How did boxing become so popular in the UK?

[kafkod]

Funnily enough the upsurge in darts' popularity can be credited to Matchroom as well

It's great fun btw. If you've ever played it I see no reason why you wouldn't enjoy watching it

And snooker too.

[MDPopescu]

(...) Still, it's probably only about 6th or 7th place in popular sports here, after Football, Rugby Union, Rugby league, Cricket, probably darts (don't ask me why) maybe racing as well.

... they also have tennis... boxing is about #10... (darts?... not at all... )

[Boksfan]

Eddie Hearn. Your master who's saving Murica now

[New England]

they had the summer olympics in london and england did really well in boxing. the biggest reason at the moment is anthony joshua.


and to address your agenda, joshua doesn't fight on DAZN in the UK. his fights are on PPV. dazn is not available in the uk, oddly enough. joshua is not making dazn money over here, either.


they've also got a built in culture that benefits putting large numbers of people into arenas. bars open early and stay late. pub food or street food is pretty cheap. seats are cheap compared to vegas. like, really, really cheap. people have more free time and they enjoy themselves more over there. public transit is good. cops don't give a **** unless you're literally dead out on the cobbles. it's just a different world. and eddie puts those guys into arenas to see our AJ beat somebody up. i'm sure it's fun as hell. i'd love to go over there and start out with a full english, drink until i legit couldn't remember the fight or find my seat, and bring home an ugly woman to my hotel. that's one of the most british things you can do at the moment.

[Eff Pandas]

Cuz they give fans the fights they wanted to see in more timely fashion. One of the problems with US boxing is the business model is more about hitting that one big score vs making the same or maybe more over a longer duration of time by keeping max casual fans interested at all times.

And to the real point of this thread apps vs network television...while its obvious DAZN isn't going to have THAT much impact on the boxing world that casual fans live in anytime soon cuz casual fans got less access or desire to get DAZN than any previous pay ent^ty to watch boxing thats been around or is still around the reality that streaming in its various forms IS the future. If DAZN can become the next ESPN, a pretty good platform for boxing as we speak for casuals, or even surpass ESPN one day then so despite their short game impact not being all that sexy its possible their long game impact could be game changing as new techologies & angles often become.

I honestly see DAZN right now as HBO-like in the 70's. HBO had some huge fights out of the gate & a lot of w/e & garbage fights but from the late 80's til they closed up shop they were seen as the king of boxing. DAZN as that potential if they make the right moves & they customize their product more (an underutilized strategy thus fair with primarily Fight Pass showing fans why streaming is superior with the ability to go to either fighters corner between rounds & alternate commentary options).

[pillowfists98]

Another anti DAZN thread from motorcitycobra. You are obsessed.

[Smash]

joshua is popular, thats about it, when he loses its back to tier 10

[champion4ever]

Modern boxing has its origins in England with bare-knuckle fighting and with the Marquess of Queensberry rules in 1867. The sport still remains popular in England to this very day.

[anonymous2.0]

Brits will watch anything really. Even darts tournaments are popular over there.

"Go on, lad. Shoot that dart"

Unironically there was a period of time where I binged watched English darts tournaments because the crowd and announcing were so positive and hyped.

Boxing isn't particularly popular in the UK. Some boxers are well known and/or popular, but not many.

The British enjoy big events. Sell a fight as a big event and it will do really well. Fail to do that and it won't.

I can't think of an equivalent in American sporting events that compares to the Brit's singing Sweet Caroline.

One thing that benifits UK boxers, and UK boxing as a whole, is the fierce pride and loyalty that many UK males feel towards their home town, city, or region, irrespective of the race of the people who live there. This is a consequence of the "football culture" which has been a major part of UK mainstream culture for over a century.

UK boxing fans travel travel to support fighters from their home towns and this gives UK boxing shows the passionate atmosphere of football matches.

Eddie Hearn understands this and taps into it deliberately, both with his matchmaking and the way he publicises fights. This has been a major factor in his success in the UK, and the consequent rise in the popularity of boxing as a mainstream sport. Eddie has admitted that he is struggling to get to grips with the absence of passionate local support for US boxers.

tbh as a whole I feel like fandom in England is far more energetic and passionate then fandom in America. Americans would rather watch pure trash tv like My 600 Pound Life and Home Swappers or Garbage Wars; watching sports sort of requires understanding the rules and nuances of the sport and for some people that's too much work, they'd rather sit and judge a 600 pound man failing his diet because he's a fatass.

[Fabes88]

Honestly it’s not as big as you guys like to pretend it is to make yourself feel better about certain things. Truth be told is it’s probably the 4th or 5th biggest sport in the country with barely any media coverage.