Anyone still into boxing? Wladimir Klitschko now live...

Promoters pretty much killed boxing. I suspect most watch MMA these days.

lol - this might be a short fight - that Pulev dude went down twice in the first round. but you never know...

i think the biggest problem is that there is no real opponent for Klitschko - where are the Tysons, Holyfields etc

They go to MMA where they make money all the time, not just for big fights.

meh - i don't like MMA

game over... Klitschko is a beast

Me either but that's where the fighters go these days. In Boxing the promoters make all the money while the boxers starve unless they are the lucky few to get big money prize fights..

Meanwhile guys in MMA get contracts, so they are earning even while training. This means the up coming fighters go to MMA because they don't have to live in a box while hoping to get a good prize money fight.

This is a rough look at what MMA guys are making. While yes the top guys don't earn like Tyson, but look on down the list and it's a more even spread way down the list.

UFC Career Fighter Earnings | MMA Manifesto

There was a time not too long ago that a boxing match featuring the heavyweight champ would be the a huge event. There would be heavy promotion leading up to it and everyone would know about it. It would also likely be on during primetime hours.

Now it isn't even on the front page of ESPN and is airing in the middle of the afternoon and most people (myself included) probably didn't even know it was happening.

Times change. I think boxing's corruption, the rise of MMA and just the general rise of other entertainment mediums like the internet and video games have all worked together to bring boxing down.

There are a few young guys that have some promise, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury come to mind, but neither has been really tested. Both are giants like Wladimir and would be able to trade jabs with him, something he has never really faced, but I'd have to see both guys fight some way better competition before I put too much stock into them.

The reason there are no more Tyson's or Holyfield's in boxing has nothing to do with MMA and everything to do with the general fall of boxing as a sport. Back then boxing was on the same or even a higher level than the NBA, the NFL, or any other major sport, so the very best athletes were just as likely to consider a career in boxing as the NFL. After the sport pretty much killed itself the best athletes in the world have very little motivation to consider boxing at an early age, and are instead playing football and basketball. You'll get some elite level athletes consider boxing if they fail at a career in another sport, but you can't start training boxing in your mid to late 20's and expect to be a world class boxer, even as a heavyweight...

I watched it just now, live on HBO. Wladimir's a beast, round 5 KO. You can tell it's mostly North Americans posting here other than MaDalton because they don't realize how big a Klitschko fight is in Europe, both sold out in the arena in Hamburg and how many viewers they got on television across the world for this. The US market is an afterthought. This is the first Klitscho fight HBO aired in a few years.

That said, I'm a much bigger MMA fan and will be watching UFC 180 live from Mexico City tonight plus the Bellator & WSOF cards later on DVR.

here it was indeed a main evening event on one of the big free private stations

this must have hurt

that is absolutely brutal.