Is boxing dying in the US?

[BoxingGorilla]

Nope...boxing sure as hell aint dying in the U.S.

I'm with you, Wack-O

If boxing is dying in America then it's a suffering death for it's happening very slowly.

Boxing is a year around affair. Unlike football et al it has no "season." This means there will be ebbs and flows in it's fanbase.

[SalTheButcher]

The crowd for Taylor Spinks last night was terrible, Matt Skelton and Michael Sprott will attract a bigger crowd in the UK.

What is wrong with American fight fans, where are they?

Every UFC event is packed out, more and more boxing in the US the crowds seem average at best.

How can it be even possible that an undisputed world champ IN HIS OWN TOWN!! can't fill out an arena?

UFC does like 9,000 seat venues tho, not 20,000

[Kev]

Nope...boxing sure as hell aint dying in the U.S.

I'm with you, Wack-O

If boxing is dying in America then it's a suffering death for it's happening very slowly.

Boxing is a year around affair. Unlike football et al it has no "season." This means there will be ebbs and flows in it's fanbase.

I know what your saying but it's not really relevent. Boxing is supposed to be the premier combat sport in the world. But it's not any more. The UFC has out performed it in at least the last 3 years and last year totalled more PPV buys than boxing EVER has in a single year.

That is a massive blow to boxing as a sport and it seems the response of both those involved in boxing and fans alike has largely been to bury their heads in the sand and just disregard MMA as a fad or as mindless violence.

The fact is though that MMA is MORE popular than boxing now. It won't be long before the top MMA fights will get near the 2 million PPV buys that Oscar and Floyd reached last month, but the difference is that the UFC has more big fights so will get to those figures more often.

It's every 5 years or so that a truly big fight comes along in boxing, in MMA the best fighters are fighting each other all the time.

Now with Pride and UFC both owned by the same company we are shortly going to see truly unified MMA rankings where the best fight the best.

If boxing doens't do something drastically at this point it will become the second sport I'm afraid.

[BoxingGorilla]

I say that Boxing is to NFL football as MMA is to Arena football.


MMA and Arena are places for the lesser competitors to compete amongst themselves. The fans don't care who the athletes are as long as they see someone throw a pass or get punched in the nose.

[meowza]

I say that Boxing is to NFL football as MMA is to Arena football.


MMA and Arena are places for the lesser competitors to compete amongst themselves. The fans don't care who the athletes are as long as they see someone throw a pass or get punched in the nose.

Ha! I like that analogy

But it is still a little disheartening to see such a small crowd on a night where we had so many prospective future stars out there.
Witherspoon, Berto, Miranda, Pavlik... You'd hope more fans would wanna check these kids out.
But then again, Spinks in the main event isn't exactly a crowd packing style of fighter.
I'm pretty sure if this undercard were paired with something like JT - Calzaghe, or even JT - Miranda, the crowd would've been a lot better.
Mind you, I'm not blaming the poor turnout on Spinks entirely, but I'm just saying it's hard for the mainstream fan to pile into the stadium in droves over a Taylor - Spinks main event.

[MPhelan]

I say that Boxing is to NFL football as MMA is to Arena football.


MMA and Arena are places for the lesser competitors to compete amongst themselves. The fans don't care who the athletes are as long as they see someone throw a pass or get punched in the nose.

I don't think you can say that MMA is a place where lesser competitors compete. The level of MMA is very high because of the influx of wrestlers, Olympic Judo players, high level Jiujitsu fighters, and the like. It's a new sport, and an evolving sport, but I think it's a stretch to claim that MMA fighters are on a lesser plane than boxers.

The argument goes, "If they were so good, they'd be boxing."
Which makes perfect sense for a man like two time Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson... Because boxing and Greco are so similar.




MMA is a more compelling sport right now because there are only two major organizations (unless you count K-1 Heroes as the third), fans know who the fighters are, there is a growing understanding about the technical requirements of MMA, and for the most part the UFC and PRIDE put on good shows with compelling matchups.

[Kev]

I say that Boxing is to NFL football as MMA is to Arena football.


MMA and Arena are places for the lesser competitors to compete amongst themselves. The fans don't care who the athletes are as long as they see someone throw a pass or get punched in the nose.

I completely disagree with this. They are both totally different sports and appeal to totally different athletes. You can't say a world class wrestler or jutisu practictioner is only in that sport because they couldn't get into boxing it's just absurd.

Thats like saying Bruce Lee only did karate because he wouldn't have been able to hack it as a featherweight boxer.

The potential skill set in MMA is actually much higher than boxing as their are so many different skill sets, techniques and fighting disciplines to master. Right now boxing has more depth of talent thanks largely to a 100 year head start but 20 years from now at the current rate of growth its entirely possible that MMA will be seen as the true martial art combat sport and boxing is seen as being too limited and restrictive with only punches allowed.

[BoxingGorilla]

You can't say a world class wrestler or jutisu practictioner is only in that sport because they couldn't get into boxing it's just absurd.

Thats like saying Bruce Lee only did karate because he wouldn't have been able to hack it as a featherweight boxer. Bilbo

LOL Why do you think I keep my answers short and sweet? Some folks see the logical err but most are left scratching their heads and wondering what university I teach at.

[southakron314]

I really blame it on the Judges and the promoters. The Judges should favor the aggresers in a close fight. The promoters should set up fight with these great up and comers. Kelly Pavlik is a perfect example or being a victim of that. Do think Haggler would have ducked Miranda and Pavlik. There would have been a fight. Taylor is another reason. If the greatest middle wieght in the world dosent have a belt or the greatest of promoters he may as well not box. Boxing should a system that decides this and the promoters should act more like agents than pimps.

[southakron314]

I gave you some good Karma for you Gorilla and you Sal the butcher. I like what you guys had to say. I do belive that boxing isnt dying its just in a bit of a resession. You can do so little to improve it that will make it so much better.
+1 for the both of you.

[El Kabong]

I don't think you can say that MMA is a place where lesser competitors compete. The level of MMA is very high because of the influx of wrestlers, Olympic Judo players, high level Jiujitsu fighters, and the like. It's a new sport, and an evolving sport, but I think it's a stretch to claim that MMA fighters are on a lesser plane than boxers.

Yeah so people who no one cared about to begin with now have a professional career......man I'm really happy guys can get paid to kick and roll around on the ground woooooo that's great.

Boxing is for punchers and MMA is for women

[Wacko3205]

Nope...boxing sure as hell aint dying in the U.S.

I'm with you, Wack-O

If boxing is dying in America then it's a suffering death for it's happening very slowly.

Boxing is a year around affair. Unlike football et al it has no "season." This means there will be ebbs and flows in it's fanbase.

Ya big Gorilla.

Totally agree & couldn't have said it better me-self.

[the wiz]

When champions start cleaning out their devisions the fans will take notice...
[/quote]


Couldn't agree more!

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

Well it depends how you look at it. For me, its got very boring but still very much alive. Kinda like a 30 year relationship

Us fanatics could never give in to UFC or other MMA's. We understand all sides of boxing and really and truthly can see some positives in a Spinks/ Taylor snoozefest.

But in regards to Mainstream appeal, no one can deny that since the mid-90's its been going down-down-down. A good example is the amount of coverage boxers get in the Papers and on the News.

Also value for money is now being questioned.
UFC NEVER EVER fails to excite. Boxing is always a gamble.

[smashup]

Its still on TV a lot, is it as big as it used to be, clearly not but I don't know if its dying.

I don't mind MMA, it can be interesting at times, but I'm not sure why its gotten so huge. Watching them when there not actually boxing or kick boxing is god awful boring to me but I guess people like it.

Maybe people have just started to realize Taylor's boring as hell

"just realised"
The man is a disgrace to the fight game and the proof of that in in the fact that he can't even fill an Arena in his own backyard.
Thing that winds me up is that he does have great skills but is so scared to take a punch that he won't get involved.
Manny Steward summed it all up by what he said to 'No Intentions' just before the 12th
He was disgusted and furious with him.
Taylor is a joke.