The problem isn't Americans not supporting their own. The problem is....

[WesternChamp]

blacks are too damn broke to support boxing.

even the rich one dont support. they only come out for big fights. they got other shiietz to do.

[Real King Kong]

But nobody wants to see the real fights so it's irrelevant what is "closer" to real fight or not.

People want to see sports and legitimate competition under a ruleset that provides good contests and has a history behind it. That's why soccer is the most popular sport.

Boxing just has a much better ruleset and more history than MMA and it will always be a more popular and superior sport. UFC isn't really a sport anyway, it's more like pro wrestling. It has no legitimate competitive format and there are no sanctioning bodies governing it. No real sports fan takes it seriously. Boxing is not competing with the UFC, the UFC is competing with WWE and has a similar fanbase. Those casual fans who follow the UFC would never follow boxing.

Also, the UFC is only popular in two countries on the planet.

I can only speak from experience...of all the people I used to watch boxing ppvs with, there's only 2 left, the rest follow the ufc. I don't get where you think people don't want to watch real fighting...a lot of casual combat sport fans think that's exactly what they are watching when they watch the ufc and what they were watching when they used to watch boxing. Someone just came along and told them mma is a better form of combat. I'm guessing you don't live in North America.

[THC]

Boxing does not appeal to a broad base of fans anymore. Reasons:

1) Poor marketing.
2) Infrequent broadcasts.
3) Largely non-competitive fights.

[BoxingIsGreat]

All they need to do is fight regularly and fight great competition. The fans will eventually come, if you've got what it takes to be a big star. Anyway, it is a combination of many things. Most won't make it to the top.

[New England]

Idk if it's the right thing to do but to appeal to the white people and Rest of the population I think a black fighter has to be a villain unfortunately. If they get people to hate (which is kinda easy) then more people would wanna see them lose aka More ppv buys

you don't need to be a villain, you just need to have a niche

tyson wasn't really a villain until later in his career. he was still hugely popular when he was just a young kid knocking giants unconscious.

foreman was an antagonist in his prime, and a feel good underdog in his comeback when he foght on ppv and made more money than he ever did in his prime.

evander holyfield was really the opposite of a villain, and he's one of the biggest draws of all time in ppv.

oscar wasn't caucasian, he had mexican heritage, he was a handsome man, and in his prime you'd see groups of women at his fights WITH NO MEN!


yeah, being a black villain is and has been a draw in boxing, going all the way back to johnson, but it is not fair to say that that is the only reason blacks have drawn in the states historically, or that it is the only way they can get to truly superstar levels of success today.

[The Big Dunn]

promoters/managers are marketing to the wrong demographic for American fighters. When I say American fighters I'm talking black fighters because all the top American fighters are black.

Promoters do not market to the urban black population. Hip hop and rap have been conjoined since the early days of rap



The highest rated urban morning radio show, The Breakfast Club, regularly talk boxing. They've had a lot of boxers on the show, including GGG. Co-host Charlamagne The God is a big boxing fan. Not a casual fan either. He talks boxing all the time on Twitter.



When they show stars in the audience of fights who do you always see? Rappers, black basketball players, and black actors/actresses. Ever been to a Floyd fight in Vegas? What's the main demographic you see? Met a guy who owned 2 stores on the strip in Vegas. He said personally he hates Floyd but when he fights he made a lot of money. He says he stocks up on Ace of Spades, Cristal, Hennessey XO, and other drinks popular in urban areas, marks up the price and can't keep it on the shelf.

Floyd said Arum didn't know how to market him to the urban audience. He left and we know the rest of the story. Floyd saw the money to be made marketing to the urban audience and he went full "Money Mayweather"

Every football player thinks they can be a basketball player. Every basketball player thinks they can be a rapper. Every rapper thinks they can be a basketball player. But all three think they got hands and could box.

Right now I think the Charlos have the highest upside of becoming household names. The next PPV stars. They are talented, handsome, charismatic and culture influencers. If Love & Hip Hop Houston wouldn't have been cancelled before it aired I think they would be a lot bigger than they are now. Thoe Love & Hip Hop shows are some of the highest rated on cable TV.

That's all imma say. Anything else is giving away the game for free. I know managers and promoters read this board so if they want the blueprint they gotta pay.

I think you make some good points. I just think alot of the new guys lack charisma.

I think this has always been the case, but when the sport was bigger and had more active fighters, you had more charismatic guys and the sport wasn't hurt.

You had Duran and Leonard, so it was ok that Hearns and Hagler, Benitez were relatively boring guys. You had ODH and Roy so it was ok that Felix and Bhop were not charismatic.

On the other hand, a guy like Gatti is tremendously charismatic but not a great fighter.

Fighters need more than just a slick marketing campaign and skill to cross over.

Good thread.

[Motorcity Cobra]

So as soon as Apple Music and Netflix start buying boxing, maybe boxing promoters will market to that demo more.

That's the type of reactive thinking that's gotten them in the situation they're in now. I do know Game of Thrones is popular in that black community. And there's a show on HBO called Insecure which stars a predominantly black cast and the ratings are way better than boxing.

You would think that if that were the sole issue that Jay-Z would be the top promoter in the “game” by far but his company sucks, people are jumping ship because they can’t get fights. The corrupt nature of the sport is what’s killing it, that along with the exorbitant prices for PPV fights.

Jay Z disappointed me with Roc Nation. He didn't even attempt to market boxing.

roc nation targeted that very demographic just the black demographic aint got no damn money to make a difference/compete with other demographics.

Why would Any Business target and shape their PR/Marketing towards the lesser $$$$ pot?

No they did not. That's been the biggest complaint of Roc Nation. Jay Z didn't even attend fights or promote fighters. The most he did was show up to Cotto's training camp before the Canelo fight and take a picture.

[N/A]

That's the type of reactive thinking that's gotten them in the situation they're in now. I do know Game of Thrones is popular in that black community. And there's a show on HBO called Insecure which stars a predominantly black cast and the ratings are way better than boxing.

What got them into the situation they're in now is always chasing as many of today's dollars as possible. Which is how the sport became so marginalized by moving every notable fight to premium cable and PPV.

Haymon is trying to replace premium cable with FOX and replace PPV with Showtime. But there are a lot of growing pains along the way and the media and hardcore fans are on a witch hunt to try to stop him for some reason.

He's your best hope for anybody to do what you want. He's got almost every black American world champion. Trying desperately to create a way for black viewers to be able to see world championship boxing without spending a ton of money.

Hell, Haymon created a black channel!!! (Bounce) and has put world title fights on it even though nobody knows what it is. The black community is a huge part of Haymon's boxing plans. But it takes time to overhaul an entire industry.

[Sincingship]

exorbitant prices for PPV fights.

This is particularly true, look at the success Sky/Matchroom have had with low PPV prices plus marketing heavily to mainstream sports fans.

[Pigeons]

When I say American fighters I'm talking black fighters because all the top American fighters are black.

That's incorrect. Look at the top 10 P4P on TBRB. It has as many Latino Americans (Santa Cruz, Garcia) as African Americans (Crawford, Thurman).
http://www.tbrb.org/p4p/

I also went through their top 10 ratings for each weight classes and came up with 14 Latino Americans compared to 24 African Americans.
http://www.tbrb.org/all-rankings/

Black boxers are definitely the leaders in American boxing, but to say that every top American fighter is black is completely ignorant.