Losing Interest?

[R-Hand Southpaw]

Guess I struck a nerve with people lol. I agree with many of the post. Especially that the sport needs a centralized set up. The gossip and troll post in the forums are at an all time high. I'm all about good convos and boxing talk, not boxer bashing. But I'm just tired if reading about potential fights that could happen soon or next and then seeing a promoter responding with, "not for a longtime", or "he doesn't need to fight him". Crawford Spence, wilder Joshua, Loma garcia, the 3 best fights in boxing, must happen in 2019, and high chance they will not

You have to define boxer bashing to the trolls who dont care to listen.

Saying fighter A would beat fighter B isnt boxer bashing. Especially if you have a legit opinion and reasoning other than generic talking points.

But no, talk "bad" like in the example above about their man crush and they go ****ing wild.

Especially to those "fans" that only care about a boxers skin color. Nationality. Man crush. Etc. Everything but the boxing aspect.

Like imo Mikey Garcia is #2 at 135, hes a good fighter, but hes ducking an easy fight in Lomachenko.

Everyone but Mikey wants it. They do! Mikey for some reason wants Spence. Great goal but ****** fight to make.

But no, because I point out the obvious and think Lomachenko is better than Mikey I AM A HATER.

The ****? As a boxing fan first and foremost Mikey vs Spence does nothing for the sport. The outcome is almost a guarantee. If Mikey wins, good for him. I'm rooting for him but I dont think he will win because hes TOO SMALL.

[iamboxing]

Get more referees like smoger and bring back 15 rounds and even minor fights on free to air channels would be worth watching.

[Lion81]

Get more referees like smoger and bring back 15 rounds and even minor fights on free to air channels would be worth watching.

15 rounds?

It was changed to 12 because people were dying. Too many blows to the head. I wouldnt want a return to 15 rounds.

[Marchegiano]

That makes sense. I enjoy some sh^t talking if its good, but 90%+ of the sh^t talking in boxing seems forced & contrived & I know some cats don't like any of it so fair play if thats the case with you. Generally the gossip sh^t seems to be SM driven so as long as you stay away from SM (although I guess that could include a site like this one often) you can avoid that.

And f#ck yea I'm completely on board with the business of boxing & the art of promotion f#cking up the desire of fans & the legacy of fighters.

The best should ALWAYS be fighting the best in boxing like what happens in every other sport. Boxing could be improved tomorrow if anyone with some power decided that boxing should make as much sense as other sports.

You need a centralized power structure that runs & looks out for boxing first & foremost. You don't need this bs which works like a ton of small businesses all looking out for their own good first & foremost.

Some QB in the NFL or some pitcher in the MLB can't control their own destiny quite like a boxer can, a promoter can for a boxer or a manager for a boxer. Thats cool that boxers have so much control of their destiny, but it always greatly damages the quality control of boxing which is one of the least competitive sports at the elite level cuz there is very little ability in keeping unproven fighters from getting big fights.

At the highest level of the sport no top ten guy should be fighting a guy you could say is #38 or #52 or even further down. The top guys should ONLY be fighting each other at the tip top level.

This is how things work in every other f#cking sport basically. Certainly every major sport that one could say is above boxing in the minds & hearts of sports fans.

Thats a huge mfing problem for the integrity of the sport that there is no quality control at any f#cking level of the sport.

/my rant lol

I am not saying this because I think it is a good thing, but because I believe it is true.

Corruption is in the very core of boxing. I think it is because corruption is so integral to boxing it is difficult to replace.

In ancient times it came in a form that's somewhat hard to understand. It was thought to die while winning was best. So from time to time you get a champion who was rather famous and well loved getting the fix put in for him to be killed. The idea was set up everything so that the champion gets killed but have the man doing the killing forfeit right before the deadman dies.

There is one case of a rich man using his wealth to buy his way through Olympia. Dude was a pioneer. For the most part though ancient corruption was different and in favor of the gods.

Then you have the English revival and James Figg's Amphitheatre. I'll go into in more depth if any would like me to but it's safe to say Figg's fights were dubious at best and the fights that took place in his amphitheatre even more so.

The Broughton that everyone praises for organizing boxing organized corruption as well. After Figg died there was a vacuum in who controlled boxing. There was split in those who worked with Figg and two of his star pupils were fighting for control. By fighting for control of course I mean PR campaigns. Broughton's Rules are more of a settlement between two warring factions of one martial arts academy whose master had died then anything else.

After Slack got the title out of the control of Amphitheatres is goes from dubious fights that have convenient outcomes for the Amphitheatre owners to well known fixes, and looking the other way for some cheating to take place.

We're done in the English era. They never move on from or fix the issue of boxing being as much WWE style bull as it is an honest and pure sport.

In America boxing starts on two fronts and ain't neither or them pretty. Black America would be the first in the game by the early 19th century. They picked up Daniel The *** Mendoza's Mendoza School and had some level of success in Europe but were not allowed to win. Then when America took up boxing Black Americans, as we all know, were expected to perform favors for White Americans. Blacks in America were using gloves and fighting defensively using slips and counters a good half century prior to White America....and that's being quite generous to White America really. Black people were extreme defensively minded because they could not win or could not fight in the bigger leagues. In Europe they had they less often spoken on Moneyline. In America we had the very well known Colorline. So, they either needed to fight safe because they were fighting a fight they were not allowed to win or because they were fighting men they'd need to fight again in a week so it's best if both can show up next week too.

Then you have White America's entrance into boxing in the mid to late 19th century. Not many people realize this but boxing for white america begins in Dixie. It was called Rough and Tumble. Dixie thought English boxing was soft and had a no-rules to low-rules sport to replace it. This is where the real roughest and most de****able history is found. They'll bust a bottle over yer head, have their friend call time, and try to rip your balls off. That's no exaggeration....castration was a common means for victory. As R&T fighters got more famous a push to see them in LPRR grew and so they became champions in LPRR and it's revision period. Hyer and what not, all those earlier guys were R&T fighters. Rough and Tumble was not always impromptu and from time to time they fought with pretty decent articles of agreement signed, but it's important to note these are the guys you get most your cliche cowboy scenes from, the majority or your mafia scenes both Italian and Irish. Seedy underground types fighting seedy underground types for the enjoyment of seedy underground types and all the sort of corruption you might imagine comes with.

Who controlled all of these eras? Politicians first, then organized crime, and finally the champions themselves. Way back in the early days you have Lords protecting boxing while the men they protect take full advantage and take the liberty of making fraudulent performances they called fights. In America the men who served as protector are the same men who always replace the lord role; businessmen. A lot of early American champions were also employed to beat up people who voted for the wrong man prior to them becoming champions...them sorts of businessmen. Alright but once you have a champion he has some say regardless of what the lords and suits have to say. Sometimes they fight the best guy around to prove they are the best guy around. Most time they just do what the lords and suts say what's best. If you've never heard of it look up Champion's prerogative, it covers the champ's control and power pretty well.

Eventually there are too many lord and suits arguing and doing shady behind the scenes nonsense and the sanctioning bodies are formed. They are basically coalitions just like political parties. When the time comes when an industry gets so big that no one man can control it that's when men who are used to being bosses are willing to sit down with one another and pick a big boss. That is all the bodies and commissions really are though, a coalition of politicians and suits from the same pool and ilk as the ******** and organized crime politician and suits who used to run boxing on their own in their own regions.

The bodies did do a good job chasing out the sort of businessmen who'd hire guns to stand at ringside and **** like that but to be honest that has much more to do with those sort of overt strongarm tactics being bad for business in the long run than anything moral or any attempt to make boxing pure.


That said, most of what we tell ourselves about boxing was only ever true when boxing was considered a religious event. Fair play is something the English as a public or audience always loved but was never anything the power in boxing was interested in. In America it took the audience a while to catch on the a sense of fair and exalted corruption as a show of strength. Dixie and the west in particular is oddly Spartan. Where it's not the cheating that's frowned on it's the getting caught. Once boxing went global the game was over, what was once overt and outright corruption is today legitimate business.

[Eff Pandas]

Nowadays you don't expect fighters to start negotiating their next fight after their fights.
You expect them to take a very looooong layoff before seeing them back in the ring again.
The Charlo twins, for instance, barely get scratches after their fights.
They can even fight the next day, yet their handlers would rather see them loiter around doing ****** things like teenagers do.

I see only see Hearn making an effort.

I disagree.

Arum had a tentative date for Bud the week after his fight. Once Loma was cleared to fight he had a fight booked within a week or two iirc. Kathy Duva lined up that Kov rematch pretty quick. Thats the standard not the exception. Hearn isn't special with that. Generally promoters keep their guys in a rotation.

This IS a problem for PBC guys who have zero or lil promoter contact. Those guys seem to have issues with a quick turnaround. I mean look at Spence. He blew out a bs mando in a round in June & he's still on the shelf without a definite date.

Thats the PBC way not the regular way boxers with promoters do it.

[Southpawology]

boxing always goes in hot/cold cycles just gotta weather the storm

[rickJen]

I disagree.

Arum had a tentative date for Bud the week after his fight. Once Loma was cleared to fight he had a fight booked within a week or two iirc. Kathy Duva lined up that Kov rematch pretty quick. Thats the standard not the exception. Hearn isn't special with that. Generally promoters keep their guys in a rotation.

This IS a problem for PBC guys who have zero or lil promoter contact. Those guys seem to have issues with a quick turnaround. I mean look at Spence. He blew out a bs mando in a round in June & he's still on the shelf without a definite date.

Thats the PBC way not the regular way boxers with promoters do it.

This thing about taking long layoff after a fight has become a culture in the PBC camp.
I don't think it's been this way before.
What happens is long vacations have become the bigger motivation for these fighters.
Even networks like Showtime have gotten used to it.
It almost seems like it's just an obligation or a chore to come up with meaningless fights to quell fans' anger, like a band-aid fix.
Not because they want to do it right.
There's just no interest in continuity after a fight.
There's just no long-term plans for their fighters.
Man, long-term probably stretches decades for these people.