After decades of being one of the most popular sports, boxing is starting to get beaten up and knocked down for the count.
It’s struggling to get on its feet and continue the fight in sports popularity. In my eyes, boxing’s reputation has been declining in this country over the past 20 years for three reasons: the rise in mixed martial arts, the lack of network television exposure and shortage of big name American fighters.
With the introduction of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, mixed martial arts have become the new trend in sports, not just in this country, but around the world. Mixed martial arts are becoming bigger each year, and fans can appreciate the art that goes into every fight, rather than the politics it takes to make the fight happen.
Boxing is becoming a thing of the past, something your father and grandfather watched. I remember my younger cousin talking about boxing and saying, “All they do is punch, and they can’t kick or wrestle or submit like in the UFC.” Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy the diversity of mixed martial arts, but I grew up watching boxing and it’s sad to see it fade off into the distance.
These days, nobody wants to pay the ridiculous price for pay-per-view that is necessary to watch their favorite fighter. Fans used to be able to watch the best boxers in the world for free every weekend on network TV. A lot of politics are involved with different fighting promotion companies, so it is a lot harder to give the fans what they want, like specific fights and viewer accessibility. The big name fighters in the sport are directly linked with their promotion companies, either as owners or major stakeholders. They are able to negotiate certain provisions in their contracts that allow them to get a percentage of the pay-per-view sales, so it’s rare to see big names on network television. Boxing has become all about the paycheck, and the fans recognize that. The greed of these fighters is putting off once-dedicated viewers.
Boxing was once the home of the biggest names in American sports, but is now down to just a handful of recognizable figures. From Ali, Frazier and Foreman in the ’70s to Leonard, Haggler and Herns in the ’80s and Tyson, Holyfield and Bowe in the ’90s — these were the fighters whom fans got to see on a regular basis. Now, the biggest name in boxing is Floyd Mayweather Jr. — unless you are a true fan and others come to mind like Adrien Broner and Seth Mitchell — but they are nothing like the fighters of the past. A lot of the big names in boxing these days are international superstars from Mexico, Russia and United Kingdom, and it’s difficult for American boxing fans to get into the fights when they don’t have a fighter from their country
to support.
I don’t think boxing will ever return to the popularity that it once had, which is a real shame because any true fan will say it really is the “sweet science.” Boxing is a beautiful sport but it will never again get the appreciation it deserves from the younger generation in this country. All fans can hope for is that the international fight scene keeps the sport relevant for the foreseeable future since we aren’t doing that here in the U.S.
