Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on a number of counts. To use a direct comparison with football, if it was like boxing there would be about seven different versions of the Premiership and Champions League, the likes of Man Utd would never play away from home and would hardly ever face Barcelona, Chelsea etc, but would instead dine out on games against Wigan. It would also be virtually impossible for a team to win an away game due to dodgy decisions.greenyox3 wrote:I disagree that the examples I used are the notable exceptions; every week there seems to be a new scandal in football, and certainly every week an official makes a bad decision that effects the outcome of the game. Maybe the fake blood thing in rugby was a bad example, but rugby players often misbehave off the pitch and it generally goes unreported by the media (until this world cup), because it IS the norm. And allegations of corruption have dogged cricket for years.
My point is, I'm pretty sure the hardcore fans of these sports don't complain about the so-called decline of their game, like some boxing fans do, every time something bad happens. Boxing is, I believe, as popular as it's been for a long time (certainly in the UK) and is far from a dying sport.
The reference to events off the pitch is borderline irrelevant as people aren't on this thread complaining about the behaviour of certain fighters in their personal lives dragging the sport down, they're pointing to the clear abuses within the framework of the sport.
The insinuation that boxing fans are somehow more inclined to moan more than hardcore fans of other sports just doesn't stand up to scrutiny either.