Why keep saying boxing's dead or...

....I'm done with boxing? There have been controversial fights with unpopular decisions for as long as I can remember and never did I think, "I'm never watching boxing again." The only time I stop watching any sport is if I get bored with it. I will never be bored with boxing because I am not a fly by night fan. So many other sports have had crazy, unexpected results, fixes, shady deals, boxing is not alone in the "controversy" category. All this talk about MMA "taking over" is such a bunch of nonsense. They are two completely different sports with two completely different audiences. Sure, there's a small percentage of crossover appeal, but most boxing fans are purists, which is why we get upset over bad decisions like Pac/Bradley, Rios/Abril, PW/Lara, etc. I have never heard, even once, an MMA fan screaming from the rafters about a bad judges decision. This in itself is amazing simply from the standpoint of the difficulty of judging in MMA. It's much more difficult to judge MMA than to judge a boxing match. Hell, a knockdown doesn't automatically get you a 10-8 round in MMA. Boxing doesn't have to be this difficult, it's the promoters that make it this way. When their sole concern is not just money, but "future" money, it truly brings the greed to the forefront. The only thing controversy has ever done is create even more interest in anything, not disinterest. Boxing isn't dead, far from it. Does it need reform? Absolutely. Is a commission the answer? Maybe, but more than anything, some aspects need to be revamped. Promoters must have limitations, judges, referees, anybody that has an effect on the outcome should have ZERO connection to a promoter. Judges? A blind pool of judges who are sequestered prior to the fight will make it much more difficult to fix a fight, not impossible, but very difficult. The amount of judges can be changed also, why three? Why not five? I picture four at ringside & a "Head" judge watching on a monitor. Scores are turned in & gathered by an official. Round by round comparisons can be made, hell, they wouldn't even have to speak the same language. It might be better if they didn't. Boxing is an international sport, why don't we have international judges? Anyway, enough with all this "boxing is dead" crap. It will never be dead to me, unless it stops altogether, then & only then will I stop watching it!!!

i agree with some of this.there are fights i wont watch like the tarver and winky fight but ill never stop watching or following the sport.boxing like horseracing isnt dead its just irrelivant to most sports fans..yes every sport has its controversy as you said but none have the series on controversys or polices that so call govern the sport.there are not 10 nba or nfl champs etc etc.there are not 5 or 6 different ruling bodies either.thoses sports attempt in a serious way to correct incompetence in its officals.boxing turns its back on that mostly and even rewards them.
no other sport holds a major event in a major gambling house subject to meddling.remember what baseball did to mantle and mays for just being a emplyee at casinos..other sports go out of the way to protect the integrity of the sport.boxing does the opposite.
other sports have serious fines and suspentions.boxing you simply go to another state and wella suspention is not recognized.
boxings image and rightly so is a joke.the public knows that so does all major writers of the sport.you cant compare problems that arise in other sports to boxing.other sports make a major effort to correct things.boxing ignores it..no its not dead.it will never be dead.it will remain on life support like it has been for several several years.sad but true.
ive never seen a sport that litterly doesnt give a fuck about its image and integrity like boxing in general does.the fans dont count.theres no attempt to create new ones or bring back other s that left..other sports do the opposite of that.yeah its not dead but its near dead and boxing earned that status.

also to say that this brings more interest not disinterest is not correct.it brings more talk yes more negative publicity yes.more awarness on how fucking rediculous the sport is.there is no favorable interset that comes out of this.none.huge negative interest indeed.thats not a possitive in my book.

People should just be done with Top Rank.

The sport of boxing needs a makeover.

The only way for this to take place is for people to stop buying PPV fights and get these fights back on Network T.V. This is why I like people stating that they're going to stop watching the sport.

Cable television (HBO, Showtime) has cornered the market and thye've done a horrible job in giving us what we want and making quality match ups.

If boxing goes back to network tv, it won't be perfect but it will be a helluva lot better than what we have now. I think it's just that simple.

Also, as I stated in another thread, the NSAC has proven to be an embarassment to sports in general. For boxing to be taken seriously again, their must be an FBI investigation into this fight that leads to a congressional review. The Pac fight wasn't just another bad decision. It had factors in it which separated it from any other controversial decision I've ever seen.

Not changing the subject, but fucking over the biggest star in the sport is the most self destructive act I've ever seen any sport take. This kind of thing has never happened before. (Oscar D. gave up the last 4 rounds to Trinidad. That was dumb, especially in Vegas.That decision pales in comparison to this one.) At the present time, I do not believe that Pac will sign a rematch against Bradley unless Manny is having very serious financial problmes.

If boxing stays on cable and loses Pacquiao..........

frank some good points...i just dont understand why you say manny will not sign for a bradley rematch.does he simply retire or do you think he can force arum to make the floyd fight under floyds terms.or is he saying marquez over bradley.i cant see in my eyes that last reason.

when people say boxing is dead they ignore other parts of the world. We are a US centered country. All the sports writers/personalities that don't cover boxing love to say that is dead. They don't have a clue about what occurs in boxing on a worldwide scale. They have their view (boxing is dead) and use anything to shit on it.

I admit boxing needs some fixing, but it is by no means dead, especially on a global scale.

As for boxing/mma fans. I was a boxing purist. I was prodded by people for years to watch MMA and was bored every time I tried. In the past 9 months I have found it to be alot more enjoyable. Many attempts before it finally caught me. I will always be a boxing fan first but when there is some decently matched MMA fights I will watch.

Boxing (or rather, boxing promoters and commissions) needs to learn some customer service. You can't keep shitting on the fans and expect them to take it forever. Hardcore fans (nerds) like us will watch no matter what happens. Hell, as Capt brought up Saturday, a bunch of us on Ninja's watched a shitty stream from a Nicaraguan TV network, in what appeared to be a middle school gym just to see Roman Gonzalez.

But casual fans are not going to follow the sport if they shelled out $54.95 to see a crap undercard followed by a blatant highway robbery of one of the most popular "crossover" fighters today. They aren't going to put up with major fights they want to see repeatedly delayed or outright cancelled, and in some cases, taking years to finally get the two in the ring. And when nothing is done to make-up for any of these incidents, it sends the message that the promoter doesn't care what the fans want, and people who aren't like us, are just going to spend their entertainment dollar elsewhere.

Boxing is not dead, nor is it dying, both here in the U.S and abroad. It just could be so much more to so many more people without the Bob, Oscar, Al, Roth, Ford, Trowbrige, Cole Family, Van Hoye and numerous other jerks of the sport.

Boxing is not dead, it's just becoming more and more irrelevant in the US. Things keep up, it will be on ESPN The Ocho in the near future. Wedge in between midget wrestling and log rolling.

Nothing will get done to fix boxing's problems. Trinkets won't go away. Promoters will continue to do what's in their best interest and not the sport.

Sure, there is outrage now but that's dying down and it'll be back to business as usual. It's sad, but true.

I wrote to guys like Greenberg ect demanding them ignore the ABC belts and use The Ring or some kind of uniform legit rankings. They ignored me like they do all us fans.

Bob Arum, the TV presidents, ect don't give a fuck about us fans. Period.

I remember feeling just really disappointed when the decision was announced at the weekend but I never thought "I'm done with boxing". I don't care about a few bad decisions honestly I just like watching boxing. The bad decisions don't ruin it for me at all. I will admit that they can bother me sometimes if its a big fight or the guy that gets robbed is someone I'm rooting for or seems like a really nice guy. The one at the weekend bothered me because it was such a big fight and I felt like Pacman really didn't deserve it. (Please don't bother with a "Pac did deserve it after Marquez got robbed" post)

dmar5143 wrote:frank some good points...i just dont understand why you say manny will not sign for a bradley rematch.does he simply retire or do you think he can force arum to make the floyd fight under floyds terms.or is he saying marquez over bradley.i cant see in my eyes that last reason.

Dmar, he never lost in the first place. I think the decision is so insane that it goes better ignored by the Pac camp.

GrantZilla wrote:Boxing is not dead, it's just becoming more and more irrelevant in the US. Things keep up, it will be on ESPN The Ocho in the near future. Wedge in between midget wrestling and log rolling.

Nothing will get done to fix boxing's problems. Trinkets won't go away. Promoters will continue to do what's in their best interest and not the sport.

Sure, there is outrage now but that's dying down and it'll be back to business as usual. It's sad, but true.

I wrote to guys like Greenberg ect demanding them ignore the ABC belts and use The Ring or some kind of uniform legit rankings. They ignored me like they do all us fans.

Bob Arum, the TV presidents, ect don't give a fuck about us fans. Period.

....grant sadly what you have outlined here just may be true.nothing will be done.at least for the near future or the next few years.nope trinkets wont go away.they likely will add more.yes boxing elsewhere outside the usa is doing pretty good..as you say nobody gives a dam about the fans.ill add that nobody in the game or outside of a few give a dam about the sport..
i just saw a first for me where steve smith and skip bayless actualy agreed ed 100 percent on this topic.smith called for a boycot of all pvvs.they dont give us the fights fans want to see plus added corruption of promoters incompetent judges and no final authority on anything.he said not only are the fans ignored but many fighters also.he asked fans stop being suckers.i agree.lets see how long it is before the next lousy incompetent descion..coming soon folks.they just dont give a fuck.its business as usual untill step 1 is taken which is for fans by the droves to forget buying ppvs.save your cash and agrivation and watch a replay.