is. I also believe this would led to more older fighters being weeded out of the sport quicker as they'd get dropped to lower & lower divisions of the sport until them competing in the AA league of boxing would be an such an embarrassment to them they'd just hang them up knowing they just didn't have it anymore.

Professional sumo consists of approximately 550 rikishi divided into 6 divisions. The top division, called Makuuchi, includes the top 42 wrestlers in the sport. The Makuuchi rank receives the most attention and media coverage. Because Makuuchi showcases the best of the best, Sumotalk.com focuses primarily on the rikishi in this division.

The second highest division is called Juryo. Juryo consists of 28 rikishi. Rikishi in the top two divisions--Makuuchi and Juryo--are called "sekitori." Sekitori are easily distinguished by their colorful mawashi (belts) and the topknot of their hair, which is fanned out into the shape of a ginkgo leaf. Sekitori are also assigned a tsuke-bito, a lower-ranked wrestler that acts as a servant performing such acts as carrying the sekitori's belongings, toweling him off during practice, and answering his every beck and call. Reaching sekitori status is the first major goal of any rikishi.

The third division is called Maku****a. This division consists of 120 rikishi all fighting to be promoted to Juryo, thus becoming a sekitori.

The fourth division is Sandanme, which consists of approximately 200 rikishi.

The fifth division is Jonidan, which consists of approximately 260 rikishi.

The sixth and final division is Jonokuchi, which consists of approximately 80 rikishi.

http://www.sumotalk.com/structure.htm

[Boxfan83]

Which ideas would you give to improve Boxing appeal and let people be more interested in this sport?

In my opinion there are too many weight categories (no more sense nowdays as it's easy to gain/lose Kg in controlled way compared to 20 years ago) and too many federations/belts, this can confuse people who doesn't follow boxing often.

I would reduce weight categories to no more than 10 and try to create the "only one champion" for category.

Attract women...

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Which ideas would you give to improve Boxing appeal and let people be more interested in this sport?

In my opinion there are too many weight categories (no more sense nowdays as it's easy to gain/lose Kg in controlled way compared to 20 years ago) and too many federations/belts, this can confuse people who doesn't follow boxing often.

I would reduce weight categories to no more than 10 and try to create the "only one champion" for category.

I keep seeing more and more of these threads and I'm liking it. You are absolutely correct, man. The sport needs more integrity and stop looking like a circus. Every sport has one champion besides boxing. If it wants to thrive, it needs to be respected and that only happens with one clear champion per division.

Along with that, I do respect the PBC for putting it on free TV. The more it's on free TV, the more future stars will be built up. HBO, Showtime and PPV need to go away honestly. Boxing was much better when it was free.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Which ideas would you give to improve Boxing appeal and let people be more interested in this sport?

In my opinion there are too many weight categories (no more sense nowdays as it's easy to gain/lose Kg in controlled way compared to 20 years ago) and too many federations/belts, this can confuse people who doesn't follow boxing often.

I would reduce weight categories to no more than 10 and try to create the "only one champion" for category.

It's actually very ironic to me. In the old days, you have guys listening to the fights on the radio and now you have guys following fights on the internet for round by round updates, pretty much like back then. The internet just took the place of the radio in a sport that can't be watched live on free TV. There's no way that is a good thing for the sport.

[al-Xander]

Top fighters fighting once a year is killing boxing.

[b Murphington]

A tier based system of development to allow for competitive fights at all levels of the sport. Just like in most sports where there is some sort of farm system from the amateurs to the minor leagues to the elite level boxing should make some sort of system like this. The sumo ranking system in Japan is what I'd really love to see in boxing. It could be made to easily fit into boxing despite no regular tournament offerings in boxing at any level by just moving guys up or down based on recent performance to better fit where their currently skill level is. I also believe this would led to more older fighters being weeded out of the sport quicker as they'd get dropped to lower & lower divisions of the sport until them competing in the AA league of boxing would be an such an embarrassment to them they'd just hang them up knowing they just didn't have it anymore.

I think me and you talked about this before and I really like the idea.

[Last Roman]

As I always say:
There is no problem in combat sports that can't be solved with head movement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o79mKNgwWE