Boxing has changed. Whether we like the changes or not is something else.

[TitoFan]

I became a boxing fan very young, probably around the time of Ali-Frazier. Since then, I followed the sport, becoming a fan of great fighters and exciting, competitive fights. I favored our own native fighters, like Gomez, Benitez, and De Jesus. But I also loved other exciting, ATG fighters like SRL, Hearns, and Duran. But no matter what, I enjoyed how fighters would fight anyone... anywhere... any time... anyhow. There were no catchweights (or at least well-publicized ones). There were no divas prancing around, skipping around weight divisions, looking for easy prey... just for the sake of grabbing a meaningless trinket. The loss of an "0" wasn't as feared as it is now. Great fighters lost... and then they came back and won. That made them even greater. Sometimes they would avenge their defeats. There was no social media... so there wasn't this casual fan/ groupie adulation that the pretty faces of today enjoy. Fans were knowledgeable, and judged fighters on their level of competition, INCLUDING "WHEN" this competition was faced. If a fighter waited for "X" or "Y" to get old, he was ridiculed. But it didn't happen that much anyway. Fighters were liked or disliked because of their personalities... maybe their behavior outside the ring... their styles... etc. They weren't liked or disliked based on groupie numbers. To this... we add the scourge of PPV and streaming services, charging us for what used to be free. Not only that... but the PPV bar keeps getting lower by the minute. Nowadays, any Joe Blow merits a PPV fight. To add insult to injury, shady judging continues unabated. The WBC has done everything except for taking an ad out in the newspaper announcing how they'll favor Canelo in all decisions till his dying days. Boxing is full of shady decision after shady decision... and us boxing fans bellyache for awhile... then we forget about it and beg for more.

This has all been said before. But the other day I was browsing social media, and I found a quote that honestly made me laugh out loud. So I did what any decent person would do... I stole it.

Being a boxing fan these days is like standing there and being repeatedly kicked in the balls and being charged for it.
With every fight announcement you wait in hope that the bollock kicking will stop.
Only to be kicked harder the next time.

[greynotsoold]

Boxing is in a low spot right now. The talent and skill are low- though there are some very skilled and talented fighters out there. The dedication is low because life is generally pretty easy these days. So many of these guys would rather put effort into getting 'likes' and 'followers' than put it into learning how to fight, though there are some very dedicated guys out there.
In this era, guys not only expect you to get them easy fights- they actually expect it- they demand easy sparring. They are fucking afraid to lose a round in the gym. My partner and I were helping out a guy- he comes from a fighting family- and he was sparring with Donaire, Oubili, Stevenson, Rigondeaux. He was getting great work in the gym. The mistake we made- and a lot of this was covid pressures, as far as fight availability- was having him fight several times in Mexico. They matched him very soft. So he gets to 10-0 and he needed to fight an opponent with a winning record and he rebelled. Now he has an Edgar haircut and calls everybody 'cuh."

[TIC]

Boxing is in a low spot right now. The talent and skill are low- though there are some very skilled and talented fighters out there. The dedication is low because life is generally pretty easy these days. So many of these guys would rather put effort into getting 'likes' and 'followers' than put it into learning how to fight, though there are some very dedicated guys out there.
In this era, guys not only expect you to get them easy fights- they actually expect it- they demand easy sparring. They are fucking afraid to lose a round in the gym. My partner and I were helping out a guy- he comes from a fighting family- and he was sparring with Donaire, Oubili, Stevenson, Rigondeaux. He was getting great work in the gym. The mistake we made- and a lot of this was covid pressures, as far as fight availability- was having him fight several times in Mexico. They matched him very soft. So he gets to 10-0 and he needed to fight an opponent with a winning record and he rebelled. Now he has an Edgar haircut and calls everybody 'cuh."

reminds me of this quote:

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” kind of reflective of the world we live in today. i feel this year has been great so far for boxing. there have been some really good fights, almost every week, top fights are getting made, although not enough & inactivity is a big problem these days. access to some of these fights can also be difficult to watch live for many. tank v king ry seemed to be a turning point & since then a number of good big fights have come together

[Spicoli]

Absolutely without a doubt. Hard subject not to just go all random and rant over tbh . I'll try to avoid the best impression of an old geezer on his front lawn waving his fist at the "kids" and yelling about back in the day . But simply some of the biggest changes I've noticed over last 5-10 years as a big fan..

When did a fighters pay, the split and contract talking points become such a major factor to the everyday fan . I've noticed it so much over last few years. Once there's a disagreement or a fight falls thru the go-to is now many fans arguing and advocating as if they are a part of management or the fighter's accountant. It's almost become as big a talking point as the fighters actual record and path taken to the fight. Fans talking about "smart money path" for top tier talents taking bullcrap fights, or not fighting at all. It's foreign to me . Last I checked we're not getting a cut.

Inactivity! It's the new way. And it wrecks a fighter's momentum and natural development. We have world champions that have not fought in years and are allowed to remain so. I have a thing I do randomly now. Anytime I see a fighter mentioned or an article, a name of past eras mentioned etc. is just go look at their record and activity level. Majority of the time guys of the 80's 90's 00's were heads and shoulders above many fighting today. No not all major events, but the activity and tune ups were very much there. Fighters today tend to 'fight' more on social media than they do an actual ring. Fighting so regularly then was the build! You had to fight! There was no sitting in your boxers drunk gabbing and whining on twatter about why a fight is not happening and whose fault it was . The marketing and it was very common for big names to already have big fights signed while going into another. Appearing on the same major card for that specific reason of building to another event.

Sub services and outlets. This one will reveal me as a fossil refusing to adapt to change. But add up costs of apps, ppvs and other streaming services. It's into the thousands annually for a fan. You're forced to drop one or two and they know no boundaries with what they offer. Dazn we're looking at you. The offerings have clearly lost quality but at the same time their rates have tripled. PPV has gone from the exception to the new rule. The short attention span quick money grab mindset has taken over. I hear every day about how "there are so many more ways to view" now but in actuality unless you're booting a stream or just like burning your money, you end up skipping some decent cards. Pick and choose. And again, in some cases the production quality is utter crap and unreliable. Now as far as locations and Global exposure it's great! Yes we have live fights from Japan to Mexico to the UK. Boxing is and always has been a Global sport, not stricly a US sport. But the regularity and availability tend to vary. What I remember as a fan coming up was the consistency of regular programming. Had them literally listed as a fan schedule. At the peak maybe between 90's to late 00's locally it was...
Monday...Fight night from the Great westren Forum. OR a card on HSE out of Fla OR a card from NY.
Tuesday...USA Tuesday Night Fights. Always! It was awesome. And they would replay some PPV main events.
Wednesday and Thursday...well usually off nights
Friday...ESPN FNF or regular ESPN. Also FOX sports cards and regular cards on Unimas.
Saturday...everything. HBO maybe every other month. Showtime (when it was great) the same and often they went head to head. Or a PPV. If you missed the PPV or did not get, HBO would repeat the full main event a week later. They layered it to boast viewership with live cards. As well as 'free' 1 or 2 fight cards on regular cable during the afternoon.
Sunday...midday replay cards on Univision of title fights from various Countries. Also Afternoon cards on maybe Wide World of Sports etc.

Shit man we're old . So many aspects have changed.

Social media has become a crutch to some fighters. Over exposure for some but for all the wrong reason. Went off on a ramble so I'll rant on that later.

[TitoFan]

When did a fighters pay, the split and contract talking points become such a major factor to the everyday fan . I've noticed it so much over last few years. Once there's a disagreement or a fight falls thru the go-to is now many fans arguing and advocating as if they are a part of management or the fighter's accountant. It's almost become as big a talking point as the fighters actual record and path taken to the fight. Fans talking about "smart money path" for top tier talents taking bullcrap fights, or not fighting at all. It's foreign to me . Last I checked we're not getting a cut.

THIS! If you resemble an old geezer on your front lawn yelling at the kids... I'm right there along with you, throwing a few rocks as well. In fact, I've complained about this before. (Probably a few years ago). Fans talking contracts and negotiations like it was THEIR money being discussed.

And yes... inactivity... streaming services and PPVs... and the social media monster. If complaining about these makes you old... then I guess I'm ancient.

[Master]

I agree with all the sentiments of the posts in this thread.

Free boxing is now rare and a very poor standard on Channel 5. Gone are the days we saw Mike Tyson on ITV or Benn v Eubanks v Watson. Sky took the boxing away and it has then further dispersed through BT, FITE and DAZN. No way a fan of the sport could follow that legally.

The PPV are too regular, overpriced and very poor.

The top boxers are too well paid so now they do not box regularly and avoid the dangerous fighters unless they have no other option and is their last resort. It was frustrating that Fury did not fight Usyk and is now really taking on an exhibition fight when he should be undisputed champion.

The young boxers coming up like Ben Whitaker have to work even harder to get some exposure. They do not have a free to air TV channels where you can watch them grow and develop to learn their trade as we saw with Bruno/Herol Graham/Barry McGuigan on BBC.

Minor celebrities and fighters from other disciplines are earning vast amounts of money and receiving exposure that real boxers are becoming side lined. Teo v Josh Taylor was in a small part of MSG instead You tubers get bigger crowds boxing non-boxers. That is truly wrong.

We are hardcore fans of boxing on this site and if we have a hard time following it then the casuals have no idea what is happening to the sport.

Boxing has made itself a minority sport chasing the money at all costs and throwing away it's values and principles.