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

[TitoFan]

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.

To add to this, even when the dangerous fights will guarantee big money they still don't fight. Wilder vs Joshua should have happened years ago when both were still undefeated and now the hype and excitement is gone with multiple losses for both.

That sentence is correct. But this is the problem in Boxing, the fight is worth way more now than it ever was when they were undefeated champions. And THAT IS THE PROBLEM.

That's an indictment of fans more than it is of anything else.

[Joseph L.]

boxing became more global, so there is now less interest by the local public.

[Master]

boxing became more global, so there is now less interest by the local public.

Waiting for your spam post.

[Spicoli]

It's odd right now. Showtime bowing out of boxing in 2024 is pretty much a done deal. And with that PBC is sent adrift like a band of nomads seeking another refuge. But that where the problem in big picture...so many see it a PBC problem or even a 'good' thing because well, it's PBC. But it's boxing that'll take the hit regardless. Simply in basic fight coverage. We're so steeped in anti-promoter this and ripping other platforms that. Constant tribalism on the politricks of boxing rather than "hey, who's fighting next". They'll go to another streaming service and app as so many now. Really was just a matter of time. Definitely not Dazn who can hardly manage a consistent high quality product and production. At least this year, it's been pretty bad. Maybe Paramount + or now talk of Prime video in talks with pbc. Half their guys are pre spoiled on the enormous money per fight, but I can easily see more inactivity with one less consistent long existing platform for monthly exposure. So ultimately after all these decades, the one that was always ridiculed as "just espn fights" is ironically the sole survivor on cable tv . Boxing fans we're definitely in a big ol transition.

[Spicoli]

Sooooo, where are we now after Saturday's giant circus tent implosion? Love him or hate him...clearly it feels the atlas has shifted a bit. I hear the question every couple of hours, did Fury embarrass himself or did he embarrass boxing on whole. I'm going with the latter. But as I've said too many times boxing and fans also have themselves to blame. I mean the enablers and the gullible. Sellers, buyers and promoters of the obvious clear farce prior to the opening bell. Now apparently Ngannou has Hearn mentioning AJ for a "fight" and a half concussed Deontay Wilder trying to get him some 0-1 Francis . Jebus. What have we thrown the door open for. Maybe it'll remain a divisional thing regarding the heavyweights. Or drip drip into other crossover cash grab dribble matches.

Know what I see...nothing but more than a few actual up n comers, contenders and top 10 fighters being passed up. It's happening right now and has been. Boxing feels like it has lost much of its developmental ground and gradual process. What is the motivation for any top guy who has dedicated 5,10,12 years to a boxing niche, rank and looking for just 1 single crack at the "big" stage and payoff when the boxing establishment...for the most part...drops its pants, breaks out its clown nose and big red shoes and makes what should have been a toss away exhibition with a total novice into a now lineal championship affair. Boxing is in a rough spot, if ever there was a time when it desperately needed to know what it wants to be when it grows up, it's now! Stop enabling clowns.

[TitoFan]

Sooooo, where are we now after Saturday's giant circus tent implosion? Love him or hate him...clearly it feels the atlas has shifted a bit. I hear the question every couple of hours, did Fury embarrass himself or did he embarrass boxing on whole. I'm going with the latter. But as I've said too many times boxing and fans also have themselves to blame. I mean the enablers and the gullible. Sellers, buyers and promoters of the obvious clear farce prior to the opening bell. Now apparently Ngannou has Hearn mentioning AJ for a "fight" and a half concussed Deontay Wilder trying to get him some 0-1 Francis . Jebus. What have we thrown the door open for. Maybe it'll remain a divisional thing regarding the heavyweights. Or drip drip into other crossover cash grab dribble matches.

Know what I see...nothing but more than a few actual up n comers, contenders and top 10 fighters being passed up. It's happening right now and has been. Boxing feels like it has lost much of its developmental ground and gradual process. What is the motivation for any top guy who has dedicated 5,10,12 years to a boxing niche, rank and looking for just 1 single crack at the "big" stage and payoff when the boxing establishment...for the most part...drops its pants, breaks out its clown nose and big red shoes and makes what should have been a toss away exhibition with a total novice into a now lineal championship affair. Boxing is in a rough spot, if ever there was a time when it desperately needed to know what it wants to be when it grows up, it's now! Stop enabling clowns.

I hear ya. It's 95% the heavyweights, IMO. You just don't see this type of shet in all the divisions below it.

Problem is... HW's have always been, and will always be, the most visible division in boxing. At least to the eyes of the casual fan.

So they're seeing this circus play out... and some of them even think this is what boxing's supposed to be like.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

I have one memory that I can say gave me great joy and that was at the age of 12 on a cloudy and chilly January afternoon in 1976 I believe at about 4:00 p.m. New York time... I was about three or four houses up the street in front of my friend's house and we were cold and I told my friend I was going to go home to watch Wide World of Sports on channel 7 WABC like I did every Saturday afternoon. I remember turning on our black and white TV and putting on channel 7 and laying down on the floor and watching it and suddenly Howard cosell came on and said here we are for a great heavyweight non-title fight between George Foreman and Ron Lyle. I knew George Foreman only from his blowout of Frazier and his loss in the rumble in the jungle, and I didn't have a clue who Ron Lyle was but he sure looked mean and scary and so I thought this would be a good fight.
I had probably only watched about 10 or 20 boxing matches on Free TV and most were probably on Saturday afternoons on Wide World of Sports.

Even at the age of 12 I knew something was very extraordinary about this boxing match by about the second round and I couldn't tell if it was the fighters or if it was Howard cosell screaming at every blow with that nasal and dramatic voice he had which really impressed me. By the fourth round even as a 12 year old I knew something was really out of the ordinary and it was something amazing. There were these spectacular knockdowns and the fighters looked to be in real agony as they rolled around on the canvas and I could see blood stains where their faces rolled. I saw these huge clubbing combinations and really wide hooks and a really powerful uppercuts landing flush on both fighters as they rocked around trying to keep their balance and gritting their teeth trying to absorb the blows. By the end of the fight a couple rounds later I was seriously in shock about what I had just seen and I told myself that that was the most I ever saw two people punching each other as hard as they could for that long and I couldn't believe anybody could take those kinds of punches directly in the skull. I can just never forget that I saw this fight live on TV in black and white as it unfolded for free. When Ron Lyle finally crumpled to the ground and they raised Foreman's hand in victory I knew I had just witnessed something that I probably would never witness again.

for years I tried to ask people if they had any of this fight on VHS tapes and nobody ever seemed to even remember the fight and by the 1990s I gave up asking around

...when YouTube came out in about 2005 I suddenly got the bright idea to search for that fight and I finally found it maybe around 2010 because I guess no one had uploaded it to YouTube for about 5 years and I relived every blow as it happened for the first time in 40 years and it was just as exciting as it was when I was 12 years old.

This is what I will always remember about boxing. And this is the way I would like to keep it in my mind just like I'm a 12 year old boy running home to watch George Foreman and Ron Lyle pound the living SHIT out of each other and Howard cosell screaming at the top of his lungs while I lay on the floor and watch it for free.

Thank you, boxing.

That is all.