Top 20 heavyweights all time

[Kid Cauliflower]

Messi is in Amercia because he's old and that's what all old great football players do when they can't compete at the top level any more. They go to a lower tier league like the MLS where they get paid well to play low level football where they can still compete.

Football is an objectively bigger sport than Boxing and always has been. By quite the margin too.

You mean in 1949 football was bigger than boxing? You might need some dates. By "objectively," and "always," I think I know what you mean, but please explain it anyway, if you do not mind.

[IronDanHamza]

You mean in 1949 football was bigger than boxing? You might need some dates. By "objectively," and "always," I think I know what you mean, but please explain it anyway, if you do not mind.

Unsure about 1949, probably shouldn’t have said always. I meant my lifetime; 1960 onward.

Bigger sport, more fans, more viewers, etc. Certainly in 1988 when Mike Tyson was active.

I’m not a fan of football, by the way.

[Willie Pep 229]

Here are two TV Guide weekly broadcast for May and October 1954.

One week in May, boxing appears four times and in October, five times.

A slow week for boxing (May) shows three live fights and a rebroadcast of a past great fight.

A busy week for boxing (October) has four live fights and a rebroadcast of a past great fight.

The same week in October, football gets two broadcasts, one college game on Saturday and one pro on Sunday.

I think if you want to find the cross over point in popularity you need to look to "The Greatest Game Ever Played" in 1957. Johnny U and the Colts over the Giants in OT, as the beginning of the football-TV love affair.

Another bench mark was the 1963-1964 off season, when CBS doubled its NFL buy and NBC then shocked the world by matching that buy for the AFL. At that point is was no longer just the NFL-AFL at contention but on equal terms ($). No, now it was war between CBS vs. NBC, ($$$) and both networks were determined to make "their" football the best. We were sold football and really didn't know it.

Also, earlier, in 1962, the live broadcast of Benny Paret's death threw a wet blanket on boxing just when football was on the rise and that helped convince the networks to shy away from boxing.

Read the TV Sports Guide box, bottom right.

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[The D3vil]

Messi is in Amercia because he's old and that's what all old great football players do when they can't compete at the top level any more. They go to a lower tier league like the MLS where they get paid well to play low level football where they can still compete.

Football is an objectively bigger sport than Boxing and always has been. By quite the margin too.

Y'all keep saying that they make more money here when they're old and can't compete at the top level, when that makes my point.

This is where the money is.

Messi could I'm sure play at a top level in Mexico or Guatemala, but he's here because this is the market that will pay him the most.

America's the biggest market, so much so, that we can afford to pay top prices for guys who are way past their prime in a sport that 90% of Americans don't even like or care about.

There's America famous & there's everything else, which is a step down.

Our pop culture, music, movies, etc. . . rule the world.

[IronDanHamza]

Y'all keep saying that they make more money here when they're old and can't compete at the top level, when that makes my point.

This is where the money is.

Messi could I'm sure play at a top level in Mexico or Guatemala, but he's here because this is the market that will pay him the most.

America's the biggest market, so much so, that we can afford to pay top prices for guys who are way past their prime in a sport that 90% of Americans don't even like or care about.

There's America famous & there's everything else, which is a step down.

Our pop culture, music, movies, etc. . . rule the world.

No, that's actually the opposite of what you think it means. They don't make more money, they make less money.

Messi earned more money at Barcelona than he does in Miami. He only plays in Miami now because he can't compete at the top level, so like most former top players they go to America where the level is poor but they still get paid a decent amount. So you're just totally wrong on that one.

Sorry mate but no, the world is bigger than America and football is globally a much bigger sport than Boxing is and was in the 1980's when Tyson was #1. And even then, it's a retarded point from the jump, being famous has no relevance to whether someone used PED's or not.

[MikeyMike100]

Good list

[billeau2]

Messi is in the US because he is finished at world level at 37[tomorrow ]he is now on his pension plan. The same as Best,and Beckham,Pele did.
Tyson only fought in the Uk when he was past it and in need of $$$$

Ali's fight in Germany was a financial disaster.Ali bought $ 100, 000 worth of tickets and gave them to US servicemen.

Boxing wasn't and isn't huge in Africa the only reason Ali fought inZaire was because MoButu underwrote the purses to try and give a positive image to his reign of murder.




Gretsky ,Jordan,Johnson? Their names mean almost nothing in Europe.

1970's NYC I had found a stray dog that is forever a part of our family and was admonished "you want Poochie, you walk Poochie!" Not too bad when Central Park is your back yard... often I would venture into playing fields where a very nice Black man with a strange accent would be practicing. He seemed to like seeing a kid and his Brown dog, and he would say hello ask me about school. Then one day in my after school program we went to Ward's Island to see the New York Cosmo's soccar team practice where to my surprise I was greeted with a hearty hello from that same man... Apparently I had met the head coach, still a player also I believe, of the New York Cosmos who was Pele! And boy was I soaking it in having been recognized lol.

Pele was not only a great player, but apparently was very down to earth as well. Billy Martin of the New York Yankees was the same way.

[billeau2]

You mean in 1949 football was bigger than boxing? You might need some dates. By "objectively," and "always," I think I know what you mean, but please explain it anyway, if you do not mind.

European football... One simply has to look at all the countries in the world that play football. I know there might be different financial markets and that there are sports with a relatively small international appeal that generate incredible financial activity, sports like Sumo which generates mokoo bucks from betting and American Football, but, European football is in every continent and is huge.

[Willie Pep 229]

European football... One simply has to look at all the countries in the world that play football. I know there might be different financial markets and that there are sports with a relatively small international appeal that generate incredible financial activity, sports like Sumo which generates mokoo bucks from betting and American Football, but, European football is in every continent and is huge.

IMHO Association Rules Football (Soccer) was bound to sweep across the world.

1. It is the least demanding sport/game equipment wise. Just a round ball.

2. It can be played on any denoted size field, on multiple surfaces, with no demand for any form of measurement during play.

3. Any age or gender can play the game. Even 5/6 year old girls can play the game; both competitive and have fun. While top shelf athletes can play the game at a championship level.

4. Britain colonialized 1/3 of the civilized world and made the game ubiquitous in all its possessions. (See #1)

Soccer (Association Rules Football) didn't come into existence until the 1830s and was very British. Something the former American colonies were not interested in mimicking so its popularity lagged behind in the USA where they continued to play "ball down" (football) until 1880. At which point the USA invented the "scrimmage" and created its own game, yet another off-shoot of ball down, called American Football.

P.S. Also, American football IS NOT a mere mimic of Rugby, as commonly believed. Their similarities lie in the fact that they come from the same origin, "ball down." American Football has its own linear development

[Kid Cauliflower]

Unsure about 1949, probably shouldn’t have said always. I meant my lifetime; 1960 onward.

Bigger sport, more fans, more viewers, etc. Certainly in 1988 when Mike Tyson was active.

I’m not a fan of football, by the way.

Right on. Football took over American consciousness in the 1960s.