An interesting little tidbit.

[BennyST]

We have often discussed, sometimes flat out insulted and abused, on the topic of previous eras, and their popularity compared to today. The reason we often talk about it is because popularity=more people joining=more talent and depth.

A lot of the younger guys just can't get their heads around the different consciousness that was around then about boxing. Boxing was watched by families, it was talked about by everyone (well, men really at that time) around the 'water cooler' at work, it was simply part of the national sporting and news worthy consciousness.

The fighters were bid deals and were known by everyone. The common person today would be very, very, very hard pressed to say who Mayweather or Pac were and they are the very, very biggest cross over stars of boxing today. The last time we had anything close to what it used to be like was Oscar.

Now, all this came about because of a very simple little clip, which to some might mean nothing, but it highlights the point. Boxing was a general talking point, as much today as Jeremy Lin is or Kobe Bryant, the boxing stars were equally as known. This clip is of Bill Cosby on a chat show and they just happen to be talking about Joe Frazier and Cosby is saying he has a glass jaw, and the audience are ooohing and aaahing.....This is on a typical Letterman like show and everyone knows what they are talking about and who. If some star came on today and said a similar thing about Money or Pac, you would hear the crickets in the background.



BTW, it's funny as hell so watch the whole thing.

[TheMexHurricane]

The U.S. had half the population in the 40's that it does now and worse yet most of the talent came from the North East U.S.. Furthermore, most of the males of boxing age were off in WWI, WWII, Korea, or Vietnam(or starving during the great depression). Their were boxing programs in the service but the boys were either in the battlefield with unsatisfactory nourishment and hydration or in support units where they partied very, very hard in European and Asian cities and couldn't conquer enough women. In other words, participating in a a phsysically gruelling boxing program was the last thing on their minds. Americans continued to participate and dominate from the 50's until today in the approx middle-heavy divisions but that is also the time when the enormous talent pools from Latin America and Asia began dominating the Americans in the lower weights. This Latin/Asian domination began exactly right after the "golden era" of boxing in the 50's. In other words, at a time when there would be more American fighters than in earlier decades(due to popularity) but even waaaaaaay more Latinos and Asians. This is a very easy subject and the Latinos' and Asians' fighters have been overlooked by biased or xenophobic American boxing "experts"(These facts will be enthusiastically accepted by those Latinos/Asians). Those same carpy "experts" are the ones who say Mexicans have alot of champs because they have alot of fighters. Unfortunately for those Mexiphobes, they didn't know they were putting their feet in their mouths with their ******, carpy comments. My Mexican brothers fight to eat. Diminishing their ability and popularity with lies takes food from their babies' mouths. On the other hand, exposing the overrated American fighters from the old days merely hurts the delicate egos of the biased American Mexiphobes. Americans that have made these mistakes should learn from this the way a man should, change their ways and move on. You wouldn't like it if some dude with little balls took food from your kids' mouths so don't do it to others. Hve a great ****in day! I know I will.

[Capaedia]

BennyST 2012

Stop robbing Mexican children of food.

[rorymac]

The U.S. had half the population in the 40's that it does now and worse yet most of the talent came from the North East U.S.. Furthermore, most of the males of boxing age were off in WWI, WWII, Korea, or Vietnam(or starving during the great depression). Their were boxing programs in the service but the boys were either in the battlefield with unsatisfactory nourishment and hydration or in support units where they partied very, very hard in European and Asian cities and couldn't conquer enough women. In other words, participating in a a phsysically gruelling boxing program was the last thing on their minds. Americans continued to participate and dominate from the 50's until today in the approx middle-heavy divisions but that is also the time when the enormous talent pools from Latin America and Asia began dominating the Americans in the lower weights. This Latin/Asian domination began exactly right after the "golden era" of boxing in the 50's. In other words, at a time when there would be more American fighters than in earlier decades(due to popularity) but even waaaaaaay more Latinos and Asians. This is a very easy subject and the Latinos' and Asians' fighters have been overlooked by biased or xenophobic American boxing "experts"(These facts will be enthusiastically accepted by those Latinos/Asians). Those same carpy "experts" are the ones who say Mexicans have alot of champs because they have alot of fighters. Unfortunately for those Mexiphobes, they didn't know they were putting their feet in their mouths with their ******, carpy comments. My Mexican brothers fight to eat. Diminishing their ability and popularity with lies takes food from their babies' mouths. On the other hand, exposing the overrated American fighters from the old days merely hurts the delicate egos of the biased American Mexiphobes. Americans that have made these mistakes should learn from this the way a man should, change their ways and move on. You wouldn't like it if some dude with little balls took food from your kids' mouths so don't do it to others. Hve a great ****in day! I know I will.

What Benny said doesn't really have anything to do with where a fighter is from. What you are saying is right to some extent but not that relevant.

Back to topic, these are some interesting points. There are about 2 people I know off this site with whom I can have a reasonable discussion about boxing. However this rarely goes beyond Pac/Floyd. In the UK perhaps 1 in 10000 people will have heard of Sergio Martinez or Nonito Donaire. Few would even know Hearns and Hagler, let alone the likes of Benny Leonard, Harry Greb and Sam Langford.

[Dubblechin]

Now, all this came about because of a very simple little clip, which to some might mean nothing, but it highlights the point. Boxing was a general talking point, as much today as Jeremy Lin is or Kobe Bryant, the boxing stars were equally as known. This clip is of Bill Cosby on a chat show and they just happen to be talking about Joe Frazier and Cosby is saying he has a glass jaw, and the audience are ooohing and aaahing.....This is on a typical Letterman like show and everyone knows what they are talking about and who. If some star came on today and said a similar thing about Money or Pac, you would hear the crickets in the background.



BTW, it's funny as hell so watch the whole thing.

Boxing was a talking point on that episode of the **** Cavett Show because Joe Frazier was also a guest on that show, and he came on right after Cosby.

Frazier had recently gotten back to the U.S. after being knocked out by George Foreman. Frazier losing to the Olympic champ Foreman was THE big sports story of the moment. The bout had just been shown on a delayed basis on ABC with Howard Cosell's classic "Down Goes Frazier!" call. The clip is shown again when Frazier comes out.

Everyone knew Frazier and Foreman and Ali at that point. It was a unique moment in time.

I don't think that clip shows anything other than people being aware of what's the big story of the week, and they're "oohing" because they know Frazier is backstage listening.

That's all.

He spent eight of the nine minutes talking about jazz, but that doesn't mean everyone in the audience knew a lot about jazz.

[TBear]

Not sure this is on topic(thread seems to go in several directions)
When I was young, every Saturday and Sunday I would get up and watch an afternoon of boxing. National tv stations would fill the airways with the sport. And before my time boxing was regularly aired in prime time slots by the networks. Back then there were only 3-4 channels on tv so watching boxing was a national pasttime. American networks ABC, NBC & CBS somewhere along the way decided to quit televising boxing and it could be said, it was nearly the end of America's participation in the sport. Fortunitely cable took off and several channels decided to air the sport. That has helped keep boxing alive publicly but til the networks decide to again embrace the sport and bring it into the main stream again, boxing will continue be a sleeping giant.


I am waiting patiently.

[TheMexHurricane]

BennyST 2012

Stop robbing Mexican children of food.

Diminishing the ability and popularity of Mexican fighters diminishes the amout of money they make.

[TheMexHurricane]

In the UK perhaps 1 in 10000 people will have heard of Sergio Martinez or Nonito Donaire. Few would even know Hearns and Hagler, let alone the likes of Benny Leonard, Harry Greb and Sam Langford.

That too is irrelevant to my point. We began taking over the lighter weights in the 60's----right around the Golden era of boxing and more than 50 years ago when boxing was very popular in the U.S.---- and this takeover became more complete through decades in which Americans dominated the middle-heavy divisions.

[bojangles1987]

My mother was a casual boxing fan, and that's how I ended up starting off, but eventually she didn't care anymore and the only other people I've ever known in my life that ever watched boxing were two Puerto Rican friends of mine in high school who stopped watching after Tito got his ass whooped by Hopkins and Winky.

Other than that, I've never known a single person who watched boxing. I ended up going 3 or 4 years where I barely followed boxing, because no one else did. It sucks, my mom and stepdad still talk about how they used to like boxing, but when I suggest that I give them a flash drive with some fights they can watch, they don't care. All my friends laugh and talk about how no one watches boxing.

[Capaedia]

Diminishing the ability and popularity of Mexican fighters diminishes the amout of money they make.

It is what it is