I grew up in the Ali v Frasier era and loved boxing.
That said: I don’t think it compares to MMA.
I rarely watch the big boxing matches any more but will watch just about any two random guys battle in the octagon.
Wrong forum?
Done to death?
Zero intrest?
Give it more than an hour.
I personally am not at all interested in boxing and don’t know anybody that is, even tangentially on the internet.
I think the two major problems with boxing these days are too many organizations and how practically everything is on PPV or premium cable. I’ve tried several times to get into watching boxing, but my only reasonable option is Friday Night Fights on ESPN2, and I often forget it’s on. Also, I’m totally dependent on the commentators, as I didn’t grow up with a boxing fan.
The other problem is that there isn’t a big heavyweight matchup these days. That’s not to say that the lighter weight classes aren’t fun to watch, but I think there really needs to be a good heavyweight matchup to get general interest these days. Kinda like Tiger did for golf.
That said, I will watch Friday Night Fights when it’s on and I think about it. I do not watch and have no interest in MMA.
I too grew up in the Ali era.
For my money, Tyson ruined boxing for a lot of people. First, it was his dominance–it was like seeing the same team win the Super Bowl every year. Then came the ear biting, and his star fell fast. There really haven’t been any exciting heavyweights since.
Naturally, there have been other weight classes with name fighters like Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, both of whom have been dominant.
Boxing has been up and down through the decades, and relevant or not, it won’t go away anytime soon. That said, MMA is the new kid on the block, and it’s got good marketing.
Here’s an interesting quote about Dana White:
Don King used to have that title, now it’s Dana White.
Add the fact that a complaint I’ve heard for years about boxing was the alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies…there’s the WBF, WBC, WBO, and IBF. That gets confusing, especially to the more casual fan. Not to mention the near-infinite number of weight classes (from wikipedia):
-Heavyweight
-Cruiserweight, Junior Heavyweight
-Light heavyweight
-Super middleweight
-Middleweight
-Super welterweight, Junior middleweight
-Welterweight
-Super lightweight, Junior welterweight
-Lightweight
-Super featherweight, Junior lightweight
-Featherweight
-Super bantamweight, Junior featherweight
-Bantamweight
-Super flyweight, Junior bantamweight
-Flyweight
-Light flyweight, Junior flyweight
-Minimum weight, strawweight, mini flyweight
I’m sure the more hardcore fans can and do follow all that, but tell me it’s not confusing to keep all the sanctioning bodies and different weight classes straight.
So it’s not surprising MMA is growing so fast–White has a virtual monopoly with the UFC, he’s active and is the face of the enterprise, and it’s new–boxing’s been around forever, and the Marquess of Queensberry rules are nearly 150 years old. So yeah, boxing’s going to take it on the chin, but I don’t think it’s completely irrelevant yet.
I thought Don King was one of the main reasons boxing went downhill. It all seems a joke these days- some sort of a circus.
Eventually brutal sports like this will go.
Tyson had charisma, he had personality; he was a character. Those who followed him were/are boring. Lennox Lewis was boring as shit. His style won fights but not fans. Watching paint dry is more exciting than watching him fight. Same with the Klitschko brothers. Nobody cares because they’re boring.
I watch boxing, but it’s entirely dependent on the card. The problem is that there aren’t too many “great” boxers nowadays, and they rarely fight each other.
Tyson did have charisma and personality (the baddest man on the planet). He also won the belt when he was only 20; the youngest champion in history. Then he peaked, and went downhill. What I posted previously about Tyson concerned his downhill slide moreso than his peak when he was exciting.
Then he was beaten by Buster Douglas, and the world was all WTF?!
Cicero, you’re right as well, but Don King during his prime, he promoted some of Ali’s most notable fights, such as the Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla in Manila.
I’m not saying he wasn’t one reason for boxing’s decline later, but he was a huge and successful name in the boxing game, especially in the 70s.
Tyson had absolutely nothing to do with the demise of boxing’s popularity in North America. His dominance wasn’t any greater than that of Joe Louis or Rocky Marciano or Larry Holmes or any number of champions who put up long undefeated strings. I can’t imagine what evidence there is that a dominant heavyweight was ever bad for the sport. The great champions were GREAT for the sport.
No, what killed boxing was the organization of it… specifically, the astounding proliferation of “Associations.”
Here’s two questions that demonstrate my point:
-
Who was the world heavyweight champion in 1975?
-
Who’s the world heavyweight champion now?
The answer to question 1 is Muhammad Ali. If you didn’t know it you could have looked it up. Prior to very recently there was a clear, undisputed champion almost all the time; there was ore than one body that claimed to state who the champ was but they almost always agreed.
The answer to question 2 is that I honestly have no goddamned idea who the world heavyweight champion is, even if I look it up. Depending on who you believe, it could be one of two Klitschko brothers, but it might also be Alex Povetkin, but then again maybe it’s Hasam Rahman, I’m not sure.
Without a heavyweight champion, who cares?
Of course MMA may end u pthe same way, but they seem to have found a great niche in between boxing, which is an actual blood sport, and WWE, which is just a show; they have the action of a real sport with the silliness of pro wrestling.
I followed boxing, though certainly only as a casual fan, in the 1970s and 1980s. Despite still being a big sports fan in general, I couldn’t tell you the last time I watched a boxing match (certainly not in the past 20 years). It’s not at all relevant to me anymore.
I think astorian’s point is valid – with virtually no boxing on free TV, I imagine it’s been hard for the sport to gain new viewers. (OTOH, isn’t MMA largely on PPV, too?)
I think you have to ask what allowed boxing associations to get into such a disparate state that there is no easily identifiable world champion. And the brutal answer is that the public just don’t care for boxing as much as they did. “Blood sports”, as someone in this thread called them, are just not that popular any more.
So it’s not due to mismanagement by the ridiculous number of governing bodies. Instead, the proliferation of governing bodies is a symptom of the sport’s inexorable decline.
I think the fact that you even ask the question makes the question
rhetorical.
I was never much of fan, but followed it casually in the 70’s and 80s, and early 90’s. I could have told you who the heavy champ was. I think the last fight I saw was the infamous ear-biting
I can not name an active boxer unless Foreman comes out of retirement again.
Mixed martial arts (such as UFC) seems to becoming increasingly popular, and actually gets coverage on sports web sites now (such as SI.com). That said, I have no idea what its level of popularity is, compared to the major team sports in the U.S.
Another Ali-Frasier-Foreman era person here.
IMO, Don King was the single biggest reason boxing went down the tubes. He was simply too greedy, and he turned a lot of people off of the sport.
I think Tyson was great for the sport. He was what, all of 19 when he won the title the first time? Then, King got his hooks into him and ground him into dirt. Tyson was the last fighter I ever really followed. After his troubles began to turn him into a cartoon character, and boxing went to pay-per-view, I lost track of everything related to boxing. And I have not missed it one bit.
MMA and UFC are interesting to watch every once in a while, but I don’t clamor for it. It’s incredibly barbaric, which I guess is the appeal. Boxing is also barbaric, but you have to be out of your mind and in incredible shape to fight UFC and MMA.
To answer the OP, I can’t imagine boxing is relevant, or who finds it relevant other than the boxers and Don King. As a real sport, it’s dead. I can’t even remember when the last PPV was, never mind who was in it. I also don’t know who the champions are. It’s a terribly dated, antiquated sport. And Don King is still involved in it, I believe.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if boxing died officially six months ago.
I don’t love boxing; I live it. It’s a part of me.
As a kid I regularly squared off with anybody who was picking on my brother.
As an adult in martial arts we sparred and I loved connecting a punch, and taking one myself. Not that I like being hurt but I was willing to do it so as to get in my own next punch.
I don’t look for it on TV. But if I run across a match while channel-checking I’m held spellbound while sweat flies, lips split and OH!..that was a good one.
If you like to read, check out Joyce Carol Oats’ take on pugalists.
It’s a dance, and it’s beautiful.
Damn! I just realized I’m in the Game Room.
Hey, guys.
It’s good as an excellent aerobic exercise and a basic self defense skill.
I think another reason is when the networks stopped broadcasting Olympic boxing. No more watching a fighter win a Gold Medal and then turn pro.
I watched the Hagler-Hearns-Leonard-Durán era. Incredible fights. I think the last fight I watched was when Tyson bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear. Is there anyone worth watching anymore?