The heavyweight division needs excitement

[El Kabong]

In reply to a post I made about Lennox Lewis

"Fighting smart may be good for their health, but it isn't good for the sport. No one wants to watch two oafs paw each other round after round before the judges decide who did the better pawing."


I think boxing is doing ok...it's never going to be as popular as it used to be in the 1920's to 1960's...hell even in the 1980's boxing's appeal was losing ground to the NBA, MLB, and NFL.

Sure if there were bigger fights or better fights then that would be great but a fighter's job is to WIN...marketing and mass appeal comes in a distant second.

The UFC and MMA have done major marketing campaigns and look at it....it's a crap product but no one cares to mention anything about it because of the "mass appeal" and "exposure"

[aburwell89]

In reply to a post I made about Lennox Lewis

"Fighting smart may be good for their health, but it isn't good for the sport. No one wants to watch two oafs paw each other round after round before the judges decide who did the better pawing."


I think boxing is doing ok...it's never going to be as popular as it used to be in the 1920's to 1960's...hell even in the 1980's boxing's appeal was losing ground to the NBA, MLB, and NFL.

Sure if there were bigger fights or better fights then that would be great but a fighter's job is to WIN...marketing and mass appeal comes in a distant second.

The UFC and MMA have done major marketing campaigns and look at it....it's a crap product but no one cares to mention anything about it because of the "mass appeal" and "exposure"

I'd like to clarify that no part of that was directed at Lennox and I avoided saying anything about the video for that very reason. You'd have to be a fucking tool to call Lennox an oaf.

As for a fighters job being to win, you're right, they are supposed to win, but they're also entertainers as ALL professional sportsmen and athletes are. If every football game consisted of both teams running the same running play up the middle every down of every quarter of every game, guess what? I wouldn't watch football and neither would too many other people, regardless of what the teams' justification for doing so was.

And about MMA, though God only knows why I'm even talking about it, it's a joke. It's a side show. Hell, I'll take it a step further and say it's barely a step above professional wrestling.

[El Kabong]

I can understand your view of boring fights and MMA and I agree but my message to you is that I don't want boxing to become all style and no substance like the UFC.

I want people to like boxing because boxing is a good sport to like and not because of marketing. Boxing took itself off of regular television, boxing placed itself in a position where it's harder to sell the sport to people. Boxing used to be on NBC and big time fights too.

Promoters and alphabet title organizations are keeping the big fights from happening and the public from seeing them for minimal prices.


The key to making boxing better is a league and a pension plan for retired fighters...therefore it makes being a boxer a better looking career choice and so people who might have played other sports start boxing and it grows like that...grassroots movement and better tv deals.

[aburwell89]

I can understand your view of boring fights and MMA and I agree but my message to you is that I don't want boxing to become all style and no substance like the UFC.

I want people to like boxing because boxing is a good sport to like and not because of marketing. Boxing took itself off of regular television, boxing placed itself in a position where it's harder to sell the sport to people. Boxing used to be on NBC and big time fights too.

Promoters and alphabet title organizations are keeping the big fights from happening and the public from seeing them for minimal prices.


The key to making boxing better is a league and a pension plan for retired fighters...therefore it makes being a boxer a better looking career choice and so people who might have played other sports start boxing and it grows like that...grassroots movement and better tv deals.

I completely agree with you. My only thing is: Why does it have to be all style or all substance? There was a day where there was a nice mix of both, and I don't see any reason why it can't happen again if deals are made to make it happen.

For instance, if they start broadcasting good fights on the big networks or shit, even cable again, it's definitely possible. The only problem with that though is the money standpoint. Promoters and fighters both would much rather take the multi-million dollar PPV pay day than help the sport.