Comments Thread For: Boxing: Not Dying. Again.

[The D3vil]

Yeah we have to consider how different the sports landscape is now compared to then. Apple's to oranges.

We can say this. Thurman-Garcia ratings blew away any US Tennis audience in 2016, matched or exceeded any golf audience outside the Masters, beat any NHL game outside the Stanley Cup, and destroyed any UFC ratings in the last year. There's no reason with TR, GBP, and Showtime/PBC all competing boxing can't be a major part of the sports conversation. None at all. It may never see the heights we've seen in the past, but boxing can be big again..

Yeah, but you're making my point because tennis, golf, hockey, and baseball are all dying sports in America.

None of those sports have the profile that they did 30 years ago either. Boxing better than them is not impressive. UFC didn't even exist 30 years ago, so boxing with it's history SHOULD be more popular than it is in comparison to UFC.

the NBA & NFL are the kings of the mountains. Their players are household names. All the other sports are struggling to survive in this era

Floyd Mayweather is nowhere near what Steph Curry & LeBron James are in anything except for money earned, because teh NBA has a labor contract that exploits it's highly paid (yet still under paid) stars.

You have to be 12 years old if you DON'T realize that boxing is as big as it was 30 years ago. Unlike you, I actually watched live boxing 30 years ago. I saw Ali's fights on television against Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers and Leon Spinks. I also saw Ali's exhibition match against a wrestler and many of Ali's mismatches and snoozers that you seem to think never took place. I know how popular Ali was (both hated and liked), how good he was and how good his fights were. I saw Leonard and Hearns fights no-hopers on Saturday afternoon' Wide World of Sports broadcasts on ABC. I saw Leonard/Hearns and Leonard/Duran live on closed-circuit tv. I saw Hagler/Hearns live on tv. I also saw Whitaker/Chavez, Whitaker/De La Hoya, Holyfield/Tyson and all the other great fights of the last 30 years.

I was watching boxing long before the internet, boxing websites and ESPN existed. Since I have been watching boxing for 30 years, I know a hell of a lot more than you about how popular boxing was 30 years ago. Every fighter in every generation has fought great fights and fought mismatches. Sugar Ray Leonard fought Floyd Mayweather (Senior) who was a journeyman. Do you actually think that fight was better than Garcia/Thurman? Do you think Leonard vs Donny LaLonde was better than Spence/Brook?

The fights from 30, 20 and 10 years ago are no different than they are today. If you think otherwise, I would say that Roger Mayweather was talking about you when he said you DKSAB!

Never said that mismatches didn't exist. You misinterpreted what I said.

What I said is that big fighters weren't protected as much.

Even in comparison to say somebody like Oscar De La Hoya.

Oscar fought Trinidad when he was pound 4 pound king, Whittaker when he was pound for pound king, Hopkins when he was pound for pound king, Floyd when he was pound for pound king, & Pacquiao when he was destroying everything in sight.

And Oscar was considered a "pretty boy" type fighter.

Find me Oscar's equivalent in the game today?

There aint one.

Guys avoided GGG until he got old.
Guys won't fight Lomachenko or Rigondeaux either
Stevenson won't fight anybody
The heavyweight division guys won't fight Ortiz & the lineal king is on crack.

You seriously gonna tell me that the fight game's EXACTLY the same?

Dude, you do know (at least I hope you know) that Ali/Holmes was a mismatch and NO ONE expected Ali to win that fight? Ali had retired and was probably already in the early stages of Parkinson's when he fought Holmes. It was nothing more than a money grab and anyone and everyone knew that. I refused to watch that fight (even the replay) because I hated seeing a man I admired for years (Ali) go out like that. If you actually think Ali/Holmes was as competitive as Klithscko/Joshua, then please send me your private email because I have a bridge I want to sell you.

I never said Ali/Holmes was competitive.

I said it was a more important fight.

It was a cultural event. Only fight fans cared about Joshua/Klitschko because neither one of those guys are real stars

[al-Xander]

There are hundreds and hundreds of boxers. Fans should be having huge boxing events every week. As someone said, fans nowadays are not hard to please. Give them a couple of events every year participated in by top fighters and that's it. Fighters don't have to fight more than once a year. Give fans random fights and that's all you need. Spence, Swift, Porter, Peterson, Berto, Lara, Andrade and others, for example, should be okay negotiating their next fights. But that's not what is happening. This article doesn't even address that.

Give them AJ vs past prime Klitschko and boxing is back!!