Why Boxing Is No Longer A Main Stream Sport

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It's sad to say, but boxing is no longer what it used to be. I've thought of a few reasons why:

1. GREED- Boxing is no longer in the public eye because the few want to make so much. Pay per view has virtually destroyed boxing as a public sport. Muhammad Ali used to fight on ABC, nationally televised for free. He also have huge live crowds, you just don't see that anymore. If you are lucky, you get to watch a good fight on HBO, but it's still not free. Put them back on the major networks, find good fighters and make them adhere to rules like professionals do in other sports. If you are arrested, etc and bad for the game, then you get booted.

2. ROLL MODELS- Alot of modern fighters are former criminals or thugs. Mike Tyson comes to mind. How does a sport get a good image when it's champions are always being arrested?

3. CORRUPTION- SEE GREED

4. BRUTALITY- I think boxing is for the most part a safe sport, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that there are tons of ex- champions who can't speak clearly because they have been beat in the head too long. The sport needs to keep aging fighters from getting damaged neurologically.It's bad for boxing to see beloved aging athletes being beaten in the head too much.

5. COMPETITION- The best athletes in the world generally aren't in boxing. It used to be that the marquis athlete in the world was the heavyweight champion of the world. Now, it seems that boxing is an alternative for guys who can't cut it in the NFL, etc.




If you can add to the list, please do so. I think boxing should be more organized like the NBA or NFL. Of course it would be different because fighters are en****** in their own right, but the current system is so corrupt, that great fighters never get to be on the world stage.

I would like to see a national professional boxing tournament, something like the NCAA basketball tournament. Shorter fights, and of course the tournament would have to last a while.

The winners would emerge with legitimate rankings. No ducking, no dodging. The best man wins, period.

You can blame it all on the Heavyweight division, and it's a solid fact. Back when Foreman, Holmes, Ali, and Frazier were doing well and big names, the sport was huge. When Holyfield and Tyson were fighting and some other talented heavyweights, it was a big deal, now with joke fighters like Valuev and Ruiz there is nothing to even look at.

I think some of the most exciting fighters from recently were Golota, Vitali, Lennox Lewis, and Tyson, and now they aren't even part of the division. With paper champions like Byrd, and Ruiz, and fake fighters like Mccline and Valuev there is no looking up for the division, and the attention is based on this division.

[TheEvilSaint]

Than get the **** out of here with your gayass Rob Halford loving ass.

go get a tampon, you obviously need it.

[Yogi]

well a large part of why boxing isnt a mainstream sport anymore is when Deuk Koo Kim died after fighting Ray Mancini. it was too much for public TV and they yanked boxing off network TV. that's when HBO and Showtime picked it up, the first to act was HBO then Showtime. but had Kim not died there could've been a good chance that it would still be on, at least more than there is now. but after boxing went to cable tv PPV's were too easy for the tv, and promoters to make money on, plus all the other bull**** that follows, but the big reason it's not on network tv is because of the tragic death of Deuk Koo Kim.

The Mancini/Kim fight happened in 1982, man, and I can still recall the networks showing a very healthy amount of boxing up to and towards the end of the 1980's decade...So no, the networks didn't yank boxing off of television when the Duek Koo Kim tragedy happened. In fact, the lightweight division that that fight was fought in was very alive & very well through the mid/late 80' as far as network television goes, as the 135 pounders were a regular showcase on television (NBC mostly, but all three concentrated on the division through the 80's).

[BmoreBrawler]

You can blame it all on the Heavyweight division, and it's a solid fact. Back when Foreman, Holmes, Ali, and Frazier were doing well and big names, the sport was huge. When Holyfield and Tyson were fighting and some other talented heavyweights, it was a big deal, now with joke fighters like Valuev and Ruiz there is nothing to even look at.

I think some of the most exciting fighters from recently were Golota, Vitali, Lennox Lewis, and Tyson, and now they aren't even part of the division. With paper champions like Byrd, and Ruiz, and fake fighters like Mccline and Valuev there is no looking up for the division, and the attention is based on this division.

Yeah, but think about it. Even if a guy was exciting, there is almost no way for the mainstream to find that out. You get the little blurbs on ESPN, who more or less minimalizes everything in boxing to insignificant segments. When Rahman KO's Lewis, something that shouldve been somewhat a big deal as Lewis was considered the champ, all we got were little highlight blurbs-AND I LIVE IN BALTIMORE!

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Yeah, but think about it. Even if a guy was exciting, there is almost no way for the mainstream to find that out. You get the little blurbs on ESPN, who more or less minimalizes everything in boxing to insignificant segments. When Rahman KO's Lewis, something that shouldve been somewhat a big deal as Lewis was considered the champ, all we got were little highlight blurbs-AND I LIVE IN BALTIMORE!

I know what you mean, I was really shocked when Zab Judah knocked out Spinks, my local paper had a big writeup and picture in the paper. I have to use a magnifying glass to find anything about boxing in our newspaper, they have a tiny ass area "Boxing" and it just says upcoming fights, in microscopic print. That's sad, compared to what it used to be like.

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go get a tampon, you obviously need it.

How can you be a Tomasz Adamek fan and a Lamon Brewster fan? Golota and Adamek are huge polish fighters, and after the embarassment Brewster handed Golota, Adamek and Brewster should not be in the same category.

[TheEvilSaint]

How can you be a Tomasz Adamek fan and a Lamon Brewster fan? Golota and Adamek are huge polish fighters, and after the embarassment Brewster handed Golota, Adamek and Brewster should not be in the same category.

uhhh, maybe cuz i like how they fight? i was upset when golota lost but brewster's win over krasniqi and spirited effort with lyko made a fan out of me.

my boys are my boys cuz i think they're exciting.

do you also have a problem with gatti and mayweather being two of my favorite fighters?

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uhhh, maybe cuz i like how they fight? i was upset when golota lost but brewster's win over krasniqi and spirited effort with lyko made a fan out of me.

my boys are my boys cuz i think they're exciting.

do you also have a problem with gatti and mayweather being two of my favorite fighters?

Personally, Gatti and Mayweather could die and I wouldn't really care. If you are a fan of Adamek usually you are a fan of Golota also, since they scheduled him on the undercard because the large Polish crowd in the arena would support both fighters. That's like saying Pacquiao and Morales are both your boys, or Castillo and Corrales.

[TheEvilSaint]

Personally, Gatti and Mayweather could die and I wouldn't really care. If you are a fan of Adamek usually you are a fan of Golota also, since they scheduled him on the undercard because the large Polish crowd in the arena would support both fighters. That's like saying Pacquiao and Morales are both your boys, or Castillo and Corrales.

and thats a problem because?....

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and thats a problem because?....

Not a problem, just pointing out that it's odd, don't get your period over it.