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Boxing; on the ropes?
I remember back when i was a kid, Jeff Fenech fighting for his world titles, and it seemed to me the whole nation would stop just to watch him do his thing. In both the media and on the streets there was an element of respect above that of the average sportsperson that was given to those men brave enough to step between the ropes, fights were shown live on free to air television, you didnt have to fork out for the pay per view rights or be old enough and keen enough to get to your local club (if theyre even showing the fight) to see your favourite fighters go toe to toe. I understand that money and profits have a lot to do with this and it will probably never return to that of days past, but what I would like to find your opinions on is why boxing (at least in Australia) doesnt have the respect it used to, why dont the world class fighters get the same amount of public adulation that they used to, where has the sport gone wrong, how can this be fixed, how can boxing gain back the credibility, respect and therefor the interest that it once used to hold
My father informs me that up until about 1980 boxing was one of, if not the biggest, sport as far as media and public interest was concerned. Last week i couldnt even find a club showing one of my countrymens attempts at gaining a world title (my case in point being Calzighe v Bika). No matter where i looked or where i rang i recieved pretty much the same response "who's that?". Apart from a couple of minor lead up articles on the fight in the nations biggest paper there was no coverage either pre or post fight in any of the papers or on television. I only found out the result when I logged online here. This was obviously due to the lack of public interest, which made me ask myself the question "why is that? Why does no one care about boxing anymore?" Now, granted there are a few exceptions; Green v Mundine was the biggest fight inside Australia ever and Kostya Tszyu always had a fair audience but aside from that there is not much hype at all. Mundine Green wouldnt have been the spectical it was if there was no Mundine, love him or hate him, he is an exceptional promoter, he always finds a way to get people talking, and Kostya, in souch a rough sport, has remained through his career a complete gentleman which helps if you want to be well liked in this country at least.
It seems to me that as soon after the WBC split from the WBA and formed as a seperate boxing entity things have slowely gotten worse. Here are a few things i believe that have contributed to boxings gradual downfall:
- There are way too many organisations, it confuses your average punter, "so youre IBO world champion? ...and what does that mean exactly"
- There are too many weight classes. Ideally, i'd like to see only 8 world champions in every organisation, if not 8 world champions in the one ruling organisation period (yeah...so i'm a dreamer...i know)
- There are too many dodgy people involved, too many disputed decisions, too many grey areas, too much politics. People i talk to see it as being plagued by controversy, and just one step above the WWE. This is sad, because often it might seem like it is true. There needs to be an independant and seperate body that governs, overviews and has juristiction over all of the boxing authorities, keeps them in check and makes sure they follow protocol. I don't know how this can be achieved but if it can be done then it should be.
- There needs to be more unification bouts, the television and boxing authorities need to set aside their differences and massive profit margins and do what is best for this sport because then there will be more fans, more interest and ultimately larger profits.
- Lack of a class heavy weight champ never really helps either.
I could go on for a while here but ive been ranting enough which i apologise for. But what i want to know your opinions on is...
Where has boxing gone wrong and what are the solutions? How can boxing regain the respect it once had and ultimately make the average joe blow interested again?
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Originally Posted by Raz
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