Is Boxing in decline in the UK?

[whicker]

A straight topic for discussion.

We do currently have 4 World Champions, yet public awareness of boxing (in generally) seems lower than ever.

And very little if any boxing is now aired on free to air TV, less than ever before.

As a fan, there seems to be few decent fights to look forward to these days.

Or is everything just rosey?

Prizefighter is certainly fantastic.

[gobbles]

Disagree completely.

Are you saying guys like Khan and Haye are unknown among the general public?

Much more boxing in the papers too compared to 7 or 8 years ago.

Khan is a crossover figure. He has been for six years. He is one of the most famous sportsmen in Britain.

[bigped]

Disagree completely.

Are you saying guys like Khan and Haye are unknown among the general public?

Much more boxing in the papers too compared to 7 or 8 years ago.

Khan is a crossover figure. He has been for six years. He is one of the most famous sportsmen in Britain.

Agreed khan has done wonders since he turned over, everyone knows khan

[NazNaci1]

And very little if any boxing is now aired on free to air TV, less than ever before.

This is the obvious reason as to why.

We have Khan and Haye. But we also used to have Bruno, Benn, Eubank, Graham, Bugner aswell as Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran etc all aired, for free.

So awareness not only domestically, but of international fighters was greater. How many of the general public (not those 300,00 SKY subscriptions) know Manny Pacquino or Mayweather, Pavlik, Williams, Martinez, Donaire, Pascal, Hopkins or going back a bit, Toney, DLH, Trinidad, Vargas, Whittiker, Chavez, Norris...?

Boxing has been on the decline for awhile, sure we get a Khan or Haye once in awhile, but even that will be lost to the public, in time.

If you take something away from the masses (Boxing always gets high ratings on terrestial TV, proving the fan base is there), how do you expect the sport to grow?

It won't for the forseeable future, here in the UK.

[ourkid1984]

I think it's on a decline compared to the 90's but compared to the last 5 or 6 years I don't think so.

In fact I would say that it is in the up compared to the previous recent years. There seems to be more bigger shows and whether it's on free to air or not the seems to be a lot more available on tv.

This argument that it can't grow without the BBC or ITV getting involved is a bit false as if you look at other sports that are on sky only or for the majority of the time they don't seem to be doing too badly;

Football - although attendances have taken a drop the amount of people who watch games have rocketed
Golf - Yes I know a few of the majors are on BBC but everything else is on Sky and I can't see a drop in interest
Snooker - Became less popular on BBC but more popular on Sky
UFC - Has got a massive following and only really on ESPN
Darts - Sky format has more viewers and is generally recognised as the best and biggest

There's probably more as well but couldn't be bothered to think. Sport goes around in trends just like music and film tastes do and for me everyone knows Khan and Haye and recently I've been asked more and more about Froch. Many other casual fans are starting to ask about other boxers like Monroe, Cleverlly and pretty much all the Olympians as lets face it more and more people are succumbing to Sky or other digital platforms because of the digital switch over.

[Datsue]

There's deffo been an upswing in the last few years, certainly on the world scale -- I know casual fans who can tell me who Manny Pac is & who even heard about that "Latin bloke who fights with his hands down", whilst they love to take the piss out of Pretty Boy.

Fifteen years back no-one knew who the eff Pernell Whitaker was. Ten years ago one or two had heard of Barrera. It's not so bad now.

[yiddo14]

Yeah but then again 50-60 years ago, British Title Fights made big news in the papers and everyone knew who the British Heavyweight Champion was.

I don't think it's declining compared to how it's been over the past 10 years or so but it has generally declined since the "good ol days"

[Datsue]

but it has generally declined since the "good ol days"

Yes, yes, but in the fvcking good old days pudenda complained about some other prelapsarian golden age which never fvcking existed, in which Jimmy Wilde took on Godzilla in the booths for a hundred twenty minute rounds for a bob a go. & before that pudenda complained that Jimmy & the others who plied their trad in the booths were mere dilettantes compared to the Real Men of yore, who fought bare-knuckle, bare-chested & bare-bollocked & would only concede defeat if one of their arms came off.

Look, I fvcking hate nostalgia, I find it poisonous. The first humans who came down to the savannah immediately started moaning "Oh, but look at all this grass everywhere, it's so terrible, oh fvck I miss the trees, d'you remember how lovely it was, you could see for miles, didn't even have to stand erect, it's crap down here on the ground, things were so much better when we all used to brachiate..."

With your bipedal posture & your opposable thumbs, you lot don't know you're born!

[JDC]

I think the bad undercards are ruining it a little. Promotors are thinking too short-term. Haye, Khan and Froch aren't showcasing the next generation. Calzaghe and Hatton were guilty of the same after leaving Warren. Enzo fought for the Euro in an untelevised event with no British card. Our prospects go from small hall shows straight to football stadiums to be watched all over the world with very little big night experience or exposure.

[Tommy Gunn13]

We have some good prospects coming thru&some champions who can step up to the next level,so id say uk boxing is not in the decline...The next 2-3yrs could be very interesting from a british point of view...

[freddydoesdallas]

We have some good prospects coming thru&some champions who can step up to the next level,so id say uk boxing is not in the decline...The next 2-3yrs could be very interesting from a british point of view...

This is very true and when you add in the Olympians for 2012 then i think it has the potential to really take off again back to previous highs. Also, more and more gyms are appearing and even schools are beginning to offer boxing so the sport is attracting new people in.

I think the boxing base is gradually building up a bit at the minute but the casual fans haven't got anybody to really get behind at the minute but the fighters are beginning to creep through

[Eraserhead]

Disagree completely.

Are you saying guys like Khan and Haye are unknown among the general public?

Much more boxing in the papers too compared to 7 or 8 years ago.

Khan is a crossover figure. He has been for six years. He is one of the most famous sportsmen in Britain.

Agreed khan has done wonders since he turned over, everyone knows khan

Really? Take your head out the clouds. Outside of this forum, nobody knows anything about his title defence this coming Saturday. The general public don't know Maidana, don't know what weight they're fighting at and don't even realise Khan is now based Stateside.

Khan was far more popular and well-known in 2004 than he is right now. He is certainly not one of the most famous sportsmen in Britain. I think in order to achieve that kind of status he'd need to compete in a massive event as a pro, perhaps along the lines of a fight with Ricky Hatton in Britain. So far, Khan has had no such event, and has never been a ticket seller in the UK.

[Scrap]

In 71, there were 120,000 carded amatuers, now there are under 15,000. The clues are there. Our thumb took a million years to develope, so dont think there was an awareness to that fact DD

[dekker88]

haye, khan, froch, burns, degale, gavin, cleverly, the saunders kids, macklin, smigga, groves, barker, fury, chisora....

all either world class or potentially world class.

we've never had it so good.

[Andypittcov]

Lewis,bruno,nelson,benn,eubank,calzaghe,reid,hamed,ingle

Bit better than your mob IMO deck her