would you agree with the statement that

[Violent Demise]

Boxing started its sharp decline after Mike Tyson left the sport?

Boxings decline started after he went to prison. There is no doubt Tyson being unfairly convicted and sent away for no reason is one of the biggest tragedies in the worlds history.

[AdamGB]

There's a good chance that he was innocent, if he was then it's a great misjustice... I don't know about it being one of the greatest tradgedies in world history mind you.

[erics44]

boxing is on the up what are you on about

[YIDDLE]

There is an old saying that boxing is only as popular/good as its heavyweight champion and let's be honest wlad may be consistent by he is never going to reach out to the non-boxing public watching him fight is to dull

[Beanflicker]

The thing with boxing is that it isn't a entity upon itself or a brand (like the UFC), so it's level of popularity is determined by it's current "superstars" and how much interest and revenue they can generate not only from within the boxing world, but from mainstream media and the general public.

Unfortunately, no one ever REALLY succeeded Tyson in HW boxing who could generate near the interest. Lewis gained a lot of steam by KOing Tyson, but he retired shortly after and never really passed the torch. So I would say yeah, heavyweight boxing definitely declined after Tyson. Not in terms of skill, but definitely in interest and revenue.

I wouldn't say boxing in general went on a decline. You forget that the current P4P champ is THE biggest earner in the history of the sport, and guys like Pacquiao are not far behind.

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

There is an old saying that boxing is only as popular/good as its heavyweight champion and let's be honest wlad may be consistent by he is never going to reach out to the non-boxing public watching him fight is to dull

I like this comment. Although obviously it may not appear to be true in retrosoect.

I think the promoters inability to make and promote fights/ fighters has been on a decline for many decades now. There's no myth in fighters now.
I one read a historical account of boxing from the 19th century onwards and the stuff these promoters and their fighters got up to was amaizing.

Maybe TV networks are to blame in more ways than one?

Plus there are so many ways to spoil a good fight, spoil a fighter etc it's too easy to loose interest.

[El Kabong]

It's always Tyson

Boxing is fine, it's just getting used to new things. Larry Holmes didn't captivate everyone while he was champion either because people thought of Ali the way you guys are talking about Tyson. Tyson was exciting but while on the verge of a HUGE match, I mean mind bogglingly huge matchup vs Holyfield, Mike Tyson got his shit handed to him and that kind of thing is what has hurt boxing. The stars haven't aligned to where we can have 2 undefeated heavyweights clash for the title in a massive showdown like Ali-Frazier I, the torch hasn't been passed all that well, the "next big thing" & "next big fight" either never materializes or someone fucks it up. We've gone YEARS without huge fights, yes we get exciting wins, but we've not had the Immovable Object vs the Unstoppable Force kinds of fights on the biggest stages.

Boxing needs their stars to fight like Corrales-Castillo & Brewster-Liakhovich, that's what boxing needs. Less talking, more action....this ain't the WWE the boxing fans want skill, passion, and determination. We want to be emotionally tied to the results, we want blood, sacrifice, heart, and at the moment the guys with that are either too good for everyone else, or doing that compromises their records. The last great fight I saw that just can't get enough credit is Vitali vs Lewis.....not having a rematch for that fight hurt boxing because it was a result that left an open ending. PPV sales of that fight would have been enormous. Also all these promoters fight more outside the ring then they allow their fighters to fight IN the ring Top Rank vs Golden Boy, Sauerland & DKP vs K2....it's ever so frustrating as a fan to know for a fact that Top Rank fighters won't fight Golden Boy fighters, that is also killing the sport. Professional fighters need to just sack up to their management and take the reigns of their careers, you're the key cogs in the machine if fighter X wants to fight Fighter Y then the promoters should sit down and make the deal happen & if they can't come to an agreement then an independent 3rd party mediator should structure the deal.

[Master]

For me it is a yes he was the last fighter I truly loved, I like Hatton, Cotto and Manny but not to the extent I loved Tyson.

[Fenster]

It's always Tyson

Boxing is fine, it's just getting used to new things. Larry Holmes didn't captivate everyone while he was champion either because people thought of Ali the way you guys are talking about Tyson. Tyson was exciting but while on the verge of a HUGE match, I mean mind bogglingly huge matchup vs Holyfield, Mike Tyson got his shit handed to him and that kind of thing is what has hurt boxing. The stars haven't aligned to where we can have 2 undefeated heavyweights clash for the title in a massive showdown like Ali-Frazier I, the torch hasn't been passed all that well, the "next big thing" & "next big fight" either never materializes or someone fucks it up. We've gone YEARS without huge fights, yes we get exciting wins, but we've not had the Immovable Object vs the Unstoppable Force kinds of fights on the biggest stages.

Boxing needs their stars to fight like Corrales-Castillo & Brewster-Liakhovich, that's what boxing needs. Less talking, more action....this ain't the WWE the boxing fans want skill, passion, and determination. We want to be emotionally tied to the results, we want blood, sacrifice, heart, and at the moment the guys with that are either too good for everyone else, or doing that compromises their records. The last great fight I saw that just can't get enough credit is Vitali vs Lewis.....not having a rematch for that fight hurt boxing because it was a result that left an open ending. PPV sales of that fight would have been enormous. Also all these promoters fight more outside the ring then they allow their fighters to fight IN the ring Top Rank vs Golden Boy, Sauerland & DKP vs K2....it's ever so frustrating as a fan to know for a fact that Top Rank fighters won't fight Golden Boy fighters, that is also killing the sport. Professional fighters need to just sack up to their management and take the reigns of their careers, you're the key cogs in the machine if fighter X wants to fight Fighter Y then the promoters should sit down and make the deal happen & if they can't come to an agreement then an independent 3rd party mediator should structure the deal.

Great fights have nothing to do with selling PPV, it's purely down to the star power of the fighter.

Castillo-Corrales II was a massive PPV flop (150,000 buys) even though the first fight won "fight of the year" accolades all over the shop.

That Lennox-Vitali bill was PPV until Tyson dropped off the card.

[bigstinkybug]

no...i think boxing was at a high when Tyson was unbeatable. at a low when Lennox and the klitsko's took over. Klitsko's r dominant, but not very entertaining... and with the heavyweights ..so goes boxing. for some reason, boxing is as big as the heavyweight div is..it's always been like that. forget we had Gatti, DLH, Maqrquez<morales<barrera<roy jones<cazaghi< Pac... if the heavies are't good, boxing loses power.
i hear a bunch of guys saying"poor Tyson, got sent away on a bogus charge"...hey.i like Tyson..but fuk him. remember, he'd KO the fuk out of u if u ever ran into him in the the streets, back then... for nothing. maybe Tyson got sent up on a bogus charge, but u can believe he did something in his life that he should've gone to prison for... it wouldn't surpise me one bit if there one or two people in wheelchairs becuz of something this guy did to them..or someone he ran with did... so don't lose sleep over it.

[El Kabong]

If only Wlad could fight someone as good as Bruce Seldon for a title

[GOAT]

Fo real. Lennox Lewis basically fought a cleaned division.

[TysonBomb]

Fo real. Lennox Lewis basically fought a cleaned division.

Lewis fought Tyson's leftovers yet he has a better resume than him

[johnsebastianmiran]

Boxing has gravitated to many stations once again and even dare I say NBC. What declined was the Heavyweight division.

[Violent Demise]

There's a good chance that he was innocent, if he was then it's a great misjustice... I don't know about it being one of the greatest tradgedies in world history mind you.

I thought it was worse than dropping the bomb on Japan