Sooooo, is 'Boxing DYING" Still???....

If So, it's SURELY Set a Record for SLOOOWEST DEATH EVER, by Now....

Or Maybe, just MAYBE, the Sport is in the Process of REPLENISHING Itself, as it ALWAYS Does...Boxing IS & Always WILL BE...Simple as That...

NEW Fighters Eventually PIQUE your Interest; NEW Matchups are Pondered & Anticipated...

6 Years Ago, You'd have Been Considered CRAZY to Predict Floyd Mayweather would Be THE Biggest Draw in the Game Eventually....5 Years Ago, Manny Pacquiao vs. Hatton, Cotto, Margarita or Mosley was Considered MYTHICALLY, if @ All...

Boxing HAS WARTS (Always HAS, Always Will), but the Sport AIN'T Dying, Doom & Gloom Motherfuckers....



REED:dancingBaby:

 

"There are no fighters as great as Buddy McGirt"

cdogg

 

The quality of fighters, the depth of the talent pool hasn't been this low in 100 years... it is what it is

Excitement will always happen, great fights will always happen, it doesn't have anything to do with whether or not the sport has a lot of high caliber participants

If you had a situation where the Lightweight champ was Arturo Gatti, the Middleweight champ was Frank Fletcher, the Heavyweight champ was Ernie Shavers, etc. ... you'd have lots of exciting fights and KOs but you would still have a sport sorely lacking depth and high end talent

What will change for Boxing will be the emergence of other nations to fill the gap left by the rapid decline of the sport in the country that has for most of its history produced the lion's share of it's great fighters above Featherweight (the U.S.)... this is very slowly happening but there is a looooong way to go... The sport will likely get worse before it gets better and in a few more decades will likely be at a very high level again... so, no it is not dying and likely won't ever die, but it is a mess right now and the talent pool is very shallow... none of this precludes there being fun fights

Eventually, some other country or countries will produce more and more fighters and the sport will improve

Right now, below Featherweight, there is still a high degree of quality because there has been no drop off. The same countries that have always produced the majority of top fighters in the lowest weight classes are still doing so.

 

I actually found it amazing that Floyd or any fighter was able to draw the kind of money that ODLH was and not be a HW or have some other type of drawing card such as being a male sex pot (as in ODLH's case). The fact that Floyd is black shot holes all in my theory that a black non-HW fighter could ever be a huge draw. Even now I don't understand how or why Floyd is able to draw the way he does because Roy was just as talented and as exciting but was not able to earn the same level of pay as Floyd. I think Floyd is outdrawing what ODLH used to do back in the day.

 

The Hw are a complete aberration, cause most big guys now have better options than boxing. Rest of the divisions seems a bit low on talent, but not as bad as some bert sugar wannabe say it is.

 

you just can't be serious, so the talent of the 1920 white stiff boys was better. Ridiculous

 

:mut:

 

yep, I agree. But as Reed pointed out, we're kind in a transition right now, where the old superstars (Cotto, Floyd, Pac, Klit,...) are either retiring or close to it, and the new potential one are just that; potential one. So, while it's not a golden age, it's far from the barren land some would like us to believe. Also, while it's true that it have lost some of his following, % wise, in the USA, it's important to consider that the population is also higher than it used to be, and that's even withtout taking into account the tremendous amount of talent that only a couple of decades ago, weren't able to compete in the pro game. So I don't buy at all the lower talent pool argument.

 

It's downward trend continues, I doubt 95% of people on the street could name 3 boxers by this point and the ones they might know are all in their mid 30s and close to retirement. It'll probably bottom out at some point though & we're probably close to it, 'death' is obviously the wrong metaphor. It's more like the decline of a nation.

 

Sit down.

 

On the upside, expect the changes in the amateur game to filter into an improved pro game in a decade or so.:crafty:

 

god, what a dumbass

talent POOL... DEPTH... PARTICIPANTS

nobody is saying fighters in 1920 are better than fighters today, only that there were MORE OF THEM at the world class levels of the time, you illiterate goon

 

Agree

 

But Even THAT Comment is Head Scratching, @ Best...

A "World Class" Fighter from 1913 WOULDN'T Crack the Top 100 in ANY Current Division, in REED's Opinion...Have You WATCHED Footage of Guys from that Era???...In NO Way, Shape or Form would ANY of them Be Competitive in 2013, so Saying there were "More World Class Fighters 100 Years Ago" is PUZZLING, Bro...

The "Good Ol' Days" Weren't THAT Good & Contemporary Boxing ISN'T Nearly THAT Bad....


REED:nono:

 

The MARKETABILITY of New Fighters is Still Under CONSTRUCTION...Give Canelo TIME & Let's See just How POPULAR he Can Become...Ditto for Ward, Broner & Others...

Again, a Mere 6 Years Ago, NOBODY Saw Floyd Mayweather Morphing Into Boxing's BIGGEST Draw...NOBODY Foresaw an Asian, Former 122lb Champion Becoming a MAINSTREAM AMERICAN Star....6 Years Ago, "95% of the People on the Street" DIDN'T Know the Names "Floyd Mayweather" or "Manny Pacquiao"...But TODAY they Do...

You & C-Dogg are Waaaaaaaay Toooooooooo ABSOLUTE in this Instance, Bro....




REED:mj:

 

I'm bored so I'll jump in for clogg & you can both shout at me if you like.

Say you have to earn 90% as much as the richest guy in town to be considered 'rich'. Everybody obviously earns more in 2013 than in 1913 but it's quite possible that the 'pool' of rich people might have been deeper in a given town back then, in those terms.

 

Yeah sure but you have to admit Mayweather & Pac were both much more highly regarded as fighters 10 years ago than Alvarez is now, it's not like they came out of nowhere. when somebody of Alvarez' standard is the best fighter in his 20s we can name it's hard to be overly sanguine about where we are here

 

As the population of this country becomes more and more hispanic, the popularity of boxing will grow along with it.

Also, if the Klitschkos were from New York rather than the Ukraine, people in this country would actually care about them. People like to root for their own, and for as dominant as the Klits have been, people just don't care about them because they're not American, they're not fighting in America, and most of the time, they're not fighting Americans.

Eventually a time will come when a young American heavyweight will captivate the sports world, not even on a scale like Tyson or Ali did, but more like Holyfield, Lennox Lewis or even Larry Holmes did, and interest in boxing overall will follow. It's long overdue, but it's bound to happen.

TFK

 

And, most importantly, they're not always fighting on American TV.

 

Horse after the cart though, they're not on because nobody watched when they were.

 

Anyone else think there being two Klits has hurt them marketability wise? Can't really explain why it has but I'm pretty sure it has

 

That's the most amazing thing. There have been times where I've watched the Klits fight on some internet stream because it wasn't on TV, and was blown away by the fact that there was a heavyweight title fight going on, and it wasn't even being televised in this country. Only a few short years ago, the mere thought of that would've been preposterous.

TFK

 

Also, wald pussy is a piece of shit.

 

I think knowing the two best heavyweights of this era have zero chance of ever fighting each other has done some major damage.

TFK

 

Agreed.

 

That's not what is being said at all

There were way more world class guys (relative to the time) than there are right now... more depth

Flip this... how many top ten guys from say Lightweight to Light heavyweight are top ten guys in 1990? 1980? 1970? !960? 1950?

 

Yeah probably, but i think it goes beyond that. Harder to create a unique 'brand' when there's two guys. Plus casual fans are just easily confused. "is that the boring one that clinches all the time? Is that the guy with the dodgy chin that fought Lewis? Oh no was that in real life or that movie with Brad Pitt? Ah fuck it'll just not watch'.

 

Canelo Alvarez is 22 Years Old, Bro...How were Floyd & Pac Regarded @ 22???...

Floyd had ALREADY Proven Himself to Be an Elite Level TALENT (he was Coming Off wins Over Genaro Hernandez & Angel Manfredy), but was Fighting in HALF FILLED Ballrooms...He WASN'T even Close to Being the Star Canelo Already is...Pacquiao had just Come Off the Ledwaba Win & his Bout w/Agapito Sanchez...He WASN'T a Star Either...

Canelo has a CONSIDERABLE ADVANTAGE on the Level of Floyd & Manny's Popularity, @ 22...SKILL Wise, Canelo ISN'T on Floyd's Level, from that Age, but he's ALREADY more than the Southpaw 1-2 Artist Pac was, @ 22...There's JUSTIFICATION for Being Optimistic about a Guy like Canelo, Especiallly when People Talk about a So-Called DEARTH of Boxing Stars & Whatnot...




REED:mj:

 

people dont watch the klitschkos because they are boring not because they are non american.

 

agree