Do the rules of boxing need to be changed to save the sport?

[Larry the boss]

I would love to see the scoring system overhauled, with more emphasis placed on workrate, aggression and ring control. Positive fighters should get rewarded.

So you want fighters rewarded for throwing and missing??? lol

[koolkc107]

Boxing just needs to be on TV. Simple as that.

Once boxing went to a PPV model, it killed the sport.

An older Muhammad Ali clinched, so did Bernard Hopkins, so did Floyd Mayweather, who is the biggest draw in the history of PPV.

Not being on TV creates distance between fans and fighters. Fans need to be able to follow these guys and hear their stories, tragedies, successes etc. . .on Sportscenter every night like they do with NFL, NBA, and UFC athletes.

Don King & Bob Arum killed the sport by taking it away from the public. No other sport could survive that. MMA's on TV EVERYDAY.

Also, just make the best fights and get rid of so many belts.

It's just that simple folks.

Butthurt stans mad that Mayweather or Ward beat your favorite puncher by using defensive tactics that have been used for generations need to go away.

It'd be like banning the San Antonio Spurs for being boring or something. Guess what?

Some great athletes are boring as **** to watch. Tim Duncan was one of them, should the NBA have taken away the things he did well? No. Just learn how to watch greatness and stop being children who need constant action in order to be entertained.

That's why MMA is popular. It's all you ADD ass kids who need to take your medication.

I couldn't have said it better myself and I won't try.

But here is something we can all do to test the veracity of D3vil's post:

Get out your remote and do 2 searches, one for live upcoming boxing and one for live upcoming MMA.

You will see the problem immediately.

PPV without a steady diet of free boxing has been a recipe for a steady decline in numbers. But, I think boxing will figure that out.

Hell, it already has if Arum and DLH can shut up and let Haymon get the job done. They should do a little long range thinking and help Al, not sue him.

[KillaCamNZ]

So you want fighters rewarded for throwing and missing??? lol

No. Where did I say that? That's your addition, not mine.

You've taken my comment and actually made a concerted effort to turn it into something it isn't.

Haven't you got better things to do? Scratch that, I know you don't.

[KillaCamNZ]

Boxing just needs to be on TV. Simple as that.

Once boxing went to a PPV model, it killed the sport.

An older Muhammad Ali clinched, so did Bernard Hopkins, so did Floyd Mayweather, who is the biggest draw in the history of PPV.

Not being on TV creates distance between fans and fighters. Fans need to be able to follow these guys and hear their stories, tragedies, successes etc. . .on Sportscenter every night like they do with NFL, NBA, and UFC athletes.

Don King & Bob Arum killed the sport by taking it away from the public. No other sport could survive that. MMA's on TV EVERYDAY.

Also, just make the best fights and get rid of so many belts.

It's just that simple folks.

Butthurt stans mad that Mayweather or Ward beat your favorite puncher by using defensive tactics that have been used for generations need to go away.

It'd be like banning the San Antonio Spurs for being boring or something. Guess what?

Some great athletes are boring as **** to watch. Tim Duncan was one of them, should the NBA have taken away the things he did well? No. Just learn how to watch greatness and stop being children who need constant action in order to be entertained.

That's why MMA is popular. It's all you ADD ass kids who need to take your medication.

Post of the week, bro.

You nailed it.

[killakali]

I couldn't have said it better myself and I won't try.

But here is something we can all do to test the veracity of D3vil's post:

Get out your remote and do 2 searches, one for live upcoming boxing and one for live upcoming MMA.

You will see the problem immediately.

PPV without a steady diet of free boxing has been a recipe for a steady decline in numbers. But, I think boxing will figure that out.

Hell, it already has if Arum and DLH can shut up and let Haymon get the job done. They should do a little long range thinking and help Al, not sue him.

idk at its peak PBC was on 2-3 times a week plus the truTV and HBO shows and it didn't help. U need good fights. Plus some of these channels fans didn't even know showed fights. For the most part the ratings weren't that good

[koolkc107]

idk at its peak PBC was on 2-3 times a week plus the truTV and HBO shows and it didn't help. U need good fights. Plus some of these channels fans didn't even know showed fights. For the most part the ratings weren't that good

I agree that there was a stretch there that PBC was on a lot, but that doesn't seem to be the case right now. The other thing here is that boxing on free TV is actually playing catch-up to MMA.

For decades before March 2015 all we had was basically ESPN's Friday night fights, the odd CBS broadcast, and fights on the Mexican stations like Telemundo and Unimas.

It is going to take time to turn this around. Time that would be better spent not getting sued.

[sunny31]

Honestly ppv numbers in general were getting better up until this last year or so. But as soon as boxing decided to go down the ppv route it was always going down the niche sport route. But on the same token it allowed fighters to make more money, which ultimately is very important.

I think there have been quite a few experimental ppv's recently, which haven't performed well, or worse than expected. But as someone already mentioned there is a bit of hangover from Pacquiao and Mayweather, and it reminds me a little bit of the UK scene after David Haye after the Audley Harrison shambles, followed by Klitschko. I think the US ppv will bounce back strong just like the UK has this last year or two.

In terms of the rules - there is nothing wrong with boxing at all, I think they need younger judges, especially in Vegas, and me personally I would love to see 15 rounders back, but I can see why it was abolished and can't argue with the reasoning.

But quite frankly the top and bottom of it is, crossover stars are not easy to build. Their kind of needs to be a passing of the torch and unfortunately the two mega stars of this generation did not do that, or in Pacquiao's case, they haven't done it yet. Oscar sacrificed himself and put both these guys on the path to stardom, but they did a lot before that to supplement their fan base, the Oscar fight in both cases, just pushed them over the top.

Canelo because of his huge Mexian following, unique look, entertaining style, and fight with Floyd is very much the only crossover star, but even he is not a mega star yet to the extent that Oscar was, or Chavez was, but he has the potential to get there. His ppv numbers are good, I think a win over GGG gives him bigger clout and starts to really give him the pedigree which goes with the profile, we know he is a very good fighter with a huge profile, what we don't yet know is if he is a great fighter. But if GGG wins - then he probably gets pulled into the realm of solid ppv fighter from there on out, so there is a lot riding on that fight in terms of legacy, bragging rights, but also from a business point of view moving forward.

[SplitSecond]

Only thing I'm thinking that may actually need to be taken into more consideration is the aggressor. The guy throwing and landing the hard shots, the guy making the fight. Too much on the 'ring generalship' which seems to have a very broad definition.

Ring Generalship seems like something people just say when they have no actual evidence of how a guy won a round. "Yea he got outlanded, but he controlled the tempo, ring generalship" man, stfu.

[sunny31]

Only thing I'm thinking that may actually need to be taken into more consideration is the aggressor. The guy throwing and landing the hard shots, the guy making the fight. Too much on the 'ring generalship' which seems to have a very broad definition.

Ring Generalship seems like something people just say when they have no actual evidence of how a guy won a round. "Yea he got outlanded, but he controlled the tempo, ring generalship" man, stfu.

The ability of a boxer to dictate the pace, style and tactics of a bout vis-a-vis his opponent.

According to the 1929 Rules of the New York State Athletic Commission, for example, “ring generalship” comprised "such points as the ability to quickly grasp and take advantage of every opportunity offered, the capacity to cope with all kinds of situations which may arise; to foresee and neutralize an opponent’s method of attack; to force an opponent to adopt a style of boxing at which he is not particularly skillful."

[Robbie Barrett]

Mayweather was the biggest draw in the history of the sport.