Has Boxing's pathetic state caused you to follow new sports?

Has the dire state of boxing in the last 3 years resulted in any of yall either following new sports, or re-following sports you hadn't in awhile?

Boxing's pathetic decline has really changed a lot of for me as a sport's fan.

I started following football (aka soccer), tennis, and started following the NFL and baseball more than I have in very many years. All of this is the result of boxing's death, because 4-5 years ago, I was almost EXCLUSIVELY a boxing fan.

What about you guys?

 

No

Pretty much stopped watching sport altogether

 

I'm pretty much on the same page as JoM, except I'm paying far more attention to Thai fights than I was. I was also watching some of the blood baths Muay Thai produced in the 90s.

I'm a massive boxing fan, for a good few years I was absolutely obsessed with it. Now, I don't doubt that my wrist injury played into it, but I've almost stopped caring altogether.

Shit needs to change, the sport is killing itself.

 

I've weirdly discovered a new found appreciation for muay thai too. Got to know a few of the fighters and stuff.

Boxing has always been #1 for me but I've also always been a big fan of football and tennis. Boxing NEEDS a big fight though, there's nothing like the buzz you get from a genuine superfight, if one happens this year then the love will come rushing back for sure.

 

I too have been watching more football. Also, a new battlebots season started .... and in that, the bots don't/can't duck each other.

 

I have always followed pretty much all sports available in Europe, though not quite as keenly in the last couple of years (there's just so much of it).

Boxing's state definitely has driven me more towards my other favorites, such as track-and-field, football, ski sports etc

 

I have watched some battle bots as well. Witch Doctor is cool

 

I feel for you. I also was a teen when I became boxing obsessed and posted regularly. Fortunately, the early 00s were a golden era when you compare it to this bullshit, so my love for the sport only grew.

If I was in your shoes and boxing became a joke just a few years after I started following, then I might have walked away from the sport.

I've got too many years invested to walk away from boxing, but this is the worst it's ever been.

 

Also might add I started watching chess, whether you categorize chess as a game or sport. Any online tournament or tutorial, I watch, religiously. It occupies my days as I sit at a desk all day.

 

You know what I find really ironic? We were on here complaining about the state of boxing in 2002. We had no idea at the time how good we had it then compared to the current state of the sport.

The talent level was MUCH MUCH deeper . For instance, an average guy like Tank would not be a star in the early 00s, not with Floyd, Tszyu, and Castillo around. The stars had more charisma, more big fights got made, and PPV was getting bad, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it is today. A shitload of quality fights got featured on regular HBO, with GREAT undercards.

There's nothing like that that can happen now outside of PPV.

I wish we could go back 20 years and tell our younger selves to stop complaining.

 

Futbol/football was always a constant for me. Even though I have my gripes about it I still watch it to this day. La Liga is just in my blood, and I’ve always enjoyed the EPL. My first World Cup was 1994. I remember it like yesterday watching Baggio miss that penalty, and seeing Luis Enrique’s nose get broken in that semi final vs Italy.

Through the years baseball, basketball, football(nfl), and tennis have all been off and on for me.

Boxing for me is in my blood. Since child hood. I was a kid but still vividly remember Tyson, Whitaker, and Chavez . Bowe vs Holyfield 1 was a fight I kept replaying, and then when Trinidad hit the scene, I was just hooked… I absorbed all I could after that, including the history… But that was a long time ago…

It’s just not the same. The past few years have all been extra disappointing. Fights just don’t get made anymore. It’s just boring to remain a fan now. Exhausting. I don’t want to become that bitter old man lamenting about the glory days but I do see for the first time ever now that the fight game just ain’t what it was.

 

Ive been watching a lot of jai alai lately

 

Here's the irony for me.

I had already kind of slipped boxing down my list of sports. So much to the point that I didn't realize this was a bad time for boxing. That's how little I follow it now.

For me, once you get to the point where you're not interested in ordering ANY PPV cards (that's where I've been for a couple of years) then it's a downward spiral from there.

Because I don't watch many of the big events, I'm not as interested in the next big events and so on.

ESPN ramps up their boxing schedule in the summer and a lot of their cards are early enough for me to watch before I go to work (I work pretty much every weekend now which also contributed to me not watching big fights.) So I'll watch more boxing and my interest goes up again but it doesn't last.

I keep up with the champions and news just enough to not be a "casual" but I'm nowhere near the boxing fan I used to be.

 

I hear ya.

I'm still above casual, but there's more and more upcoming guys who I haven't heard of.

10 years ago I watched EVERY CARD on EVERY channel I could find. I don't have the love to do that anymore.

Sometimes I only start watching once the main event hits. That would be unheard of for me years back.

 

I must really love this sport, because I refuse to fully walk away from it no matter how bad it gets. I'll never abandon boxing.

The NBA I abandoned all together. I couldn't give a fuck if it went under tomorrow.

I love boxing too much to ever think like that.

 

Still interested in the sport but I've barely been watching it in the last few years. And it's not because the big superfights are not happening (they are usually duds anyway), but because even up and comers, who should take in anyone to establish themselves, are not fighting anyone either. Even worse , it's been way too hard too just watch a fight recently (so many apps, premium channels needed, not even talking about PPV's).

 

Same here (though replace NBA with NHL). I like hockey and MMA but it will never take boxing's place, no matter what.

 

Yeah it is an absolute CHORE for me to get through a basketball game now. Every other play is a foul despite nobody playing defense, nothing but 3 pointers being shot.

Im good off it, honestly.

 

I shitcanned HBO & Showtime about seven or eight yrs ago because I could no longer justify paying for them just for boxing cards.

The last PPV I ordered was Mayweather-Pac. Since then, I have never used a streaming service, an app or anything like that. Not just for boxing but I have never used them at all.

The thought of giving my cable company even more money to watch a boxing card sounds completely absurd to me now even though I had been doing it most of my life.

I watch free fights on cable if I see that they're on. And if I see people talking about a big fight on Facebook, I'll watch the highlights on YouTube.

I put boxing as tied with baseball, another sport I grew up with and still love but don't watch as much any more. Behind a three way tie of NFL, college football and Premier League (and all tournaments involving PL clubs) as my favorite sports/leagues.

 

Several factors have waned my interest in boxing, but I do still follow.

Coverage- As many have mentioned. Remember Tuesday Night Fights on USA? Gone. HBO Boxing, gone. Hell I remember watching a Tyson fight on Fox for free, over the air broadcast. HBO to me was a big blow. Boxing after dark. Remember Night of the Young Heavyweights? That card alone was more impressive than most PPV fights today.

Losses- Too many fighters are scared to lose their "0." Even if they aren't, their handlers are scared for them, the results, Demetrius Andrade type fighters who are 35 and have only fought tune ups for their next tune up.

Quality of PPV's- undercards suck now. The old undercard fights are now stand alone PPV events.

With all that said, boxing has been declared dead many times before, hopefully we are just in a lull.

 

It's a bad lull. The worst lull we've seen. Not dead.

Boxing isn't dead until it completely loses relevance and talent stops being churned out. Big fights are still covered by the mainstream. Young kids from urban environments still take up the sport. There's still young talent in the sport.

Latinos and Eastern Euros will always participate and churn out talent. The sport is still strong in the UK.

So I'm not saying it's dying. Just in a really bad lull since Covid.

 

To add insult to injury, a report just came out: DAZN is hemorrhaging money. They've lost 6 billion since their 2016 launch.

I don't think DAZN will last too many more years in the boxing game, if at all.

 

Good. Fuck them.

We need more fights on network and cable TV. ESPN does a good job with their cards especially in the summer (they also pack MMA cards in in the summer when there are less sports to compete with.) Hopefully CBS or FOX step up and get more cards on like they were doing around 2005-2010 or so.

 

I'm content with the looming Fulton figueroa and Ramirez commey showdowns

 

Matchups like the 80s, I tell ya!

 

I’m on the same boat as everyone else. It’s lost some interest in me because of all the great fights not happening because of pitiful reasons. It’s gone downhill but I’ll still tune in whatever fight sounds interesting enough. The love of the sport will always be there but the current state of it is definitely not what it used to be. Thankfully there’s always going to be fights from different eras that’s available to watch, enjoy and appreciate.

The only other sport that I follow from time to time is the NBA playoffs. Lately I’ve actually gotten myself into watching ONE Championship after watching Rodtang.

 

I have never had interest in other sports and I quit watching modern boxing- unless I need to- years ago. I still only watch boxing; throughout the history of the sport the number of fights that I have not seen far outnumbers the fights that I have seen. YouTube is a wonderful thing.

 

Agree Grey.

I still watch old fights on YT weekly.

 

I’ve watched the sport casually the past several years.

There hasn’t really been any matchups that got me excited like they used to.

 

In 2003 Jirov Vs Toney was regarded as a dubious affair.