Has America fallen out of love with boxing?

[Mr Giggles]

Boxing in the UK is at an all time high. Nothing is going to replace football (real football not the fake American football) as the number one sport in the uk but boxing is coming close.

However in America it just seems that they have fallen out of love for boxing ever since Floyd mayweather retired.

The reason I say this is because Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury is doing awful ticket selling wise. How can a fight this huge fail to sell tickets. Yes, it's an easy fight for wilder and wilder will knock Fury out easily but that's not the point. Deontay Wilder is an American, this fight has had huge publicity and the hype around this fight has been one of the biggest.

Yet it's failing to sell tickets, why?

If this fight was in the UK, this would have sold out within the first week.

[Eff Pandas]

Yea about 2 decades ago. Not a new thing at all.

And you could easily argue its been going on since the 70s.

[mp1110]

In America, combat sports takes a back seat to the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NCAA football/basketball. There is far more money in those sports, both on the TV rights end and for the athletes themselves. Pro boxing still has a footprint, especially when it comes to 'the big fight' but it's nothing like the heyday of the mid/late 20th century.

[IMDAZED]

Fell off bad years ago. Been on the rise more recently.

[TheIronMike]

This is not new. Guess UK fans just wanted a confidence boost this monday.

[MasterPlan]

Needs to get back on network television and it's been trying the past 3-4-5 years.

Imagine if the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Tennis, Golf, NASCAR, Soccer were only availabe late nights on HBO or Showtime or on PPV.

Yeah, well that was boxing in the 90s-2000s.

[hhs661]

In America, combat sports takes a back seat to the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NCAA football/basketball. There is far more money in those sports, both on the TV rights end and for the athletes themselves. Pro boxing still has a footprint, especially when it comes to 'the big fight' but it's nothing like the heyday of the mid/late 20th century.

I would like to agree with you but unfortunately Golf, NHL and Soccer is also more popular in the USA. It's a shame too

[Deus]

Boxing in the UK is at an all time high. Nothing is going to replace football (real football not the fake American football) as the number one sport in the uk but boxing is coming close.

However in America it just seems that they have fallen out of love for boxing ever since Floyd mayweather retired.

The reason I say this is because Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury is doing awful ticket selling wise. How can a fight this huge fail to sell tickets. Yes, it's an easy fight for wilder and wilder will knock Fury out easily but that's not the point. Deontay Wilder is an American, this fight has had huge publicity and the hype around this fight has been one of the biggest.

Yet it's failing to sell tickets, why?

If this fight was in the UK, this would have sold out within the first week.

Coming close to football? What?!

Tennis is more popular. Cricket is more popular. Rugby is more popular. Golf is more popular. Formula1 is more popular. Boxing still does not reach the masses here in the UK; only Anthony Joshua does.

[Curt Henning]

in the late 80s/early 90's lawrence taylor was one of footballs biggest stars...he made about 2 mil per season...while tyson, bowe, holyfield were all making 100 mil.....current times have good pass rushers making 50-100 mil in the nfl while wilder is scraping by making 2 mil a fight to date(i suspect he will get a nicer check for fury fight)

[CubanGuyNYC]

Even as a lifelong fan of boxing, it’s getting tougher all the time to stay interested. If it wasn’t for this site, I’d hardly ever be exposed to the sport and its current events. No more ESPN “Friday Night Fights,” no more HBO Boxing. The sport’s future in the States is definitely in question.