Once upon a time a Saturday night boxing match was the most talked about
sporting event of the week. Whether it was Las Vegas, Nevada or
Atlantic City, New Jersey the celebrities were out in full force to see a
fight. The glory days of big time prize fights saw the likes of
Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Mike Tyson bring in a plethora of
fan support for their fights. Now most fights are held in desolate
arenas that remind me of the church gym from the film Rocky when Rocky
Balboa fought Spider Rico.
The sport of boxing has seen a decline in fan interest in recent years
with several factors behind it. Lately too many boxing matches have
ended in controversial fashion. On July 9 middleweight boxer Paul
Williams was awarded the decision in a match against Erislandy Lara.
Anyone who watched the fight saw that Williams was dominated by Lara
throughout the fight. The three judges who awarded the decision to
Williams were subsequently suspended by The New Jersey Athletic Control
Board.
On September 17 Floyd Mayweather returned to the ring after a 16-month
layoff to fight Victor Ortiz. Mayweather has star power and was able to
draw a full house at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas to see this bout.
Mayweather became The WBC World Welterweight Champion via a 4th round KO
that was the result of what some may call a “sucker punch” by
Mayweather.
On October 15 controversy showed up again in Los Angeles, California
when Bernard Hopkins put his WBC Light Heavyweight title on the line
versus Chad Dawson. In the second round, both fighters were trying to
get the inside position on each other when Dawson picked Hopkins up and
slammed him to the canvas. Hopkins injured his shoulder and Dawson was
awarded the fight via TKO. Hopkins protested the decision and The WBC
reinstated Hopkins at the champion on October 20. The fight was held at
The Staples Center which has a seating capacity of approximately 21,000
for boxing matches. The fight barely drew 8,000 fans.
Day by day the sport of boxing is losing popularity to the sport of
mixed martial arts. For 2010, the top pay-per-view was when Mayweather
fought Shane Mosley with a 1.4 million buy rate. Of the top ten
pay-per-view’s for the year, seven belonged to The Ultimate Fighting
Championship.
UFC provides more fights on a card. The fights are quicker than most
boxing matches with decisive winners. Very rarely is there a match in
The UFC that will go to the judges for a decision. The UFC can give fans
a pay-per-view every six to eight weeks if not quicker. Another shot in
the arm for The UFC will be in a few weeks when UFC Heavyweight
Champion Cain Velasquez takes on Junior De Los Santos. The fight will be
televised live on FOX as The UFC was able to secure a deal with the
network to televise some of their fights.
The sport of boxing is constantly seen on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights and
matches are also on HBO or Showtime, but the allure is gone and it
needs to be fixed. Each weight class in boxing has five titles which is
too many. UFC only has one title for each weight class which gives the
champion at that weigh class more credibility. Too many champions at
each level is an attempt to “water down” a title.
For years the sport of boxing has thrived off of the success of the
heavyweight division. Boxing fans have not been treated to a great match
in the heavyweight division since Lennox Lewis fought Evander Holyfield
in 1999. Heavyweight fighters such as Ali, Tyson, and George Foreman
were able to appeal to the casual fan for what they could do. Ali could
talk, Tyson amazed people with his high pitched voice and the manner
that he knocked people out while Foreman became a champion of the people
as he became The WBA and IBF Heavyweight Champions at the age of 45.
With the exception of The Klitschko brothers (Vitali and Wladimir), the
heavyweight division is lacking prestige. Boxing can take a page from
the world of professional wrestling by trying to develop some charisma.
Professional wrestlers not only draw fans for their athletic ability in
the ring, but also for what they can do when they speak. This appeal
allowed Mayweather to compete in The World Wrestling Entertainment’s
Wrestlemania 24 in 2008. Prior to Mayweather, Tyson and Ali also
appeared at Wrestlemania due to their crossover appeal.
Currently there is only one match that boxing fans want to see and that
is Mayweather taking on WBO Welterweight Champion Manny Pacquiao. This
fight has been on and off for the last few years and now it looks to be
dead as both fighters cannot agree on finances or blood testing for
Pacquiao. Boxing fans are starving for a high profile match to watch and
until they do, The UFC will look more and more attractive.
It is terrible because boxing is a true art form and it is being destroyed.
In The UFC, champions don’t last long which also makes the bouts interesting.
Besides what you are saying, I think the worst thing to come to boxing was the appearance of new entities – before, there was the World Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Council, and everything was fine because there were true champions and athletes but since the creation of more entities there have been mediocre champions from out of nowhere. The commercilization of it hasn’t helped either – private tv and promoters has prostituted boxing – they care about money and not the sport or the match… it’s more about the talk, controversy and the hype than what they actually do in the ring. Quantity isn’t quality – and the quality of boxing has completely gone down hill.
I’ve been a fan of boxing and it’s history for a long time. There’s a certain romanticism with boxing and boxers. I remember when the WBO came into exsistence, and I remember thinking this cant be good, another sanctioning body. The big three WBC/WBA/IBF didnt do them selves any favors by “appointing” their champions. The UFC/MMA keeps fans interested because of their match making, their matches always feature two guys who are equally or very closely matched. Unless boxing changes their ways they are gonna continue to lose money and fans too MMA.