Is boxing still dead or is this a renaissance?

I never thought it was dead to begin with. I figured with the popularity of MMA, their supporters over-exaggerated boxing's demise, while also underestimating it's long standing staying power.

Afterall, it was mostly MMA people comparing themselves to boxing, not the other way around, for the most part.

I guess people conveniently forgot that boxing is cyclical like other sports. The Yankees sucked for the better part of the 60's and came back in the 70's; The NBA was showing playoff games on tape delay late at night in the '70's, but blew up in the 80's; and boxing was dormant after Holmes (and a little bit with him) until Mike came along.

Dana White can market his ass off; but boxing still stands on it's own merit, with new age marketing that accentuates it's natural appeal.

 

Every sport has more marketable players, teams just like boxing does with fighters.

 

Boxing will always have an audience when good fights are made, and there is no cloud of corruption.

 

Boxing needs to build up more stars in a hurry. Miguel Cotto was heralded as a superstar just a year ago and his career is pretty much over. Same with Ricky Hatton. Pac and PBF can carry the sport for at most, 2 more years.

 

Why depend on phoney celebrity personas when making the best fights more often would do the trick? What weight class wouldn't be exciting if that were done? Get rid of the promoters and the different sanctioning bodies. Football would be a mess if Don King and Bob Arum had to reach an agreement for the Bears and Giants to play, and who would care if every other team were some sort of champion?

Cotto isn't shot. He lost two tough fights, and, in both cases, he may have lost to a cheater.

 

But you do need to build up stars.

How many PPV buys do you think Williams-Pavlik would have done? Now that's an amazing quality fight imo! But the PPV numbers wouldn't have reflected as much.

This whole argument perplexes me - in Colorado, boxing has become completley irrelevant... especially (probably most exclusively) amongst the younger populace - the 18-35 year olds. And MMA is ACTIVELY marketing itself all the fucking time while boxing sits idly by on its laurels of tradition and history etc.

I went down to Barnes and Nobles to get the most recent Ring magazine only to find out they dont carry it... yet there are TEN MMA magazines on the shelves and even a fucking RUGBY magazine (rugby is not a sport in the US). People will tell me that MMA is a fad or that boxing still outsells MMA in PPV sales routinely but i can never find an acceptable answer for why Boxing seems to be dead to the mainstream public in this country

 

Until boxing fans and pundits give back the right to lose to the fighters, I think boxing will be in shitty condition. Just read this thread, Cotto lost to a cheater and an all time great and Joe King his saying is career is over. Hatton lost to 2 all time greats, people say he should retire. I don't fault them, that's the thinking in boxing and it is pretty salient in boxing message boards : All or Nothing. You're either an unbeatable fighter or a bum. You don't see this line of thinking in MMA. How can you market a sport when you have to always be very cautious in how you'll match-up your protege because he's evolving in a sport where losing is almost a bannable offense. Boxing should be about matchups and the stars will naturally follow from that. Presently we've got it backwards, the promoters try to carefully build superstars by matching them up cautiously and once they're ready to face another very good fighter, they have to cross their fingers because if their fighter lose too badly, his earning potential will crumble because of the shitty mentality fans and (some) pundits have.

 

Fuck that is a brilliant point.

 

I went in to Borders to pick up a copy of Ring the other day. Not one to be found - 5 MMA magazines. Not over the hump yet.

 

FUCKING-A!! Literally could not agree more.

 

In fairness, this is probably the first time in history you could go to a shop with such a massive selection of magazines and not pick up a boxing magazine. Fishing, karate, DIY, motorsport, 5 bodybuilding magazines, 3 socialist publications (!), etcetra, but no boxing magazines.

 

It's easy to say that because Hatton and Cotto only lost twice. They have both sustained a lot damage in their victories as well. There is more to it than just saying that they should retire after two losses.

In MMA if a fighter gets submitted in 5 out of his 7 losses and loses two decisions, he has the potential to compete at a high level. I wish boxing glossed over the fighter's losses like MMA does. It would help the sport but ultimately boxing may be more physically taxing than MMA and it may not be possible to do it without putting fighters at risk.

 

Boxing to the mainstream will be at it's lowest after Pacquiao vs. Mayweather....and promoters like Bob Arum are not helping by putting garbage like Chavez jr and yuri foreman on undercards.

 

this is another problem with boxing. people are so fucking stubborn to recognize that there is an issue. boxing is NOT DEAD.... its not DYING but MMA is taking it over in terms of mainstream popularity, and at best - it is gaining ground on boxing. that is the issue.

 

I agree. Boxing should put better cards. Evey PPV card should have 3 must see fights, even if they are just style matchups that will produce good fights. Also, the announcers, as as been stated in this thread, not act like ever loss is the end of something.

There will always need to be alternatives for MMA. Boxing is martial arts for heterosexuals.

 

I understand that you want to look out for the fighters' safety and you might be right in saying that Hatton and Cotto aren't in physical shape to continue, personnally I'm not sure about that and I think it's up to the fighters and their team/family to decide whether or not they're fit to fight, not the fans. But I think my point extend beyond these particular cases though. In MMA, most fans agree that on any given night a top fighter can lose to another top fighter, in boxing it is generally not the case and the loser will be labeled as "exposed". Boxing fans are very hard with the men that make the sport they like.

 

fuck i screwed up in my post... meant to say boxing ISN'T DEAD. edited

:doh:

 

My point being that no boxing is NOT dead and its not dying but it is losing popularity and boxing fans gloss over it with overly dramatic statements like "oh here we go again people think boxing is dead" - when that is not the issue, its an issue of boxing going on a downward trend that seems to be contuing, despite a good PPV once or twice a year - coinciding with the constant rise of MMA

 

I think Hatton should retire because he is past his best: way past his best infact. It has nothing to do with an 'all or nothing' mentality. Its because I don't want to see him get hurt. His last loss was an absolutely brutal, highlight reel KTFO in which he was completely unconscious before he hit the canvas. That sort of shot can cause irreperable damage to a fighter, and Hatton is at the stage of his career where he simply doesn't need to take that sort of risk. He's healthy, very wealthy and retains a huge fanbase in the UK. Moreover, he simply can't fight at the level he used to be able to and, when that's the case, it's time to stop because the only way is down; from fighting the best in the world to becoming a 'name' opponent that up-and-comers beat to pad out a resume.

That said, I agree entirely with the spirit of your post. The internet has been a great thing for boxing and boxing fans, allowing crackers like us from all over the world to talk shit about something we all love. But it has created a shit or bust culture among fans and fighters, with anyone who loses being 'exposed' and promoters doing all they can to keep their fighters from losing their precious '0', because it causes huge detriment to their drawing power. As a result, we get endless mandatory defences of titles won after becoming vacant, precious few fights between evenly matched guys and a plethora of dirge clogging up cards all over the world.

This is what is harming the sport more than anything else.

MTF`

 

Alfonso Gomez vs. Jose Luis Castillo (147)


Marcos Maidana vs. Ricardo Torres (140)

Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Rocky Juarez (126-130)


Main Event...
Pacquiao vs. Mayweather




yeah the first fight is between a hasbeen and Gomez..but they will trade a lot and not clinch or "box" each other...


Maidana is the new Ricardo Torres....GUARANTEED somebody get KO...excellent ppv undercard fight...


Gamboa has the style to be a mainstream fighter....Juarez could stink it out..but more likely he get brutalize by Gamboa...showcase the cuban out to the world...

 

I read this in my newspaper earlier this week:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/nov/15/boxing-popularity-schools-clubs

Boxing is undergoing a big resurgence, with tens of thousands of people taking part in schools and gyms across the country each week. The number of people registered with amateur clubs in England has nearly tripled since 2005, and the sport is likely to get a further boost from David Haye winning a world heavyweight title 10 days ago.

The number of schools with boxing on the curriculum has jumped from 20 four years ago to 1,931 this year and the sport has become the toast of politicians and education experts who once dismissed it as too violent...

The death of boxing continues to be exaggerated. The FACTS are that, in the UK, Boxing is at it's highest ebb since the early 1990's. Kids are boxing at school, FFS. Whoever would have thought it?

MTF :kidcool:

 

NO..because we would want him to take more punishment....