The problem isn't Americans not supporting their own. The problem is....

[Real King Kong]

By your logic nobody would watch soccer then.

Nobody wants to see real fighting that's why there are rules in the UFC. You can't even headbutt anybody in the UFC. If the UFC was real no rules hand-to-hand fighting the fights would look a lot different.

UFC has a certain audience because it has a different product than boxing that some people find more interesting. It has nothing to do with boxing. If the UFC wasn't around those same people mostly still wouldn't watch boxing.

What does soccer have to do with combat sports?
I'm not saying nobody wants to watch boxing...it just isn't going to be mainstream. Boxing lost the majority of casual combat sport fans to ufc. I didn't say mma was real fighting...I said it's closer to what the average combat sports fan would consider a real fight.

[GhostofDempsey]

Idk if it's the right thing to do but to appeal to the white people and Rest of the population I think a black fighter has to be a villain unfortunately. If they get people to hate (which is kinda easy) then more people would wanna see them lose aka More ppv buys

Not necessarily. Leonard, Mosley, Holyfield, Lewis, RJJ, Joshua, are all successful and popular without being villains or clowns. Spence will likely get there too.

[HAY-B]

Sportscenter would help. Go to any barbershop in the hood and ESPN is on. But unless it's Mayweather or a fight getting covered by ESPN they don't talk about boxing. That **** really needs to change.

If the Charlo's get mentioned on ESPN like Russell Westbrook does than that would be a game changer.

I agree with your statement/analogy. However as long at the Charlo's have Haymon ESPN won't say anything about them and if they do it will be Negative.

I think they mentioned every MW but Charlo when discussing the state of the middle weight division during HBO's last broadcast. I get that the twins have been on SHO, but damn, he's the WBC mandatory. They had the Japanese fighter that was the HBO main event in the mix with the division's top, as if he's some killer. IMHO I can think of at least 8 MW's that would literally stomp this dude out easily. But I feel Charlo has a legit shot to beat every elite MW right now.

[daggum]

boxing is simply not a sport that can have success in our current society. we want new information nonstop. most boxers fight maybe 2 times a year. people arent going to be invested in that.

[The D3vil]

I actually kind of agree with TS.

He's right. The NBA got this right too. NBA All-Star Weekend is like the Black Super Bowl or something.

They let rappers and Black celebs run the show and basketball is about to jet past football in popularity because basketball is cool again.

IDK about that. It's white suburban kids from middle class communities who are the biggest demographic for the commercial success of hip hop. You think marketing to 15% of the nation's population is going to launch Crawford or any other black fighter's career?

Simple. White kids look to Black kids for what is cool

It's the reason HIp-HOp's the biggest genre.

White kids in the suburbs fantasize about being in the "hood"

So, by making boxers "cool" the way rappers are "cool", then you'd be making boxing cool by proxy

boxing is simply not a sport that can have success in our current society. we want new information nonstop. most boxers fight maybe 2 times a year. people arent going to be invested in that.

This is definitely a problem, but one that the UFC has solved with Rousey (in her prime) and McGregor.

Put them in movies and put microphones in front of them and put them in reality shows.

That keeps their names out there.

[killakali]

promoters/managers are marketing to the wrong demographic for American fighters. When I say American fighters I'm talking black fighters because all the top American fighters are black.

Promoters do not market to the urban black population. Hip hop and rap have been conjoined since the early days of rap



The highest rated urban morning radio show, The Breakfast Club, regularly talk boxing. They've had a lot of boxers on the show, including GGG. Co-host Charlamagne The God is a big boxing fan. Not a casual fan either. He talks boxing all the time on Twitter.



When they show stars in the audience of fights who do you always see? Rappers, black basketball players, and black actors/actresses. Ever been to a Floyd fight in Vegas? What's the main demographic you see? Met a guy who owned 2 stores on the strip in Vegas. He said personally he hates Floyd but when he fights he made a lot of money. He says he stocks up on Ace of Spades, Cristal, Hennessey XO, and other drinks popular in urban areas, marks up the price and can't keep it on the shelf.

Floyd said Arum didn't know how to market him to the urban audience. He left and we know the rest of the story. Floyd saw the money to be made marketing to the urban audience and he went full "Money Mayweather"

Every football player thinks they can be a basketball player. Every basketball player thinks they can be a rapper. Every rapper thinks they can be a basketball player. But all three think they got hands and could box.

Right now I think the Charlos have the highest upside of becoming household names. The next PPV stars. They are talented, handsome, charismatic and culture influencers. If Love & Hip Hop Houston wouldn't have been cancelled before it aired I think they would be a lot bigger than they are now. Thoe Love & Hip Hop shows are some of the highest rated on cable TV.

That's all imma say. Anything else is giving away the game for free. I know managers and promoters read this board so if they want the blueprint they gotta pay.

I don't know about all that. I mean you mention the Charlos plus we got Broner, Spence, Wilder etc all with a black promoter in Haymon and they aren't known by many outside of the hardcore fans. Broner is a little more well known but not even 10% of Floyd. If a black promoter in Haymon can't make those guys very well known it kind of kills your argument.

A guy like Terence Crawford who is promoted by an old *** sells more tickets and gets better ratings on HBO than the Charlo Bros, Wilder, Spence etc got on Showtime and they have the urban concert promoter guiding them.

Let's be honest. A lot of black people and white Americans just aren't fans of boxing in general.

Another factor is Crawford was developed into a draw at home. Haymon did that somewhat with Wilder and Broner although Broner's last couple fights in Cincy haven't drawn well but he never has the Charlos or Spence fighting in Texas and that is a big mistake in my opinion.

[iamboxing]

boxing is simply not a sport that can have success in our current society. we want new information nonstop. most boxers fight maybe 2 times a year. people arent going to be invested in that.

Above post nails it. Millenials have so much to feast on today from hundreds of channels, streaming content and video games. They don't have the time to sort through the alphabet soup of belts, the ever growing weight divisions and then be rewarded for their efforts with a measly amount of fights a year.

[paulf]

Not discounting anything you wrote, but black people only make up 13% of the general population. Fighters that come up with a grassroots fanbase, be it black people in Omaha supporting Crawford, Filipinos in Cali supporting Manny, white fans flocking to Gatti in Jersey, etc tend to fare really well in the sport.

HBO tried to play the demographic game under Greenberg and Davis and it all led up to the disastrous Bradley-Alexander event.

I don't think the problem is marketing. At all. There was a famous music manager, he managed all the big bands from the 60s to the 90s, and he used to say something like "Successful people are people who are talented at being talented." Being a great boxer is only half the game, the other half is what you are out of the ring. Boxers dont fight every weekend, they need to utilize social media in unique and interesting ways to stay connected to people and keep their name out there.

Look at Broner. His biggest win was who? Paul Malignaggi? Yet he was right there on the edge of bleeding over into the mainstream because he has a superstar personality.

I'm just a firm believe that stars are born, not made, and these networks need to stop picking certain guys and then try to push them down the public's throat; you can only subsidize a business for so long before you expect demand to pick up. Andre Ward, who I personally was a fan of, is a prime example. Not many people liked watching Andre Ward fight, and dude just had a ****ty, off-putting personality. You can't push someone who is uninteresting in the ring and out of it on the public and be like "This is the greatest boxing has to offer."

[T-1000]

Problem is simple: Wilder is neither smart nor good looking nor a good boxer. He is a hype job fighting uber drivers. I congratulate the Anerican casuals to identify him as what he is: a complete joke!

[Boxing42]

Not necessarily. Leonard, Mosley, Holyfield, Lewis, RJJ, Joshua, are all successful and popular without being villains or clowns. Spence will likely get there too.

True but for the non exciting black fighters I think that may be the formula (spence and the charlos are casual fan friendly)