It seems boxing is on the up or at least holding its own in most parts of the world but in the USA which used to be the leading country in producing top boxers it has been in decline for a long time.


America as far I can see has no new boxing stars of the future coming through the ranks and the game is viturualy ignored by most sports fans.


Can boxing ever be a major sport in the USA again?

tbh i think the east is gonna be producing the next stars of boxing in there labs

Nope.....not till every other god damn fight isn't on ppv.

It starts and ends with the fascination of the heavyweight division in America.
The hw division is considered to be boring and lame with no true exciting fighter in that division. Yes the Klitscho brother are dominant, but not exciting, it says something when HBO and Showtime do not want to air the #1 and #3 fighter duking it out.

In fact there will be a major interest in boxing again in America when an exciting HW and dominant champion is there, he doesn't even have to be American since we live in an more tolerant and globalised society.

The HW division has always been considered to be the life line of the sport for a reason. The 1 true HW champ is considered to be the face of boxing to Americans. And America is considered to be the mecca of boxing, in terms of money, coverage, etc.

Boxing was always a popular sport in America during the days of Dempsey, Louis, Ali, Tyson, Holyfield, and then when Lennox Lewis was the reigning champ, most Americans got turned off and it has nothing to do with him not being American, but boring and same thing is applying to the Klit Brothers.

Originally Posted by generalbulldog

It starts and ends with the fascination of the heavyweight division in America.
The hw division is considered to be boring and lame with no true exciting fighter in that division. Yes the Klitscho brother are dominant, but not exciting, it says something when HBO and Showtime do not want to air the #1 and #3 fighter duking it out.

In fact there will be a major interest in boxing again in America when an exciting HW and dominant champion is there, he doesn't even have to be American since we live in an more tolerant and globalised society.

The HW division has always been considered to be the life line of the sport for a reason. The 1 true HW champ is considered to be the face of boxing to Americans. And America is considered to be the mecca of boxing, in terms of money, coverage, etc.

Boxing was always a popular sport in America during the days of Dempsey, Louis, Ali, Tyson, Holyfield, and then when Lennox Lewis was the reigning champ, most Americans got turned off and it has nothing to do with him not being American, but boring and same thing is applying to the Klit Brothers.

yeah, thats what it comes down to.. we really need ONE american star to be a heavyweight, and there will be SOME interest..

none of my friends know who paul williams, juan marquez, zab judah etc etc are.. Besides the names they have heard or maybe saw in video games they have no idea..

it's weird cause we'll play fight night and they will know maybe 4 or 5 current fighters.. "who is pernell whitaker?" MY GOD!

Originally Posted by Mar

Nope.....not till every other god damn fight isn't on ppv.

That didn't stop boxing for being so popular in the 80s with Mike Tyson being on PPV. And people were excited to see the Duran, Hagler, Leonard, Hearns and other superfights on PPV. Same thing in the 90s with Tyson coming back from prison along with other superfights that had Holyfield, Bowe, Foreman and the Oscar DLH fights did extremely well also with Trinidad, Whittaker, Chavez, etc.

Boxing was wildly popular in the 80s and 90s with other sports fans and the general public. But it was backed up with an exciting HW champion that was leading the popularity, for he is the face of boxing to Americans.

When you have a boring champion like Lennox Lewis and the Klit brothers being the face of boxing with their mundane style, Americans aren't going to want to see that.

Boxers typically have come from lower economic means. Boxing gyms are closing in a lot of places near me especially in inner cities. Young men and kids are choosing other sports. Boxing requires a tremendous amount of time and effort for a kid/teenager compared to basketball/football. Combine that with a lack of local boxing gyms it is not suprising American boxing is falling off. Sure a HW superstar and more top boxing on free TV would help infuse interest but American Amateur Boxing needs to get out and help open gyms and support the ones that are still around as well as promote amateur boxing in communities across the nation.

America doesn't have to have an American fighter to support boxing.

Originally Posted by VanChilds

Boxers typically have come from lower economic means. Boxing gyms are closing in a lot of places near me especially in inner cities. Young men and kids are choosing other sports. Boxing requires a tremendous amount of time and effort for a kid/teenager compared to basketball/football. Combine that with a lack of local boxing gyms it is not suprising American boxing is falling off. Sure a HW superstar and more top boxing on free TV would help infuse interest but American Amateur Boxing needs to get out and help open gyms and support the ones that are still around as well as promote amateur boxing in communities across the nation.

Strong Post. But, even in its dilatory state, USA still has top performers in each weight class.

It also has to do with marketing. Paul Williams is fun and exciting to watch. But, do you see him on Nike or Adidas billboards? The Pacquiao-Bryant Nike commercials should do a lot for boxing. Watch.

It doesn't take a genius to see that boxing promoters/industry heads etc should target certain communities. Billboards and such advertising boxers in Mexican-American communities. Paul Williams is from South Carolina - how about an Everlast billboard in Charlotte? A Paulie Malignaggi board in Brooklyn with an Italian Flag as the background? You get the point - appeal to ethnic groups.

I forgot about the boxing gyms closing down too, but this has been happening in the last 7 or 8 years when boxing was on it's downside and it still is on it's downside. And someone here also mentioned marketing also plays a role to attract new fans to the sport.

Of course it starts with amateur boxing to bring in the exciting new talent. It's a damn shame that the high schools in America doesn't have some sort of amateur boxing program to attract the talent that football and basketball does.

i suppose they dont make them like they use to, its probably like alot of people say that all the next top heavyweights are all in the nfl or nba. im sure some special fighters will come thru eventually. its too big a country not to produce special talents.

to be honest i think no. NFL MLB and NBA have taking over. boxing can make all the biggest fights happen but it wont be a major US sport again.

And when was the last time you beat your wife?

Boxing has changed into a mega-purse entertainment business, but it has not gone down. Has it changed for the better. No, in my opinion.

i also feel that boxing is struggling, in the Uk the prob is that the tv stations are not backing this great sport, its a real shame because when on terrestrial tv the viewing figures are really good. I do believe that we need a really good american heavy to sort this mess out, i mean if david haye wiped out all the heavyweights in spectacular fashion i still dont think even with he can turn this around. i agree that athletes would prefer to go into other sports because boxing is such a tough lifestyle & i couldnt think of any other sport that u have to have such a strict dedication to.

i feel boxing tho is losing the battle

Boxing is still 2nd most popular around the world and on ESPN they are showing a lot more Boxing and talking about it a lot more than they have in the past. Just last week they showed highlights of a Cruiserweight, and Flyweight fight that I didn't even hear of. Then on saturday they talked about the Ortiz-Maidana fight and the JuanMa and King Arthur fights. It was on the bottomline and they showed highlights. Boxing is picking up again in the U.S.