Boxing Needs More Prestige

[Mac Attack]

Boxing these days has taken a very dramatic turn for the negative. Boxing which was once a staple in the sports world has seemingly turned into a past-time. The importance and relevancy of boxing has truthfully dropped incredibly and is actually not even shown all too often anymore. Remember the days of the Muhammad Ali, these were the days that boxing had true prestige in the sporting world, not it seems as if nobody even cares what is happening?

My Question is: How do you add prestige to boxing?

I honestly really don't know exactly how you do this. Boxing is a real and violent sport and so logically you would need a brand or a company to sign boxers and promote them through the television. However currently there is nobody really who is doing this, and all other attempts to show boxing is relatively unsucessful. So I would offer this solution. Have somebody partner with ESPN(Score in Canada) and take on a boxing production. If it fails then quit however I think if promoted properly it could become huge.

But how would you add prestige to boxing?

 

[Tha Wolfpac]

The problem with boxing is that the actual fighters have to much control over their fights and who they fight. There is way too many commissions and independent boards or whatever. If boxing wants to get big again i suggest taking a route similar to the UFC and appointing one head of boxing. One world title for each weight division, and sign boxers and gain control over them and the head of company appoints the fights. Similar to the UFC. It really is the best formula.

 

[Calderownz]

Honestly, in this country, this thread might apply. However, in Germany and the U.K.... Japan.. it's still essentially the biggest or second biggest sport. Soccer usually beats out the other sports, including boxing.

However, in regard to this country, it's obviously not simple.

Presentation has a lot to do with it. I think that the athletes from other countries should try their bests to learn English. I think that helps American fans connect. Little things such as entrances could give it a bigger feel. Better, more publicized build-ups. I think fighters would have to take less money to get on network television as well. Fan-friendly fights on those occasions would help.

Fighters should have control of their careers. They are the ones that are risking their lives. However, fighters that are too safe shouldn't be rewarded. Guys like Sergio Martinez should be getting paid in the millions for the rest of their careers. Guys like Sven Ottke SHOULD be banned from the sport. At the very least, he should be acknowledged until they are willing to step in there with the best.

Finally, American fans need to know where to look for the champions. The Ring Magazine. While some question it's legitimacy when it's owned by Golden Boy Promotions, I don't. It's not shown me any signs when it comes to rankings and especially champions. All been on the level with me.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think there are a combination of a few things to do.

1. Stop airing EVERYTHING on Showtime/HBO/PPV. The last time there was a major boxing match on free TV was probably before the vast majority of us were born. Can you imagine Mayweather or Pacquiao fighting on NBC? I'd watch and I'm not a boxing fan. UFC is the hottest thing in the world and they have free shows all the time. They may not be a huge production but they're still big cards. This leads me to my second point.

2. Have ONE, as in less than two, major governing body. A quick check of Wiki shows a total of five current world heavyweight championships held by a total of three fighters. Again look to MMA: you have at most 2 men you could argue as world heavyweight champion if you include Strikeforce. There's no point to having this many champions. Just like in wrestling, too many titles water down the value of each.

3. Give us a reason to care. Other than Pacquiao and Mayweather when he fights, you don't hear about these guys. If you asked say 100 people who a world champion boxer is that isn't named Pacquiao/Mayweather and I'd bet at most 10 people could name one. There is no hype for any single boxer other than those two. The biggest named heavyweight boxer to make noise recently was Rocky Balboa when he was put into the boxing Hall of Fame. Either get people to care or hype up your other divisions.

4. Give us the big fight. There's one dream match out there and everyone knows what it is: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. I don't care what it costs, I don't care who kind of drug testing you have to get, get us this fight. They're the biggest named fighters in the world and they flat out need to fight each other.

5. Give the fighters a reason to fight more often (as long as they can safely). I've heard of fighters making millions for one fight. A fight in 2009 earned Pacquiao and some guy named Miguel Cotto a combined THIRTY FOUR MILLION DOLLARS. By comparison to the far more popular UFC, at UFC 100, Georges St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar, the two biggest draws in the sport, combined to make $800,000. Why in the world would you fight more than once ever if you're making 12 million bucks for a 36 minute fight?

There are a lot of other things, but these are the main ones I can think of.