i am on a boxing down

[finchy36]

Let's get this straight. Sport in its purist form no longer exists at a professional level. The days are gone when an amateur was so good at his sport that people would pay to watch him and he could turn his sport into a 'profession'. Shrewd business people spotted this opportunity a long time ago and turned it into a money making business.

Professional sport doesn't exist - BIG BUSINESS and people that think life is about making money only exist. I'm not talking about the sportsmen themselves. Young footballers/boxers/tennis players etc. are not driven by money. They love their sport and want to be the best. But look at F1. They would rather destroy the sport and earn more money through two championships than do the right things by the fans and settle their differences. Don't believe this row is about a $40m cap on spending. It's because the teams (imo rightly so) don't want Bernie taking the lion's share of cash when they are the ones putting on the show.

In boxing, the WBA has got extra greedy by having a super, normal, regular, womens, interbullshit, skinny-latte champion at every weight so they can charge a sactioning fee. It was bad enough we had 123 world champions at 33 different weights spread across different bodies - now a single body has multiple world champs. The fans don't want it - but when did they matter in business?

Football can charge what they want because the average loyal fan will always find the money to follow his team no matter how extortionate. But when did they matter in business?

I don't watch MMA - I have tried but feel guilty - I feel like I'm cheating on my first love of boxing.

But at the end of the day they are giving the fans what they want and it appears they are doing a great job of mixing business with sport.

Perhaps other sports should take note...

[neil hibbert]

im also getting bored... im sick of watching 90/10 fights oppsed to 50/50... any boxer who has had over 10/15 fights should be banned from fighting journeymen...if they aint learnt there trade by then then its tough

thats my biggest gripe about all the shows i go o, why cant there be more 5050 fights, take crolla sykes for example, that fight alone was worht going the show for, wheras in mma its a lot of 50/50 or 60/40 fights not 90/10

[Punchy Joe]

Let's get this straight. Sport in its purist form no longer exists at a professional level. The days are gone when an amateur was so good at his sport that people would pay to watch him and he could turn his sport into a 'profession'. Shrewd business people spotted this opportunity a long time ago and turned it into a money making business.

Professional sport doesn't exist - BIG BUSINESS and people that think life is about making money only exist. I'm not talking about the sportsmen themselves. Young footballers/boxers/tennis players etc. are not driven by money. They love their sport and want to be the best. But look at F1. They would rather destroy the sport and earn more money through two championships than do the right things by the fans and settle their differences. Don't believe this row is about a $40m cap on spending. It's because the teams (imo rightly so) don't want Bernie taking the lion's share of cash when they are the ones putting on the show.

In boxing, the WBA has got extra greedy by having a super, normal, regular, womens, interbullshit, skinny-latte champion at every weight so they can charge a sactioning fee. It was bad enough we had 123 world champions at 33 different weights spread across different bodies - now a single body has multiple world champs. The fans don't want it - but when did they matter in business?

Football can charge what they want because the average loyal fan will always find the money to follow his team no matter how extortionate. But when did they matter in business?

I don't watch MMA - I have tried but feel guilty - I feel like I'm cheating on my first love of boxing.

But at the end of the day they are giving the fans what they want and it appears they are doing a great job of mixing business with sport.

Perhaps other sports should take note...

fecking hell, excellent post mate

[s9s]

I'm pretty sure that many fights from the past had boxers fighting with injuries or recovering, now we have boxers not taking the risk, a back strain a tooth infection, a leg muscle pull.

When you are an athlete than you are going to get injuries, the difference is eastern european boxers have a very scientific approach and thus adverse to taking any risk, a throwback to the soviet era perhaps. And people like Haye surround themselves with nutirisonists, fitness specialists, dieticians, these people will always advise a boxer not to take a risk, gone are the days when a boxer will not reveal any injury till after the fight, gone are the days when they would listen to their own body and carry on.

I'm not saying a boxer should go in with an injury that would threaten his health, but we've had too many pullouts recently and to be frank, I really don't care about boxing anymore, It's been two years since I saw Haye knock out Bonin, and since then he's had three fights, no wonder the average joe doesn't care anymore.

[alexpaterson]

There are loads of good fights out there to be made 2010 could be a good year for boxing if they get made which will be the problem

[Gaz_73]

Let's get this straight. Sport in its purist form no longer exists at a professional level. The days are gone when an amateur was so good at his sport that people would pay to watch him and he could turn his sport into a 'profession'. Shrewd business people spotted this opportunity a long time ago and turned it into a money making business.

Professional sport doesn't exist - BIG BUSINESS and people that think life is about making money only exist. I'm not talking about the sportsmen themselves. Young footballers/boxers/tennis players etc. are not driven by money. They love their sport and want to be the best. But look at F1. They would rather destroy the sport and earn more money through two championships than do the right things by the fans and settle their differences. Don't believe this row is about a $40m cap on spending. It's because the teams (imo rightly so) don't want Bernie taking the lion's share of cash when they are the ones putting on the show.

In boxing, the WBA has got extra greedy by having a super, normal, regular, womens, interbullshit, skinny-latte champion at every weight so they can charge a sactioning fee. It was bad enough we had 123 world champions at 33 different weights spread across different bodies - now a single body has multiple world champs. The fans don't want it - but when did they matter in business?

Football can charge what they want because the average loyal fan will always find the money to follow his team no matter how extortionate. But when did they matter in business?

I don't watch MMA - I have tried but feel guilty - I feel like I'm cheating on my first love of boxing.

But at the end of the day they are giving the fans what they want and it appears they are doing a great job of mixing business with sport.

Perhaps other sports should take note...

Spot on.

[whicker]

The upcoming MEN bill looks ace, that is enough to raise the interest. The main event, plus three good bouts on the undercard should make it a good evening.