Boxing is dying! UFC myth or reality?

This past Saturday featuring Donaire vs Vazquez jr and Chavez jr vs Rubio.

Rating's check:
25 million viewers in Mexico
30 million viewers in Phillipines
1.9 million viewers in USA

 

it's a myth that boxing is dying. It's only that the demographic of boxing is changing .It's dying among wasp and african american, but it's bigger than ever in Europe and Asia. Latin american is as strong as ever. Only ethnocentric americain claims it's dying

 

If it dying in America its because there hasnt been a decent fight that wasn't on PPv for about 17 fucking years. If the only way you could see football was to pay 50 bucks to see a game and there weren't even highlights or round up shows on free tv, it'd be dying on its arse in 20 years, too

 

It's dying in America, simple as that. That part IS true, and I guess it's easy to see why people say it as a blanket statement as America has been the boxing capital for however long.

It's as strong as ever in Europe and Asia though, and far more popular than the UFC.

 

Maybe if more of the Mexicans immigrating to the U.S. had cable?

 

UFC doesnt do the numbers boxing does. Even if boxing isnt as popular as it was before, its still bigger than UFC.

 

Boxing is big in Montreal too

 

True, but what's concerning is the trend.

 

Boxing is not dying, its just ruthlessly inefficient and splintered across geo-political or geo-graphical lines. It is feudal and divided.

 

If it's not dying it's certainly ill.

 

Boxing is like an eternal flame, sometimes it dips, sometimes it is strong, but it never fully goes out.

If all of boxing's resources were once again concentrated in the USA, then it would look a lot stronger than it does now. The sanctioning bodies have splintered even further. Now, you've got so many promoters, new promoters, that they can make these stupid fights and sell them to the networks. When it was just King and Arum, well dictatorships do work. Today, its splintered. Lots of little chiefs and not enough braves.

 

Boxing has adapted quite well in the U.S. It continues as a profitable enterprise, having altered its business model to account for its lost mass appeal, and recognizing instead the appeal of niche markets who because of their low price elasticity, make up for their smaller size with much higher prices. This all made possible by cable television.

And here we are.

 

Everyone involved with boxing is too fucking greedy these days, they want to build up guys by facing no hopers and never actually put them in tough fights. Guys have an easy road these days, and the fans suffer for it.

 

I agree. But we fans do have to take some responsibility for it. My guess is, this trend will continue until such time as the inferior quality actually corresponds to lower profits. As it is, I can only assume that despite what you've described, we continue to watch.

 

It's no worse now than it has been for 20+ years.

Boxing isn't dying. Dying means that death is imminent. Anyone think that there won't be any boxing in 10 years? Of course not.

I don't even know if it is trending downward right now. It may be, but I think it's probably not much different than it has been for a while. Maybe trending down in the US, but it's not clear. I know it isn't usually how things work around here, but some actual facts such as tv numbers, number of fights, ppv numbers, etc. would be worth bringing into the conversation to establish a speck of credibility to the discussion.

I don't think there is any less boxing being shown on tv right now than there was 5 or 10 years ago.

The demographics of participants seems to be changing in the US. Hispanics going up; blacks going down; whites remaining a blip.

The obvious difference is that mma is getting more popular and its fan base is younger and therefore projects better for future viewership compared to boxing. MMA is a sport better suited for Americans because wrestling is a high school and collegiate sport and wrestling is one of the best bases for learning mma.

If boxing became a high school sport again, things would change. But, there's no reason to believe it ever will. People die from boxing; they don't die from wrestling.

 

Basically yeah. How much longer do you think boxing will top UFC figures for?

 

mikE, I really think that people use the term "dying" to mean "trending down" or "trending down in comparison to UFC" and I think boxing is absolutely trending down vs. UFC in the States.

I do not have the stats for this but I think that UFC and MMA has had many more high calibre, or championship calibre fights on regular TV (whether thru replays, reality shows, or live Spike/Fox events) in recent years and it is more accessible than boxing is these days.

I really like your last two sections tho, I have been saying this for years. Wrestling is a high school and collegiate sport and it provides a massive base for a MMA career. I still argue that the EXPLOSION of American Football in the country over the last 20 years has also contributed. I am not saying that all the best US boxers are playing NFl right now, but I think a great deal more potential boxers decided to play American football and were able to get thru High School AND College because of that avenue, and have become something completely different because of that. Boxing doesn't provide that kind of opportunity in this country. It's becoming a less and less appealing option for children in this country.

 

There are but a handful of guys in all of boxing that can top PPV numbers for an average UFC card.

 

Fuck UFC. Bunch of trash.

 

I don't know about the popularity in other countries... but the craft of the sport, the skills of the younger fighters are on average the poorest I've seen in my own lifetime.

I'd have to go back to the 30s to see a time when the average contender looked as crude as they do now. Lots of athletics, very little skill.

 

Is that why you're in the MMA forum every single day?

Closet fan you are!

 

Negative.

 

uh huh

 

Hate to admit it but yeah it's dying. Outside of Manny and Floyd there are a few guys I'll watch, but there aren't many who really get me amped like back in the day. I hope it picks itself up, but it's not in good shape, and it only has itself to blame.

 

It's awful. Every time I see it I hate it more.

I watched bits of pieces of that fox show (switched back and forth between that and the NHL Skills Comp, which was also garbage TV, because my friend wanted to watch the fights)

Awful, awful television that was. It really is terrible on the eyes.

 

You're not man enough for MMA.

 

Whatever it is. I've never been one to blindly follow trends with the rest of the sheep.

The only person I know how to be is myself. And boy, I do not like cage fighting. Perhaps that makes me a pussy. I'll have to own that problem.

 

I enjoy watching some MMA fights. I just think it is starting to become too commercialized and cheesy. Kinda like WWE sometimes. Talent level is also much worse than boxings.

 

For me, a high level boxing match is the absolute best spectator sport there is. Nothing compares to it in my opinion. A great fight in boxing can be watched a hundred times and still be enjoyable. I can't say the same about MMA.

If it's dying, even if just in the US, that sucks.

 

That's pretty much how I see it between the 2. I've been an MMA fan for 15 years, but I can count the number of fights I've rewatched on 1 hand.