Re: Brits keep bragging about their fans...
I think the Brits have always been big boxing fans. Look at the popularity that people like Bruno, Cooper etc achieved - arguably greater than their talent deserved and I doubt that they would have been even noticed had they been American.
The US was the centre of the boxing world for over a hundred years, mainly because their much larger population generated more money. Boxing was THE mainstream sport for a while and all their best athletes became boxers.
However, the growth of other sports, particularly basketball, has had a big effect. Most of the best US athletes now do not become boxers. The preponderance of PPV has meant fights are not mainstream anymore which is a vicious circle in terms of fan numbers. The blatant corruption in the sport hasn't helped.
I don't know this factually, but I would surmise that boxing fans as a percentage of the population will have fallen in the US, and risen in the U.K.
Of course, us two don't have the monopoly on good fans who will support the sport and spend money. The Mexicans, Russians, Filipinos, Thais and Puerto Ricans are very devoted fans too.
They haven't got much money, but Cubans are very knowledgeable and fanatic about boxing too.
If God wanted us to be vegetarians, why are animals made of meat ?
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