Why isn't the sport of boxing as popular as it used to be?

Question

Back in the day, everyone knew who the heavyweight champ was. These days, I'd wager that most folks have no idea. How come?

Answer 1

Too much politics and money involved now.

Answer 2

I think, primarily it's because all the good fights now are only available in PPV. The good ones come with a price. gone were the days when historic fights are readily accessible for everyone. Now it's purely for the money. If great fights would be aired for free, you can expect boxing to be the tops sport again since people from all walks of life then would have a chance to appreciate the sport.

secondly, the match-makings are huge jokes. We're not getting any unification matches to decide who's really the best there is. You either get an aging great against a very good popularity honed prospect, or an undefeated greenhorn against a prime heavy puncher who's trying to get a huge pay someday. everybody's interest now is all but on one thing: MONEY. Fight the Names for big money. Avoid the good ones to keep your NAME and the money coming. Champ vs. Champ don't comes as often as the blue moon nowadays.

Thirdly, which I think would generalize everything; today's boxing has evolved from once a SPORT, into a major BUSINESS.

Answer 3

Well part of the reason is there use to be an undisputed heavyweight champion. Many people don't know who the champion is because there are four different major championships. The majority recognize Wladimir Klitchko as the number one champion but we haven't had an undisputed since Lennox Lewis.

Another problem is boxing isn't on the networks anymore it is just on ESPN, Verses and the BIG fights are only on HBO Showtime and PPV.

Don't get me wrong though, I don't agree that boxing isn't popular. It is just not as accessable to the casual sports fan. The boxing fan seeks it out and follows more than just the heavyweight division.

Very popular these days are the welterweight division where you have the pound for pound best Floyd Mayweather, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Sugar Shane Mosely, and many other popular fighters. Also big now are superfeatherweights Manny Paquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera fighting Oct. 6 and middleweight Kelly Pavlik who just won the middleweight title from Jermaine Taylor.

If people aren't excited about boxing I think its cause they arent watching....great fights are coming up!

Answer 4

Boxing as a sport is promoted wrong. It's time for boxing to do two things:

1. Get rid of the notion that boxing is fueled by the heavyweight division. For the last three decades, with the exception of Mike Tyson, this has not been the case. There are too many boxers in smaller weights that have been overlooked because of the emphasis on the heavyweights.

2. Boxing needs to get back to grass roots and start building stars from the ground up. In the eighties there were a number of boxers that were popular because of their repeated appearances on national television. Now with the internet, you can show boxers from club shows online and that is another way of building stars.

Answer 5

There are a lot of reasons. One is the fact that there is no unified title, instead there are several different organizations that claim to have the champion. If all of the separate boxing fiefdoms could ever agree to a system that would give the sport real, undisputable champions, that would be a big help. Another reason is that the sport is no longer aired on broadcast television for the most part. Hardcore fans may order the pay per view or at least watch the replay on HBO/Showtime, but it's not the Wide World of Sports and Howard Cosell anymore. One of the biggest problems, though, is the perception that boxing is corrupt. Of course, most things are corrupt on some level or another--look at Enron--but who wants to spend $50 to buy some fight on TV that turns out to be garbage? Having been burned a couple of times, I almost never buy fights and wait for the replay or, very rarely, will go out to a bar to watch it.

Answer 6

cus there is no boxer that makes boxing what it used to be. The best boxer is floyd mayweather but he is a boring fighter. There is no ali, tyson, lewis. there is no big fights until just recently, no great heavyweights, not enough fighting too much boxing, and the fighters just are not as good as they used to be. The only fighter i could watch alot is Kelly Pavlik, he is the only guy tht i like and i think he can change the sport if he fights a superfight against another fighter instead of a boxer like spinks. All the reasons r why boxing isnt what they used to be and there is 2 many belts too with the wbc wbo ibf ibo i want one belt for each division.

Answer 7

I think it's the lack of talent in the current heavyweight division. People just aren't excited by it because it doesn't seem like anyone really stands out above anyone else... and the lack of "drama" in these boxer's stories also has a bit to do with it.

With the number of sports out there streamed through the internet and on the cable & satellites - if it's not "hot"... it gets lost in the shuffle.

And let's face it... despite what a total nutjob Don King was / is ... he knew how to promote a fight and get the public excited about it. And since his fall from grace after the Mike Tyson era... well... there just hasn't been anyone with enough "juice" to fill his shoes.

Answer 8

Boxing is still very popular today as evidenced by the fact that many fans pay fifty dollars on PPV to see championship fights that were previously seen for free on public tv + boxing today is not just seen by twenty thousand fans @ Madison Square Garden; but is now broadcast all over the world.This popularity makes for larger single fight purses than Marciano earned in his entire 49 fight career. " Back in the day " ( as you indicated ) there was only one champ ( Sullivan, Corbett, Fitzsimmons, etc. ) and everyone knew who it was but today there are as much as 5-6 or more champs. The universally recognized champ was identified every month in Ring Magazine and everybody knew & nobody disputed that Joe Louis was champ for over 11 years.------FORGET MY ANSWER & ALL OTHER ANSWERS EXCEPT THE GIRL BELOW ME-----HER ANSWER WAS BETTER THAN A DOCTORAL THESIS & SHE DESERVES 1000 POINTS !!!!!

Answer 9

boxing was one of the first sports to become professional and therefore be televised. today there are so many sports being televised that lots of boxing supporters find other sports to interest them. professional football, darts, rugby and snooker pool swimming and athletics etc. are all vying for support from in general the same sport fans and therefore boxing has lost some of its appeal to viewers. the public have such a wide range of sport to follow that many of the originals have suffered. i love boxing but it may clash with a football match on tv. in this case i must make a choice.

Answer 10

I think fewer people find boxing an acceptable sport. For one thing, most of us grieve for the way Muhammad Ali's brain got scrambled. And watching someone's blood splash around the ring just doesn't have the thrill it used to. Very few women ever liked boxing, and men whose fathers and grandfathers might have enjoyed it have (thankfully) learned to be more sensitive and compassionate. They know that guy is HURT, however much money he's making. Also, there are now more ways to make money than allowing yourself to be used as a punching bag. Or turning the other guy into a punching bag.

Or maybe the movie "Million Dollar Baby" made it just too obvious how sick the sport really is.

Answer 11

Simply because boxing is too one dimensional compared to MMA. You're only allowed to use your hands in stand up while MMA can use hands, feet, elbows, and submissions on the ground or in stand up. Boxing no longer feels like authentic fighting which is what people want to see. Real fights don't look like boxing bouts, they look like UFC fights. Boxing doesn't have the authenticity of MMA because there are too many rules and restrictions. I still follow boxing to some extent though and I believe the heavyweight champ is Vladimir Klitchko.