HOW FAR HAS YOUR BOXING JONES FALLEN OVER THE YEARS....

Exactly.

I'm still a boxing fan, but nowhere near what I used to be. And it's a combination of things. I was a big fan of Tuesday Night Fights, as it was always a good mix of up and comers, and down and outers, with an occasional big name thrown in for good measure. What Foreman in his comeback, Vinny Paz's miraculous comeback, Tracy Paterson winning the belt, Tyrone Trice calling out James Toney, Bowe and Mercer almost coming to blows in an interview, The Bowe\Tillery fiasco...it was always entertaining.

These days, fights not good enough to headline TNF are PPV's. The oversaturation of PPV has really hurt the sport. It may have made millionaires out of a few, but at the expense of many.

Plus, undercards have been notoriously weak. PPV's used to have several compelling bouts, that just doesn't happen anymore.

And of course there's been the usual arguments...too many sanctioning bodies, too many weight classes, not enough good heavies, etc, etc, etc.

Boxing has been on an upswing the past year or so, but there is still much work to be done.

TFK

 

The problem with boxing today is most of the dedicated fans - the one's that have followed it for years - still remember the better days, when pay per view was rare and when you did have them you used to get twice the card for almost half the price.

Pay per view cards were events. Even the lower priced Top Rank cards usually had some pretty stacked bout sheets. You knew you were getting about 3 hours of real fights.

But promoters really got greedy and now you're just paying for 1-2 fights now on a card, with only 3-4 fights total...and often there's at least one or two really bad ones...often a four-rounder...something that's really cheapened ppv.

It wasn't just for Olympians/former amateur stars, but also "attractions" like a JCC Jr. blowout, or Butterbean sideshow (both thanks to Bob Arum).

And women's fights also explosed after Christy Martin-Diedre Gogerty got bloody on the Tyson-Bruno II card and King ran with it...as Arum did with miss "Playboy Pink".

It's to the point now where a ppv with 2-3 real fights gets talked about like it's the second coming of The Rematches.

Top Rank does consistently seem to have better overall pay per view line-ups, but that's in comparison to what else is being offered. When Don King does have a ppv these days, it may have a fuller card than some others, but it's often quantity over quality. Golden Boy had a pretty good card with Barrera-Juarez II...until MAB ruined the ending (::) but some of their other line-ups are rather pedestrian.

 

I agree that is a big killer right there. I think the emergence and success of safety first guys like Floyd & RJJ actually wound up hurting the sport because a lot of the black fighters that followed them wound up trying to emulate them, and it seems to have made them soft. Berto's an exception who seems willing to fight but lot's of other black fighters seem to be more safety first guys. Very few american boxers seem to be willing to be like a Hagler or Duran and have the intention of coming in to just flat out destroy their opposition.

The decline of boxing gyms in america is another and likely bigger reason I think we have no great fighters coming up now. These 2 reasons are why latino and foreign fight cards seem to be doing better at drawing fans for the fighters and the fights.

Over the years many a boxing writer or hater has written how the sport is dying or on it's last leg and all those times they have been wrong. It's this fact that has so many of us in denial that boxing right now is on it's last leg. Because we think since they were wrong then they're wrong now but that isn't necessarily the case. Boxing can die, it won't happen right away, but each era will get significantly weaker than the one before it and the next era coming up I may not even be a witness to, because it does look pretty weak.

 

That's why I've always said there should be a winner's purse, and a loser's purse. Or at the very least, a bonus system like UFC has. Give everyone an incentive to win.

TFK

 

:boohoo: Cotto - Margarito,.. is the only fight, probably in the whole year that I'll take an interest in,.. I wish De La Hoya and Fraud were both literally dead,.. Mosely was going to fight a bum, now he'll do nothing, Kessler will fight a soft German, Clottey will fight a bum, Pavlik will fight two scrubs in a row, Calzaghe will face a shot Roy, Taylor will fight damaged goods, Hatton is damaged goods facing the quintessential paper-belt holder next, Wlad will fight mandatories, and I dont give a fuck about midgets,.. so really,.. there's zilch to look forward to this year, the sport is filled with mismatches, all that's left is to hope a fighter I hate or who I think is severely overrated, gets a shock beat-down, someone like David Haye would do just nicely.

 

Exactly, there are many of us here that feel this way. Some magic was lost and I have read other old-timers as myself share the same thoughts I feel. It cannot be denied it is not the same. There have been ups and downs but this is something different. If you think it is the same feel, you are probably pretty young or extremely stupid.

 

Amen !!!!!

 

1998 Boxers with more-than-hardcore popularity
Lennox Lewis
Evander Holyfield
Roy Jones Jr
Chris Eubank
Bernard Hopkins
Oscar de La Hoya
Felix Trinidad
Pernell Whitaker
Arturo Gatti
Naseem Hamed

2008 Boxers with more-than-hardcore popularity
Joe Calzaghe
Oscar de La Hoya
Floyd Mayweather
Ricky Hatton
Manny Pacquiao

 

On the March 5th, 2008 Broadway boxing show, Brian Adams said that the NY golden gloves had the largest number of boxers participating since 1978.

 

I used to watch FNF religiously, not so much anymore. All the fighters who got me into boxing are on their way out and with the exception of a few boxers there hasn't really been anybody who has shown that true STAR power.

Boxing really needs some CHARISMA in the sport. Floyd has the skills but he lacks that charisma to really get people excited about boxing (unless he's making it rain with dollar bills ::).

It sucks when future "stars" like Dawson are stuttering retards or eastern europeans (:stir:). David Haye IMO has the potential to be a huge star, but that long ass neck makes me think that his chin is a liability.

 

I'm probably like a 6 or 7 out of 10 compared to what i was at the peak in the ealry 00's

But I think it can and will come back, I've just been busy alot lately and haven't had a chance to watch some of the big fights. All it takes it literally 1 or 2 blistering KO's for people to get all excited about the sport again. We just need a bit more excitement in the heavyweight.. for example seeing David Haye get put to sleep HARD should wake everyone up a bit.

Also keep in mind that since I've been posting (10 yrs) this thread comes up every spring / early summer, because it is the "slow season" for boxing.

 

:laughing: , it would,.. reason being this guy has always had way way way too much hype attributed to him, even when he turned pro, the British were screaming horse about his immortality, he was a flourescent tick in every option when it pertained to the stimulus of sensationalism, then ofcourse little Carl bunyip Thompson made it all go quiet for a little while, now the chin of Enzo Macarinelli is reknewed, and the electrodes taste of resserection, it's back to business as far as the barmy army are concerned,..the combination of scorn on the heavyweight division times the way we know the British like to hype up thier sports stars, the next Haye bust should be a ball of tears whistles and hoots.

I'd rank him 4th,.. behind Floyd, Calzaghe and Wlad, in terms of the drama that would proceed a defeat.

 

It waxes and wanes...I'm actually pretty high on it right now, despite my online time dropping (work comes first). Mainly because I'm actually a true follower of a fighter for the first time in over a decade (Paul Williams) so that can keep me going for a while even if he can't become an elite fighter. Otherwise, I actually get pleasure out of telling people I'm a boxing fan, then they mention mainstream fights (hell sometimes a random TNF from years back!) and I try to expand their horizons. It usually fizzles out, but I use that as my guage of how interested I remain in boxing. There have been points when I refuse to engage those same people in any boxing discussion; those are my low-interest points.