Note: These are just my personal experiences and observations. It may differ for the rest of you based on geography and culture. Boxing IMO is seeing a resurgence. Outside of the big 3 US sports, I'm finding that boxing is the most discussed among mainstreamers nowadays. Here's what I've noticed: 15 years ago, I almost had to hide in public as a boxing fan. People knew two names: Floyd and Pac. That is LITERALLY it. Their general boxing understanding was comically low. They know more names now, and more about fighters in different weight classes. And, boxing is now more covered by mainstream sporting platforms than it was 15 years ago. I think social has helped, but I can't exactly pinpoint the reason. Floyd and Pac might have helped as well. All I know is, boxing in the U.S. seems to be getting popular again, and it's now bordering between niche and mainstream. Still more niche, but its a bit too popular to be considered THAT niche, if it makes sense. A niche sport in the U.S. at this point is something like tennis. Boxing right now is a fuck load more popular around here than tennis.
2023 has been boxings best year and it’s showing. We have the best fights happening and some fighters are becoming more mainstream.
As Others Have Noted, When the BEST Fights the BEST, Consistently, the Mainstream Sports World PAYS ATTENTION...Always HAS, Always WILL... Say What You WISH About Him, Stepehen A. Smith is as MAINSTREAM as it Gets in American Sports...Benavidez-Plant, Tank-Ryan and Dev-Loma were ALL Given Shine from Stephen A, Who Doesn't KNOW Shit About Boxing But Legitimately LIKES It, @ Least...The Moment Spence-Crawford was Officially SIGNED, They Both Appeared On "First Take" w/Stephen A, a Day or So Later... Anyone Notice How LITTLE Jake Paul is Being Talked About These Days, Given the Litany of LEGIT Boxing Matches Garnering Attention???...And Jake's Facing Nate Diaz, Who's a VIABLE Combat Sports Commodity....But When the BEST Fights the BEST, Who Gives a Fuck About a Youtuber vs. a MMAist Who's Exceeded His Shelf Life???... What's Funny is, This Time Last Year, Jake Paul was THE Talk of Boxing...Look @ Him Now... REED
I do think it’s relative. Boxing is usually low-level popular in the UK. But if you look at the BBC Sports website (as a mainstream sports source), it lists 8 or 9 sports as the most popular ones. Football is obviously top of the list followed by rugby and cricket but I can see boxing is one of those sports and I don’t remember if it was or not before, so based on the order, if the BBC Sports website is accurately reflecting popularity, it’s about the 8th most popular sport in the UK right now. The fights that usually get the coverage though are ones including British fighters. The bigger international fights, those that include American fighters I mean, haven’t really registered much over here (as far as I can tell). Taylor-Lopez was covered because of Taylor, not Lopez.
Tank vs Ryan Didn't Generate Any UK Buzz???...What About a Typical Canelo Bout???...Spence-Crawford???... Not Being Argumentative, Just CURIOUS... REED
I mean, I could be wrong but honestly, Tank v Garcia didn’t raise much interest. Crawford and Spence are two guys who are just non-entities in terms of personality so they haven’t crossed over in the UK plus they have delayed and delayed the fight to the point where any buzz that might have happened just hasn’t. Canelo is definitely better known so his fights usually generate more interest here. That’s my impression of those fighters and fights from a UK perspective but other UK posters may have a different view.
Correct me if im wrong, but i get the impression that boxing is strictly a local sport in the uk, in the sense that people are only interested if a local guy is fighting (and considering the success of uk boxing lately, that's quite often). Bar maybe for the true mega fights a la pbf vs pac
Which leads me to the state of boxing in Quebec currently (it's dead as usual in the rest of Canada). Unfortunately it's really bad. Shocking to think that even a few years ago they were packing 20k+ more fans. Nowaday, the ''biggest'' attraction is probably Simon Kean or Kim Clavel ( I know). I blame Bute and the ridiculous hype he used to get for this
Not really the fault of bute. There's simply no good and interesting fighter in the province at the moment. I guess Mbilli could be considered as such, but EOT management are such piss poor promoter, that they cant draw flies to shit
My feeling is that in the UK, if you're not heavily promoted on Sky Sports, or if you haven't been involved in a big fight with a NAME British fighter, then it is very hard for you to break through to the wider British public. Even Carl Froch right up to and including the Super Six was largely ignored. He only became known to casual fans over here once he switched promoters and started getting featured on Sky Sports, starting with the Bute fight I believe.
I think that there is some renewed interest in a lot of areas. A decade ago, in Montana, there were just a couple of gyms in the western part of the state. Yori Boy Campos lived and trained and fought what were basically exhibitions but were billed as actual fights and, since then, there has been an explosion of interest in boxing, the number of gyms, and promotions. When I was home in California, there must have been 30 gyms in the area where I grew up and there used to be just a few. In 2011, when I was in Salt Lake City for a couple of weeks, the only gym I could find was the Fullmer Bros gym; that gym is still going strong and there are many, many others in the Ogden/SLC/Provo metro area. They are representing well nationally, too.
Yeah but how many of them are real gyms with actual pros/ seasoned amateurs training there ?? Nowadays, seems like a lot of the boxing/mma are more like cross fit hybrid gyms geared toward the soccer mom and white collar workers
Speaking ONLY for the Dallas Area, Where REED Resides, There's Definitely Been an EXPLOSION of Boxing and MMA Gyms, to the Point You Have to Be SELECTIVE About WHO You're Fucking w/...15-20 Years Ago, This WASN'T The Case in Dallas.... A Lot of Musclebound, Personal Trainer Types Frequent LEGIT Boxing/MMA Gyms These Days, Pick Up About 5 Minutes Worth of ACTUAL Knowledge in Those Disciplines, Then Start Their OWN Thing...It's a MONEY GRAB To Them, a Quick Hustle... But For Those That Don't Want to COMPETE In Boxing, That Only Want to Use it for FITNESS, Those Gyms Are Perfect...But Like One of REED's DEAREST Friends, an 80+ Year Old Boxing Trainer Used to Tell Them, "I Run a BOXING Gym; If You're Looking For a Health Club, 24 Hour Fitness is Down the Street"... REED
All the gyms that I went to in California have active amateur programs, as do the gyms that I referred to in Utah. The gyms in Montana are years behind but they are improving.
