Boxing: Still the Sweet Science? Or Dying Ritual?

I am not writing this to dis boxing or its athletes, just to pose a question. Is Boxing really dying? I grew up watching boxing and it was always something that was near and dear to me. I remember the Saturday afternoons watching ABC’s Wide World of Sports with legends like Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Aaron Pryor, Alexis Arguello and many other greats. Later there was a shift to pay-per-view for larger scale fights such as Julio Caesar Chavez, Ricardo Lopez, Mike Tyson, Pernell Whitaker and Roy Jones Jr. Nowadays we have greats like the once retired, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and others that are in the mix.
My question is, “Is boxing really dead?” Will it take another RJJ or Tyson to revive it? Or has the Marques of Queensbury-governed sport seen its best days and will die a slow death. My fear is the latter, that boxing is dead. I feel that people have realized, although it takes talent to be great, it is not the most brilliant thing to be doing with your skills. To repetitively pound someone in the head and body until someone succumbs or you reach the allotted 3, 6, 10 or 12 rounds? People realize that there are other options to enroll their child in then one that is potentially going to damage their brains. We have seen fighters like Ali, Frazier and others with their slurred speeches or other brain type damages. I watched Gerald McCllelan whom I thought was a monster of a man, be reduced to a blind, deaf man in a wheelchair. I watched Gabriel Ruelas pounding an out-matched Jimmy Garcia who later died due injuries suffered in the fight. I remember thinking “Why does the ref let this go on”
I think even if the sport were to see another star, many people have moved on from boxing being their favourite sport. We will never see the glory days again. I always said that when I have a child, I will put him in boxing. My son is now 11 and aside from training in a boxing gym, he will never step foot in the ring to fight.

[Llamafighter]

I love boxing and will always love it. I am a bigger MMA fan now, but boxing needs to exist.

[J.B.]

Boxing is not going anywhere, the idea that the sport is "dying" has been disproved over and over again.

The sport is dangerous, but so is MMA, so is Football, and so is Hockey, the list goes on. There are plenty of boxers who don't end up like Ali, or Gerald Mclellan.

Originally Posted by JB Rattlesnake

Boxing is not going anywhere, the idea that the sport is "dying" has been disproved over and over again.

The sport is dangerous, but so is MMA, so is Football, and so is Hockey, the list goes on. There are plenty of boxers who don't end up like Ali, or Gerald Mclellan.

I disagree... I think it is definitely dying and I'm a boxing fan.. The talk of it dying has been around for awhile because it's been dying a slow death for awhile. Many fighters have came along that have been described as helping "save" boxing... if the sport wasn't dying it wouldn't need to be saved in the first place.

The reason up until now, that it's survived is because fans of combat never had any other options.. NFL,MLB,NBA,PGA these sports will never and could never lure the dedicated fan base away from boxing but MMA can and has already begun to. Will the sport disappear? No. Will we see less and less of it until it's something like lacrosse maybe? A sport that has dedicated fans but no exposure? Yes. I think that's it's future IMO.

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by Chuck

I disagree... I think it is definitely dying and I'm a boxing fan.. The talk of it dying has been around for awhile because it's been dying a slow death for awhile. Many fighters have came along that have been described as helping "save" boxing... if the sport wasn't dying it wouldn't need to be saved in the first place.

The reason up until now, that it's survived is because fans of combat never had any other options.. NFL,MLB,NBA,PGA these sports will never and could never lure the dedicated fan base away from boxing but MMA can and has already begun to. Will the sport disappear? No. Will we see less and less of it until it's something like lacrosse maybe? A sport that has dedicated fans but no exposure? Yes. I think that's it's future IMO.

The people talking about fighters "saving" boxing are the same ones who think it's dying. It's not the majority of the fan base. Just because you are a fan of boxing does not mean all fans of the sport see it that way. Honestly, I only hear that talk from MMA fans who say they are Boxing fans. No die hard boxing fans I know really think the sport is "dying". Saying the sport is "dying" is ridiculous. Why? Because UFC did over a million PPV buys? MMA is huge right now, but that has actually helped boxing in more ways than one.

There are more fans of combat sports in general now because of the success of the UFC. More and more I find that people who never knew a damn thing about boxing are suddenly interested just because of the hype surrounding both sports right now. Of course, there are still elitists who like to sit back and say "MMA is better", or "Boxing is better", but that kind of attention only draws more people in to both sports.

Has boxing seen it's popularity decrease? Sure, but you need to put things in context. What have I been saying all along? Boxing has been the best litmus test for how the organized fight game will play out. The UFC has brought MMA into the spotlight, and now all the Wrigley Field fans of fighting have flocked to it because it's flashy, it's in a cage, and it's an exciting sport. However, eventually, the spike in popularity will level itself out, and we will be left with a solid consistent fan base in MMA. Boxing STILL has it's solid fan base, and that is not going anywhere for a long, long time.

People will always tune in for a good fight, no matter what kind of gloves the fighters are wearing. Sure, Boxing in America could really benefit from a new superstar heavyweight, but by no means is the sport dying. When there is a big fight in Boxing, it still gets plenty of exposure, and that is not going to change either.

In my opinion, both sports can and will co-exist. For now, and probably the immediate future, MMA will continue to dominate the numbers as it makes it rise in the mainstream, but there will be changes, and events in MMA, specifically UFC, that will shape the sport differently. That is what makes it harder to predict MMA's future, rather than Boxing.

Boxing has seen the tough times before, and the sport has grown. It will happen again, and again, and again.

I agree with the above post, especially this part: Wrigley Field fans of fighting

(As you can guess from my screen name, I had a long time allegiance to the Cubs. But the crowd at Wrigley has changed, and not for the best. I can't hardly watch the games anymore. But this is for another thread.)

To me, boxing has the problem that a lot of its' stars don't want to take risks even though this means a dull fight, with the main goal to try to avoid getting hit. Sort of like "lay and pray" in MMA. some would say that this is because the losers' purses are too high; not enough gain to take the risks in trying to win.

So I don't know; the PPVs are expensive and many of the fights haven't been exciting enough to justify the cost.

Originally Posted by cubsfan47

I agree with the above post, especially this part: Wrigley Field fans of fighting

(As you can guess from my screen name, I had a long time allegiance to the Cubs. But the crowd at Wrigley has changed, and not for the best. I can't hardly watch the games anymore. But this is for another thread.)

To me, boxing has the problem that a lot of its' stars don't want to take risks even though this means a dull fight, with the main goal to try to avoid getting hit. Sort of like "lay and pray" in MMA. some would say that this is because the losers' purses are too high; not enough gain to take the risks in trying to win.

So I don't know; the PPVs are expensive and many of the fights haven't been exciting enough to justify the cost.

I hear ya man ... i still love boxing but i think it's best days are done ... bad analogy coming up, but i compare it with hip-hop .... today's artists aren't that great ... i still pull out my old cd's and listen to them ... with boxing, i pull out the old Top Rank tapes, youtube old fights and just watch .... there is still the new hip-hop tune that will catch my ear just like there are fights that i stil watch .. who knows, maybe that means i am just getting old ... LOL

Boxing needs a "larger than life" personality to help interest people. Someone like Ali or Foreman.

There certainly isn't any shortage of personalities like that in MMA.
Whatever else you can say about Zuffa, they understand the importance of names and marketing. That's what boxing needs.

Boxing is just way to hard to follow, 17 weight classes, and 5 titles each with some of those titles being held by two people. Being a fan at one time I still find it hard to follow who is who and what is what anymore.

[rockdawg21]

It will never die, but it's definitely losing ground to MMA.