Saving Boxing in the U.S.

[john l]

Boxing has never appealed in the US. The only thing casuals care about is WWE stunts/"Big Drama Show"/Posting Expensive Stuff On Instgram(For Some Reason This Gives You Alot Of Instagram Followers). Casuals don't care about boxing.

Boxing used to be BIGGEST SPORT in US.And all the way up into the 60s it was right behind baseball.Hell even the early 80s boxing was much bigger sport.I remember after Tyson vs Spinks it was on front page of both big papers (and I'm takin MN)NOT FRONT SPORT PAGE BUT FRONT PAGE!

[john l]

-Floyd just fought Conor McGregor in a fight that likely ended up generating north of $600m.

-After the time was invested, Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia had the fever built up to the point that they had over 5 million people watching them fight.

-For almost every PBC broadcast, the audience has consistently grown throughout the event (as folks find boxing on TV, PBC/Showtime was able to keep them tuned in).

-The live airing of Joshua-Klitschko did over 650k on Showtime in the early afternoon.

-In town after town, city after city, when presented with fights, I've been pleasantly surprised way more often then I'd been disappointed.

US boxing will be fine; keep putting on competitively matched fights (or at least fights with durable/rugged guys), expose them to the sports world as best you can, and let the audience build with a new crop of fighters as Floyd finally steps away and Manny basically gets pushed out.

Errol Spence Jr, Deontay Wilder, Mikey Garcia and others will all get their chance, and the fans will cycle behind the next star.

Ali, to the Four Kings, to Mike Tyson, to Oscar, to Floyd, and now it seems like it's shifting back to the heavyweights (with some really talented smaller guys coming along).

Trust me different people have different slices but the pie is getting smaller and smaller.

[john l]

Yes it has declined Overall, nobody is just casually watching boxing between fighters they don't know compared to others sports in which fans can watch which ever match up between two teams no matter who is playing

The sport of boxing and the way Promoters Promote and the way Fighters connect with fans all of that needs to be changed from Top To Bottom. The Old Way no longer works! TV Commercials and Radio Commercials don't work anymore. Also ZERO effort to connect with a younger demographic

You hit it when you talked about youngrer demo that's what we NEED.Our fanbase gets older every year unlike other sports.I have honestly hated mma since it came out.People watch mma to see them stand and fight not rassel.I mean that's what boxing is!!!!!!!! I remember the 1st one they were advertising in THE RING or KO at the time.I remember thinkin early "I hope this don't catch on"Boxing really would be better off with just one big org or promoter

[Scipio2009]

Trust me different people have different slices but the pie is getting smaller and smaller.

I'd argue that point, tbh.

Floyd going away has definitely taken the top off of sport, but the base has drastically broadened under that with the younger guys.

Barclays Center is now an established premier venue for the sport to go along with MGM Resorts (Mandalay/MGM Grand/T-Mobile Arena), and SoCal and Texas are still hotbeds for the sport.

You add the Charlos in Houston, Spence in Dallas, Lara still trying to do something in South Florida, Wilder in Alabama, and the host of regional draws coming along ("Red Flag" Benevidez in Vegas/Arizona, Caleb Plant in TN if he gets a belt, Claressa Shields in Michigan, etc).

With the depth of the TV situation being what it is (between the shows on Showtime/CBS and this likely deal with Fox/FS1, you're talking about 50 shows a year for the foreseeable future), folks are missing the forest over the trees.

[john l]

I'd argue that point, tbh.

Floyd going away has definitely taken the top off of sport, but the base has drastically broadened under that with the younger guys.

Barclays Center is now an established premier venue for the sport to go along with MGM Resorts (Mandalay/MGM Grand/T-Mobile Arena), and SoCal and Texas are still hotbeds for the sport.

You add the Charlos in Houston, Spence in Dallas, Lara still trying to do something in South Florida, Wilder in Alabama, and the host of regional draws coming along ("Red Flag" Benevidez in Vegas/Arizona, Caleb Plant in TN if he gets a belt, Claressa Shields in Michigan, etc).

With the depth of the TV situation being what it is (between the shows on Showtime/CBS and this likely deal with Fox/FS1, you're talking about 50 shows a year for the foreseeable future), folks are missing the forest over the trees.

It still has less fans less ppv really.Evander vs Foreman did like 1.4 when about 8.5 million COULD GET PPV getting 4.6 now when 100 million homes get it shows what I'm talkin about.When I was a kid it was on FREE tv almost every week end(80s).Im not one of "boxing is dead"idiots but there is a lot of other proof that its fan base is getting older and just less

[Scipio2009]

It still has less fans less ppv really.Evander vs Foreman did like 1.4 when about 8.5 million COULD GET PPV getting 4.6 now when 100 million homes get it shows what I'm talkin about.When I was a kid it was on FREE tv almost every week end(80s).Im not one of "boxing is dead"idiots but there is a lot of other proof that its fan base is getting older and just less

PBC on Fox/FS1 is set to deliver ~30 shows a year, with Showtime/CBS on pace for another 20 shows (plus the ShoBox cards).

There is interest in boxing from younger fans (the likely phase 2 of the PBC effort will give a better sense of where things are growing from).

[The D3vil]

a great white u.s. boxer with a bad boy personality would put u.s. boxing back on the map. hed be on billboards, commercials, and the country for the most part would get behind him and not trash his every move. this sadly is what has to happen

Maybe if we get this guy a leather jacket like Fonzie, he could be the guy, LMAO

[iamboxing]

This.

Very few fighters are good at self promotion and promoters in the US should barely be called promoters these days with their fight hyping/selling ability nowadays.

I mean look at Broner and his following despite him sh^tting the bed every time he steps up. There is something to that if you are paying attention and that's him selling himself on social media.

Look at Haney. He's got a following and hasn't fought close to a live opponent yet. That dude is all over YouTube. The world changed and boxing still thinks it's 1972 in the US.

There are more examples of varying success out there.

I'm ashamed to say I haven't heard of Haney before, but I just checked him out. Yes, his fight has over 400,000 views and he's what 17? Awesome.

[R_Walken]

Boxing used to be BIGGEST SPORT in US.And all the way up into the 60s it was right behind baseball.Hell even the early 80s boxing was much bigger sport.I remember after Tyson vs Spinks it was on front page of both big papers (and I'm takin MN)NOT FRONT SPORT PAGE BUT FRONT PAGE!

Times change, horse Racing at 1 point was a major player so was track and field

There's more sports then ever before And more platforms for fans to watch those options

Has boxing declined from the mainstream media, yeah it's popularity has waned slightly but for a individual sport it's still one of the biggest if not the biggest sport in the States. It's a multi billion dollar sport and has a strong hold in many markets throughout the States

haymons killed US boxing. as long as hes a key player, boxing in america wont thrive.

What a f.ucking ******ed comment, In the last 3-4 years what American fighters have built their profile more then Wilder,Broner, Garcia, Spence, Thurman even the smaller guys like LSC have more of a profile and more people watch them ( exceptions being Canelo and GGg ) then anyone TR, GB , Main events , K2 promote

[Lopez_Boxing]

whats so funny...

Maybe because he thinks it’s ironic how much your user name suits you?