Too much "Science of Boxing" not enough "Entertainment"

[Loque-san]

You've got it backwards. Professional sport doesn't just exist, and people can watch it to be entertained if they like, it exists solely to generate revenue by providing something people will pay money to see. That is what makes it professional sport. Not competition for competitions sake, like Olympic/amateur sport.

TV networks pay money to broadcast fights to entertain people. People pay money to go see a fight to be entertained. And such, if you have a really entertaining fighter, people are going to want to see him and not someone who can masterfully spoil their way to a UD12.

The fans do not owe any fighter a living, let alone superstardom, if they're not going out there and giving the people that they feel is their moneys worth. This is why the guy that stick his chin out there will usually draw far larger crowds than those that pop and jab and tie up all night.

I agree about the business side of the sport in general. However my point still stands. The highest paid players in professional sport - team or individual - basketball, tennis, athletics, etc. are the best players not necessarily the most entertaining ones.

I mentioned Tennis because I thought it was a good example of how an individual sport should be functioning. Look at Federer, a mild-mannered and humbe dude with no presence or charisma, his interviews and press conferences are usually repetitive and boring and despite being arguably the most fundamentally sound player, doesn't have the most exciting playing style. But he's a legend in his sport, a multi-millionaire and an international superstar. If he was a boxer, equally as talented, he would be nowhere near as wealthy and famous as he's now.

In a nutshell, the governing bodies of major sports: NBA, FIFA-UEFA, ATP-WTA, etc. have managed to find a middle ground between sport and business, something Boxing has always been lacking.

[i love boxing]

People pay for a story line and personality, Mayweather sold more then any fighter in history. He was called boring and featherfisted but everyone tuned in when he fought. Boxing needs more personality and characters

[Mexican_Puppet]

Garcia and Thurnan are Just b level fighters.

Look the fight of González vs Cuadras, that fight was full of entertaining and crazy skills for both fighters.

Sh.its like Garcia vs Thurman are boring fights hyped for ignorant people that doesn't know boxing

[MrRolltide91]

I didn't expect a knockout Saturday night

[Cheek busting]

Its a fighter job to win fights. To fight in a manner that helps them win.

You want to see Tom Brady scrambling every play? Want to see Shaq shooting threes?

that's why rigo is fighting in japan and uk against scrubs for 85k while khan is getting sparked out again and again for 8-13 million.

[MrRolltide91]

Its a fighter job to win fights. To fight in a manner that helps them win.

You want to see Tom Brady scrambling every play? Want to see Shaq shooting threes?

Lebron should shoot more threes and not drive the ball into the lane

[A.K]

If you want entertainment go watch wwe boxing is a technical sport.

[MrRolltide91]

I get what you are saying, but its a little simplistic to suggest something that creates millions & millions of dollars for thousands & thousands of people all over the globe is simply a sport. Boxing is a business.

And as such things like the entertainment value for the consumers of this "sport" needs to be something considered ongoingly. I think thats one of the problems with boxing. No one person can steer boxing which leads to slower changes for the sport.

The NFL change rules or tweak rules to make the sport more fair &/or entertaining every year. MMA changed their scoring rules this year. Boxing keeps grinding doing the same thing expecting different results.

The NFL isn't violent as its used to be because of concussion issues

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Boxing isn't really setup in a way to reward risk. For an easy example in the UFC guys get official bonuses & unofficial "locker room" bonuses for making fun fights. Boxing has no such setup. If you are in a life or death Corrales vs Castillo fight at any level of the sport you get nothing extra on fight night & you could end up getting the same or less money for your next bout so some sort of implied future value for being a more fun fighter to watch isn't there either. If you are a B side guy you could even end up having a harder time getting a fight in the future cuz you've shown yourself to be "too tough" or "too risky" for many higher ranked or considered guys to wanna agree to fight you.

Boxing for sure needs to get to a more mainstream sports place & have a elite level league that can watch over boxing & reward fighters who deserve rewarding for being more appealing to fans. Til that happens we are going to have winning valued over entertainment which from a business point of view is backwards.

And I'm even for better rules that'll make for more entertaining fights. I think clearly won &/or dominate rounds without a knockdown should be scored better than rounds won, but not clearly. Right now both rounds tend to be 10-9 which is f#cking ******ed & largely why the Thurman vs Garcia fight was as close as it was. I'm also for lighter gloves to give us more KO's. Deducted points for holding more often in particular when trying to survive from being hurt or after a KD. And loss of points for non-engagement which almost never happens. This is something that rarely even gets discussed, but I think it should. The rules of boxing make boxing more or less entertaining & the rules of boxing & scoring criteria have changed numerous times, but somehow people act like the rules as they are today are some set in stone biblical sh^t.

To me, this is the biggest deal of all. Technical...sweet science...yada yada. People go to a boxing match to see a fight where both guys are engaging. What's the point if neither guy takes a risk or puts on pressure or anything for twelve boring ass rounds? Who won it? No one cares. They know they don't want to see it again. Boxing is a sport but without the entertainment dollar, the sport dies. For those who love to get technical as hell, fine. Go ahead and buy enough tickets to fill the void with your technical appreciation and sit in an empty arena to watch the "sweetest" fights.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Garcia and Thurnan are Just b level fighters.

Look the fight of González vs Cuadras, that fight was full of entertaining and crazy skills for both fighters.

Sh.its like Garcia vs Thurman are boring fights hyped for ignorant people that doesn't know boxing

Dude, you have a great point there. Gonzalez-Cuadras was full of entertainment. WAY WAY better than Thurman-Garcia.