Boxing has fallen off the map...
 

Today's heavyweight title fight between Klitschko and Fury was barley a blimp on the radar. Then Fury pulls off the upset, beating a guy who hasn't lost a fight since 2004 and has defended the championship 14 times and the result of the fight doesn't even make it onto the first page of espn.com.

I think we can officially consider boxing a third tier sport now.

He wasn't American - Nobody cares...

PPV revenue alone, for mayweather / pacquio was 1/2 a billion dollars. I think boxing is doing pretty well... extremely well compared to any other striking sport. spike tv dropped Glory Kickboxing recently due to ratings and that was the best of the best in that sport.

I see it there

Interesting. When I go to their site I see the main story is the Notre Dame Vs Standford football game and the none of the top headlines mention the fight.

There is too much money in football and basketball.
Bad Mofo's only boxing when they don't make the high school team.

:2 cents:

That was a huge superfight that has been a long time in the making. I saw that the recent Cotto-Canelo fight did about 900K buys which is also good, but many other PPV fights are averaging around 150K buys.

It just seems like 15-20 years ago we heard about boxing and boxing stars all the time. Now we only hear about them if it is a superfight or some kind of controversy. Boxing seems to have fallen out of the public conscious.

The promoters ruined boxing.. Most boxers coming up are like starving artists and only a few manage to make decent pay days. Then you have MMA where the money actually trickles down the rankings so it's not just the top guys earning money.

The resualt is most of the talent goes to MMA now days.

yeah, i don't think people really get what "pro boxer" means. I box 5 days a week and all the "pro" fighters i know basically make a couple hundred at best, ... have to pay their opponents way to the fight, room/board etc AND have to sell their own tickets and sell a minimum amount to even qualify for a couple hundred dollars. Most promotions require the fighter to sell the tickets himself to cover his own purse. Every fucking day, there is some 20 yr old kid hitting me up to buy tickets. There are also millions of amateur boxers around the world trying to go pro. The odds of success and making any kind of real money are near zero. Not only that, but you only get to pick your opponents when you're a nobody trying to build a name. When you sign with big promoters, they'll just pair you up with whoever and the odds are against your continued success. On the other hand, a guy i know got signed with the UFC and by his 4th fight was getting i think 40k to show and another big win bonus or big bonus if he won by knockout or something. He's not even a good fighter. He's had 8 fights now and won most but just by being a heavyweight brawler, not a good, technical fighter. The equivalent in boxing just wouldn't happen.

someone saying "i was a pro fighter" literally has no meaning. It usually just means that they get paid 100.00 to get their ass kicked at a casino somewhere.
This is why you have people like this in boxing.... he's a shitty boxer that got fights by being entertaining.

think back... 20 years ago, we didn't have the web. we didn't have 500 cable channels. we didn't have everything entertainment wise at our fingertips. We didn't have extreme sports or even full contact fighting (UFC started in 93). The world has changed. Today, we don't have Mike Tyson's. For me, i see only Mexicans boxing where i live boxing and I live in a major city. If its someone that isn't Mexican, its because they want to improve their boxing for Muay Thai or MMA. But in terms of money, there is still no close second to what boxing is worth and what fighters get paid.

When it comes to the top fighters, boxers still make way more. Big name fighters can make tens of millions on a big fight where most MMA fighters, even the biggest of them, will only make a fraction of that.

Lower down the ranks you have a better shot of making some money in MMA. As you mentioned above, getting started in boxing these days is very difficult. I think that is part of the problem with boxing. Most of the big personalities are gone (or soon will be) and there isn't nearly the young talent pool that there once was.

Add in, as you say, all the other entertainment options people have and to me it signals a bad future for boxing.

People don't watch it like they used to.

The future for sports are linked to viewing figures. As Squealer points out now with the wide range of choice people vote with the remote.

PPV is the future. Produce entertainment that people want and they will have to pay for it.

Unless some fool thinks giving it away for free is the key to making money.

I've been a huge boxing fan for a long time and i have to say the excitement just isnt there anymore.

I get hyped up for each match that sounds good. But in turn i dont remember recently feeling anykind of wow factor after actually watching the fight.

Years ago multiple divisions just seemed stacked with talent. I just dont find that anymore.

Most fighters have gone extremely technical. There is less brawlers. Less gatti, roy jones etc. Which creates a more boring fight.

Ill continue to watch though.

I stopped watching years ago, got sick and tired of the bullshit judge's decisions when the other fighter clearly won the match! I remember the days of 15 round fights and being able to watch great fighters and fights on broadcast tv for free. Today it's about over hyped pay per view of shitty fighters and fights

too many belts, too many weight classes, too many crossovers, you have to be a 5 year champion to get your name out there.

I personally find it really difficult to enjoy boxing after getting into MMA. When boxers clinch up and can't do anything to advance the fight, it just seems very one dimensional.

your point should have been that the HEAVYWEIGHT division isn't king anymore.

but watch it come roaring back if we had a US Champion

I think the thing is that there aren't really dominant boxers anymore in terms of violent knockout power, that head hunt. go for spectacular knockouts etc, particularly in heavyweight. I think the amount of money to be made really discourages aggression, good matchups and risk. Rhonda Rousey for example is a great grappler and a very shitty fighter. BUT, when she could aggressively attack and slam someone and submit them inside of 30 seconds, several times in a row like Tyson was doing in his day, it did A LOT for the UFC and MMA and PPV sales for the UFC. Mayweather as an example is undefeated and is a great fighter... but boring to watch. Great counter fighters are boring, no matter how often they win. There is no violent, explosive and entertaining action (unless you appreciate great boxing/have boxed).

At the end of the day, i think people want excitement and action and I don't see that in boxing today. I just see a lot of boring guys more focused on pumping up ticket sales than going into the ring and trying to destroy their opponent.

also, i'd say that MMA has really closed the gap between striking in MMA/Kickboxing and boxing where accomplished boxers get beat striking in MMA all the time now.



Round 9 between Klitschko/Fury right now and i've yet to see either even complete a combination. Have yet to even see any kind of real technique.

Thanks god somebody kicked ass that GERUKR fake boxer