• Help Support TNDeer:

Boxing attendance way down

Kirk

Kirk

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2001
Messages
13,855
Reaction score
3,077
Location
Charleston, TN USA
I was watching the Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz verses Juan Manuel Marquez match last night. They had some decent under card fights. Rocky Juarez fought Jorge Linares, Joel Cassomayor fought Roberto Guerrero. Several other under card fights had already been constesed when I started watching. The stands were empty during the headline fights.

During the Rocky Juarez fight the commentator, Jim Lampley made the comment "this is a small crowd tonight, 1/3 of the crowd is in the ring between rounds".

Five years ago this would have been a standing room only event.
It appears MMA has put the final nail in boxing.
 
Boxing was "the" fight sport, but for many reasons it has lost some popularity. Politics within the sport is a big reason; also, the fans have lost interest in overpaid yet underwhelming boxers who talk too much and fight too little.

MMA has gained popularity for many reasons. It combines many disciplines like boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, etc. MMA attracts fans from all of these disciplines, and also is alluring to the average sports fan. For the most part, the fights are entertaining and multi-faceted. Casual fans learn quickly and regognize techniques and strengths of their favorite fighters, and usually are able to see their favorites fight at least two or three times a year.

Overall, I think MMA is superior to boxing as a spectator sport, and will continue to grow as long as politics are put aside, and the integrity of the sport is prioritized.
 
That and it's too expensive in this economy. MMA is more fun to watch and there are more personalities in MMA right now.
 
The failure of boxing, in my humble opinion can be blamed on two things, which actually both lead to one thing, GREED.


1. Pay per view.
2. Don King.


I will elaborate a little.
When I say pay per view, I guess more accurately pay per view when 99% of the viewing public did NOT have cable or dish or whatever. I was forced to stop watching boxing when they took it off public television and moved it to "cable" and we didn't have cable.

Don King was probably the first and most crooked but him and people like him destroyed it through their money grabbing tactics.
 
Not just Don King, but all of the promoters who virtually owned the boxers they represented. A lot of cases where promising fighters were kept out of fights, and promoters manipulated the rankings to protect their own.

But I'd still rather watch boxing in the lower weight classes than MMA. More action, less grappling.
 
I quit watching when Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson....I mean, come on, REALLY????????

No one would book another Tyson fight in the US because they ended so quickly, so they took it over to Japan,.....

I was a huge Tyson fan back then, when he was still young. I didn't like him getting involved with Don King either. Don King ruined alot of fighters......

I mean come on.......Tyson got knocked out by Buster Douglas....really???!!!!!

LOL
 

Latest posts

Back
Top