This is how long they've been saying "boxing is dead"

GrantZilla wrote:

CroZ
Posts: 584 My God, they really have been saying boxing is dead for over a century
I always assumed that was just something people were saying till I stumbled onto these ancient articles. This is a long one and well worth the read. I think everyone here can appreciate this. Some of the text is scramble though.

"boxing is dead" - Google News Archive Search

Some of the quotes here are sig worthy. I read every one of these and love it. In no real order heres some I found most interesting. Bold for emphasis.

1937 - Jack Dempsey knows his own game. When he says boxing will be washed up within a year, unless something's done, he's talking straight from his heart. "It isn't boxing anymore, he complains, "but just a big lawsuit."
Still, when Jack thinks the evils of his former occupation can be cleaned up by appointing a czar-someone like judge landis, who runs organised baseball, there is room for doubt

Jul 22, 1966 - Boxing is dead no question in Jack Dempsey's mindthe fight game is dead there is no fight game to day the former champion said there never will be again.

May 22, 1965 - Boxing is dead not just in Boston but everywhere. Former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano gave that opinion in an interview recently with the Boston Traveler.

Apr 10, 1941 - They've been saying for. years that boxing is dead. Well, with the 52.000-odd gate for tho Joe louis-tony Musto fuss In St. Louis Tuesday night, the fight game neared the million-and-ahalf dollar mark for the nation's major attractions In this indoor season

May 26, 1965 - "I said boxing is dead, and I guess it's true," said Rocky Marciano sadly. "

"Dec 9, 1903 - Whether the timehonored sport of boxing is dead or only sleeping will probably be demonstrated this month so far as Los Angeles is concerned and the Coliseum Athletic Association which has now completed an uptodate."

"Jun 15, 1906 - Jim Neil Declares Boxing Is Dead in New York"

"Jun 1, 1923 - Boxing Is Dead Sport, Says Chicago's Mayor Chicago, May 31. -- Boxing "is a dead sport," Mayor William 13. Dever declared tonight when informed that James Mul- len, promoter of. lust Tuesday's engage- ment between Benny Leonard and Pinkie Mitchell, which ended in a fist fight be- tween ... "

Jun 2, 1942 - Promoters gen erally hold the view that due to In creased taxes they cannot afford "cuts" to that therefore boxing is dead.

Nov 29, 1943 - Others say, yeah, boxing is dead game; it smells like dead game that been lying under the sun for . The optimists and well-wishers that boxing has lost its champs and stars, but that there are still good fights to be seen.

1957- wrestling promoter: I know what this is all about," he declared. The commission is running In the red because boxing is dead and it wants to tap some of the gates we're getting.

Jun 15, 1957 - WHO SAYS BOXING* IS DEAD. Yesterday morning s sports pages in TV TaimuNz were about the liveliest we have been

un 22, 1960 - Don't tell me boxing is dead. HARRY KECK All it needs is for the people be as honest with themselves in their appraisal of it as they insist that boxing be. For every Jake lamotta in boxing there are thousands of well-meaning boxers, managers and promoters who are on the level and

1962 - Boxing is dead in Baltimore It is almost dead everywhere

Dec 18, 1962 - Boxing is dead or dying in many parts of the world, but in Italy it is a fact.

Jun 9, 1963 - THE many sports fans who believe that boxing is dead or dying can get the argument of their lives by looking up HerbertBuddy

Jan 7, 1965 - Unless something is done very soon, boxing is dead. "Right now there s too much politics in the various commissions. They mean well, but they don't know what they re doing

Feb 3, 1965 - But after what this one did, don't listen to arguments that boxing is dead. The paying public wants live fights so badly that the Garden soid out days ahead of the fight.

May 28, 1966 - Some say boxing is dead If so its ghosts cer tainly are kingsized

Jun 17, 1969 - Don't you believe those stories that boxing is dead. The heavyweight fight between Jerry Quarry and Joe Frazier next Monday night has captured the fancy of the fight mob. It looks now as though it will do an 800000 gate at Madison Square Garden, the biggest indoor take in history.
(nice to see promoters haven't changed either)


1969
Jun 17, 1969 - Dies that boxing is dead. The heavyweight fight between Jerry Quarry and Joe Frazier next Monday night has captured the fancy of the fight mob. It looks now as though it will do an 800000 gate at Madison Square Garden, the biggest indoor take in history.

20, 1969 - [i]If boxing is dead, as a few allege and suspect, then Madison Square Garden on Monday night will be the scene of the liveliest wake since our "byes" in Canaryville said farewell to Nuts Nolan. [/i

]Feb 4, 1974 - The evidence says boxing is dead.

Aug 4, 1974 - Anyone who says boxing is dead is speaking and thinking in cliches. As the new president of the Garden, Mr.' Coheri should realize that he is now in show business, Boxing does not so much need a "bottom-line" executive as it needs an imaginative promoter and showman willing to take

Oct 31, 1974 - With Muhammad now unchallenged at the top, the dimwits again will chorus that boxing is dead. They've been saying this since before Sports Illustrated began investigating a fix in the Cain vs. Abel match. If boxing has been dead, you ve been sitting in on the longest wake in history

Nov 27, 1975 - "Each year the new people up here keep telling me boxing is dead but they don't seem to realize that boxing never before had three heavyweights like Ali, Prazier and Foreman at the same time. The new people keep talking about the good old days in boxing

Jun 15, 1976 - They say boxing is dead They say wrestling is dead I predict we will have a bigger crowd than at any of my fights They say it s dead Well rm the resurrector The Resurrector Well have a big crowd The Asian world The karate world The judo world The Bruce Lee world Pleeasse get your ...

1977 - . I have news for Lea Boxing is dead with him.

1977 - says Ali "although I might like to be a lecturer " If, as claims, "boxing is dead when I'm not involved," what will happen to the sport when he does finally retire'

Christ this can go on for ever. Basically it goes on with the press saying there will be no one afte Ali, then Ali saying there will be no one after him, then the press saying there will be no one after Tyson, then Tyson saying there will be no one after him.

SlickMoney wrote:Boxing is declining. Boxing is not going back to the mainstream. No fights on network. No mega stars coming up.

gomez1012 wrote:

SlickMoney wrote:Boxing is declining. Boxing is not going back to the mainstream. No fights on network. No mega stars coming up.

Chavez Jr/Canelo

gomez1012 wrote:Dont need them to carry anything

SlickMoney wrote:

gomez1012 wrote:Dont need them to carry anything

Then Boxing will become irrelevant. Only thing ppl care about now is Pacquiao or Mayweather. Other fights get no mainstream attention.

Nothing get's mainstream attention in the sports media outside NFL, NBA, MLB. Golf(only when Tiger is playing). Tennis(zero). Hockey(local if there is a team).

Network TV isn't like it use to be where was only 3 channels. Everything become nich. Baseball ratings have been on the decline. NBA, unless it's big market team. NFL is the only sport in US that has not declined

SlickMoney wrote:
Then Boxing will become irrelevant. Only thing ppl care about now is Pacquiao or Mayweather. Other fights get no mainstream attention.

gomez1012 wrote:

SlickMoney wrote:
Then Boxing will become irrelevant. Only thing ppl care about now is Pacquiao or Mayweather. Other fights get no mainstream attention.

Dont bother me none

if HBO can get back to what it use to do put on great fights

SlickMoney wrote:

if HBO can get back to what it use to do put on great fights

Good luck with that son!

Tobe wrote:Two things - boxing is clearly declining and that's directly due to the rise of MMA. No point denying that. UFC dominates in the 18-35 market, and is taking young fans to their side. Better, more coherent marketing is allowing an inferior product to eat boxing's lunch.

Second, HBO is not going to be the savior of this, if for no other reason than it's not network TV. UFC, in some form, is on TV nearly every night. Hiding the sport on cable or PPV isn't going to do it. Well matched, competitive fights accessible to the audience on network TV are the only way people are going to see how much more entertaining a good boxing match is than your typical UFC roll-fest.

We all know there are good fighters and good fights out there; they just need to get made and get sold properly.