# Is the sport of boxing dying in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152 "2005-02-27T16:53:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/21 "2005-02-28T22:41:45Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Can someone provide a cite that says boxing was on TV 6 days a week in 1953. [This site](http://www.allyourtv.com/schedules/1953fallprimetimeschedule.html) shows boxing to have been on three days a week regularly, and it was also frequently shown on the _Gileete Cavalcade of Sports_, making it a (fairly frequent) fourth day. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/22 "2005-02-28T23:23:34Z")
_Excellent_ article. I didn’t realize the extent of the influence of racial politics on present-day boxing. Also, in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=302868) recent thread, I referred to Don King as ‘the Anti-Christ’. After reading that article, I would like to apologize to Satan worshippers everywhere. > [@mhendo](#): > > If you want to read a fantastic piece about the troubles with professional boxing, check out [“The Shame of Boxing”](http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20011112&s=newfield) by long-time boxing reporter and documentary-maker Jack Newfield. > > (Newfield’s work has been mainly for New York papers, and his documentary _Don King: Unauthorised_ won an Emmy.) ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/23 "2005-02-28T23:36:59Z")
I really don’t care that much for sports although I do hold boxing in high regard but lately I’ve really been getting into UFC on spiketv. I guess because the bloody noses and broken limbs have a greater chance of occurring 😛 and it’s more of what a “real” fight would be than boxing. I think I will order some of the dvds. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/24 "2005-03-01T06:19:53Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > I didn’t realize the extent of the influence of racial politics on present-day boxing. I figured boxing was filthy, but not that filthy. Ugh. And how much do Pay-Per-View fights cost these days? With the amount I remember them being at, you need big names and good fights. Or at least you need to be able to attract casual viewers and average fans, and I don’t think that’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/25 "2005-03-01T06:43:47Z")
Personally never been a fan of boxing, but as far as it dying out? Well, try to get a room here in Las Vegas when there is a big boxing match…prices go through the roof, and tickets are snapped up months in advance, so there are obviously still quite a few fans out there. And UFC is a big deal here as well, and also a hot ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/26 "2005-03-01T12:21:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I figured boxing was filthy, but not that filthy. Ugh. > > And how much do Pay-Per-View fights cost these days? With the amount I remember them being at, you need big names and good fights. Or at least you need to be able to attract casual viewers and average fans, and I don’t think that’s possible. Pay-per-view for the biggest events is typically around $50. Probably the last fight that got that was De La Hoya-Hopkins. I think that with a fight like Barrera-Morales, you see something more along the lines of $40, sometimes even $30 for a fight that is of great appeal to boxing fans, but no mainstream appeal whatsoever, e.g. Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales, which is on March 19th. I actually don’t know the price, so it could be more. That’s one that fight fans salivate over, but those who don’t follow boxing probably haven’t heard of either one of them. But, those prices haven’t gone up tremendously in 10 years. I think we paid $50 for Bowe-Holyfield when I was in college, 10 years ago. Back then, we’d get 10-12 guys together for EVERY PPV fight, get a couple of cases of beer, make a couple of bets, and have a great time. Now it’s, “gotta check with the wife, gotta watch the kid.” Whattaya gonna do? Hey locals – keep March 10th open for Michael’s 8th Avenue. Pencilled in, but not carved in stone. I have to check with the wife. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/27 "2005-03-01T12:44:45Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > check out [“The Shame of Boxing”](http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20011112&s=newfield) Ugh. I love a good fight. The story of Beethoven Scotland, however, is enough to make me _want_ that boxing dies. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/28 "2005-03-01T14:07:27Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > If you want to read a fantastic piece about the troubles with professional boxing, check out [“The Shame of Boxing”](http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20011112&s=newfield) by long-time boxing reporter and documentary-maker Jack Newfield. > > (Newfield’s work has been mainly for New York papers, and his documentary _Don King: Unauthorised_ won an Emmy.) That was pretty interesting. It was printed in November, 2001, over 3 years ago. While most everything is the same since then, some things have changed. I’m racking my brain trying to remember what the fight was, but last year on HBO, there was a perfect fight, between the two best guys in some weight-class, one of whom was a champ according to the sanctioning bodies. The sanctioning bodies, however, told the champ that he had to fight THEIR number one contender or he’d lose his belt. Champ said, “fuck you”, fought the guy that everyone knew was the best, got paid by HBO (for MORE than he would have made fighting the paper-contender) and lost the belt. I can’t even remember who it was right now, maybe something like Ayala-Barrera, but that might be way off. The point is that HBO has basically become the biggest promoter out there, and they’re doing a lot that’s right. Newfield’s best point, IMO, was that writers and sportscasters need to determine who the number one contender is. The sanctioning bodies and the promoters are terrible. The NYSAC is sick. You could write a book about the fucked up things they’ve done, the decisions in the fights, the decisions to let fights go, the choices to let fights go on. Joey Gamache was a fighter that I followed because he was from Maine. The lawsuit that Newfield mentioned in that article got thrown out, but he’s trying again with a new lawyer, for more money. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/29 "2005-03-01T14:14:32Z")
$35 GA ordered before hand. $40 GA at the door. $50 reserved seat. $100 ringside. Watching local boxing with Dopers, priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/30 "2005-03-01T14:18:00Z")
Their next matches are 3/10, 5/5, 6/16. I have been wanting to go to a live fight for a while. If the 10th is too soon, we have a few more dates to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/31 "2005-03-02T00:39:24Z")
Bringing up the UFC is interesting because, while it was certainly getting a lot of attention early on, it was forced to become more like boxing in order to survive. (To be sure, I didn’t pay enough attention at the time to know how much was appeasing regulation to stay in business and how much was trying to get fans to spend more) What with rounds, weight classes, multiple champions, etc. IMO, that really killed it. But that’s neither here nor there. > [@Askia](#): > > I see parallels in boxing and the US comic book industry, both of which are in their doldrums for the same reasons: greed. Boxing’s popularity was abetted by its ubiquity, just as comics used to be popular because they used to be everywhere. Boxing eschewed free television broadcasts and got greedy with short term profits with pay-per-view, just as comics tried to absorb more marketshare with the Direct Market, bypassing the newsstands. So what happened? This is probably the strangest analogy I’ve ever seen and doesn’t apply in the least. Do you have a cite for the reason being that comics eschewed the newsstand for a more lucrative DM? My experience leads me to beleive the opposite - comics were in such a slump in the mid-late '70s because newsstands were dumping htem and the DM was their only hope. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152/32 "2005-03-02T02:37:06Z")
**Trunk** - I _think_ the fight you’re referring to was Eric Morales Vs. Marco Antonio Barrera. That was some _seriously_ good shit. Morales Vs. Pacquiao on March 19th should be too…for however long it lasts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sport-of-boxing-dying-in-the-us/292152.md?page=1)