Boxing's popularity 50 years ago?

[JAB5239]

Correct me if I am wrong but Maciano and Louis never fought in the 60s. I highly doubt Floyd Patterson was more recognizable then Pacquiao Floyd or the Klitschkos.

Boxing was certainly bigger in america back then but from what I have been told the 60s before Ali had drought of box office stars.

Who told you that?

[Rockin']

Boxing was thriving up until the prosecution of the I.B.C. After their underhanded dealings were made public the world believed then that boxing is crooked or fixed and that anybody in the game was shady or crooked.

It wasn't until the 60's when Ali came upon the scene that boxing was getting back to business. But even with Ali there were still scandolous accusations.

Television killed the local club bouts, The I.B.C killed the average guys trust towards boxing. And now we have 4-6 champions per weight division and people still believe that it's all rigged and the world of boxing seems to be continually shooting itself in the foot.

What we need is only one commision and one champion per weight division. The boxing world would then need a trust worthy commisioner to keep everything on the up and up in hopes of winning back the trust of the public that has been missing for the last 50 years.

If everybody in the game worked together to build a prospering and trustworthy world of boxing we would be much better off.

But the boxing world remains overly segmented with too many people trying to pull the game in too many different directions at once.

If we had one champion per division it might light up the local shows where good fighters would have to fight and beat other good fighters just to be considered for a title shot..........Rockin'

[SCtrojansbaby]

Who told you that?

I've heard boxing people say the sport was controlled by the mob and lacked big time box office stars

[davros2010]

I've heard boxing people say the sport was controlled by the mob and lacked big time box office stars

Boxing did take a bit of a hit with the IBC thing but boxing was still massive back then many sports have had scandals though. Floyd Patterson was actually a massive star in America, Howard Cosell said during the second Ali vs Patterson fight that Patterson was one of the most popular America sportsmen of the last 20 years. Ingemar Johansson after his win over Patterson won Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated ****zine's "Sportsman of the Year". Patterson was more recognised in America than Pacquiao Floyd or the Klitschkos are today imo.

[BennyST]

Correct me if I am wrong but Maciano and Louis never fought in the 60s. I highly doubt Floyd Patterson was more recognizable then Pacquiao Floyd or the Klitschkos.

He most definitely was. Does the average Joe recognise Shaquill O'Neill, Roger Federer, David Beckham or Micahel Jordan more than Floyd, Klits or Pac? I'd say an emphatic yes. Back when boxing was a big and mainstream sport, it was seen by the average Joe every week and its biggest champs were known by face alone. Floyd Patternson was a big sporting star and was much more well known in the mainstream than any of those listen above simply because of the widespread nature of the sport then.

No, they didn't fight in the 60's. I was talking about the boxing stars in general in the earlier decades too.

[SplitSecond]

It's been 'on the way out' for a long, long time, but things have definitely gotten much worse since the turn of the century.

Boxing's transition to HBO/Shotime and then PPV is the main reason for it's decline in America. Boxing used to be on national television, just like NBA and NFL. Even when I was a kid (mid 90s) we had USA's Tuesday Night Fights (GREAT cards), and other televised boxing formats that are long gone now.

Also, as often mentioned by the Ricardo on The Boxing Truth radio show; back in the 80s and 90s when someone couldn't afford HBO and wanted to see the fights, they got the "black box." It would illegally give you HBO, Showtime, ect for free. It was simple, easy to acquire, and widespread. When I got to school on Monday, and I grew up in a super poor area, all the kids had seen the latest fights.


Basically, boxing in America has way less fans than ever paying far more than ever to see the sport. As Dana White has unfortuneately said many times; everyone involved in the sport just takes, takes, takes. They never look to grow the sport or build it's future. They don't care that they're destroying the sport.

Boxing as a worldwide sport is strong and growing in many countries, but Boxing as a major sport in America is fast becoming a thing of the past.

i really hate that i always seem to come across UFC(championship fights none the less) on tv everynight but never boxing

it's sad and dissapointing

[wmute]

I think that between Marciano and Ali the sport was at a low relative to before and after, but in much better shape than it is today (at least in the US). I think in SE asia it is pretty high and it certainly is in the former communist countries. Problem is that the depth of knowledge accumulated in the US gyms through the last century is most likely going to vanish.

[davros2010]

i really hate that i always seem to come across UFC(championship fights none the less) on tv everynight but never boxing

it's sad and dissapointing

Thankfully in the UK there is not much UFC on mainstream and none of the news channels cover it. I dont get why people like it tbh i dont like wrestling or mauling and boxing is much better to visually to watch, but thats just me and a different subject.

[davros2010]

Problem is that the depth of knowledge accumulated in the US gyms through the last century is most likely going to vanish.

I think that’s one of the big problems it seems that many of the trainers don’t have the knowledge past down to them like before. I mean look at Adam Booth he trained David Haye and you can tell that Haye had a lot of natural talent but he seriously lacks a lot of fundamental skills. Manny Stewart said that the two of them were like a bunch of novices and i pretty much agree with that.

I would love for Mike Tyson to be able to settle down a bit his depth of knowledge of the game would come in really handy to some of these young fighters, Mike Perez is very crude imo but imagine if Mike Tyson trained him for a few years and got him to work hard i think he would really improve.

[McGoorty]

You're right, the only way to get proof would be to have the ratings and attendance #s from 50 years ago and today.

I do think its very safe to say that with Southeast Asia having pretty clearly with Pacquiao John and Wonjongkam the 3 most popular fighters in their respective countries history.

As usual, you are barking up the wrong tree as usual....... You may be close as far as East Asia goes,,,,, but as I said, George Bracken or George Barnes or the great Jack Carroll and especially Vic Patrick and Burns were superstars here...... and there has never been any more famous and loved as Darcy in Australia... He is the boxing mega-star of our history. --------------------------- In the USA and Britain, you are also way off track,..... boxing in those places was 25 times bigger..... stop looking at the neon signs of Vegas and get real.