Has your interest in boxing gone down or up ??

[Quixall]

Has your interest in boxing gone down or up over the last few years ? and if it has, either way, what are the reasons ?

I think that interest in boxing perhaps goes along with type of fights that are coming up and if there aren't many fights that appeal, your level of interest my wain. Consequently, if there are a number of high profile fights coming up then your imagination gets fired and your interest level increases. This can perhaps be seen on this forum, which ebbs and flows dependant upon whether A list fights are on the horizon. Everyone is different of course and for some people they will watch boxing regardless of who is fighting and at whatever level. I have found my own interest waining slightly of late and an example of this was missing the Cleverley fight, just simply because i couldn't be bothered to watch it, where as a few years back i would have glady made time and seen the fight.

What are your opinions guys ?

[Quixall]

I would say in recent times it has dipped by at least 50%i started falling out of love with the sport about 2 years back and it hasn't been doing much to win my heart back. 3 years back I had plans to to go to the see the Olympic boxing and travel at least once a year to the Uk to see a fight. In the those three years I haven't once looked up tickets for the games or even thought about flying home to watch a show.

I must admit that my interest has dropped Mark. There just isn't anyone who really generates excitement anymore. Maybe i have been spoilt watching Benn, Eubank, Calzaghe, Naz, Bruno, Lewis, Tyson, Jones etc etc. I think it will take something major to get be back on track.

[J]

down but being 6,000 km away will do that.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Down, over many years, just not enough of the biggest fights happen to keep me interested.

[keithmoonhangover]

Mine was at it's peak in the 90's when I bought every magazine on the shelf and taped everyfight on TV.

My interest started going down hill in 2000, coz I went to University and couldn't afford the magazines and got into the internet big style.

Interest has gone back up in the last three or so years and I'm proud to say that this forum has help re-light the fire.

[leforge]

Up. Going to more shows than I ever did.

[ashedward]

Up for me,last year was a great year for the domestic fights we wanted Groves-Degale Murrey-Mitchell Clev-Bellew Chisora-Fury this year has been a bit slow but i`m looking forward to going to the Froch-Bute fight and the war of the roses had good atmoshere also going to the Olympic semis.

[ShadrachSimmo]

Up for me. Some great domestic fights the last year or so and potentially some to come. But bad officiating puts a downer on it all at times and it keeps rearing it's ugly melon.

[Ketchel]

Down. Like others I have masses of boxing related stuff all around the house. Videos, DVDs, books & magazines. I have in the past proudly said that I have every Ring and Boxing News issue from the last 20 years. In my younger days when I was skint I would sacrifice eating for a couple of days in order to spend my last pennies on an issue of Ring(totally true!) I lived on the streets for a while in those days but continued to buy boxing mags with the little money I had and stored the mags at friends houses. Boxing was the only thing I lived for. However I've become disillusioned over the last few years to the point I haven't bought Ring magazine's last 3 issues and feel I am selling out. The guilt is eating me up.

It was bad enough with the WBO coming to the fore, but then WBU and WBF etc. started to arrive. Now they are gone the super champ, interim, silver and diamond belts have come along. Boxing is killing itself. I can't defend it to anyone anymore. Non fans see blatant dodgy decisions that benefit house fighters. They see that there is not a level playing field in a sport where a fighter can be seriously hurt. A guy can train like a demon for a fight, fly halfway around the globe, beat the crap out of the house fighter then go home with a loss on his record. How can that be defended?

I have a huge boxing collection and enjoy watching the great fights and will continue to do so. People talk about rose tinted glasses but I feel the quality of today's fighters is much lower than in the past. Yes there is a handful of guys today that could have lived with the guys of the past but that is about it.

The stars of today I don't really get excited about as they are picking and choosing who they fight and hyping their fights as 50/50 fights. It is more of a business now with the major promoters providing the lowest product for the biggest margin. We used to slag off Don King back in the day but he stacked his bills and provided in one night what we are lucky to get in a year these days.

Boxing fans get taken for granted these days because we devote our lives to watching this sport. I watch because I recognise the sacrifices the fighters make for our benefit. They risk their lives for our entertainment. When I go to watch fights I watch every undercard fight as they deserve credit for getting into that ring and the sport should reward them better. I feel that some promoters recognise that in us fans and abuse it.

Sorry for the rant. I live in hope that the powers that be in boxing will someday realise the rich history of boxing is just that and try to ressurect this one great sport.

[tommo100]

down in recent years,boxing is in a bit of a lull,though there are some great fighters about
ward,floyd,alvares,pac man,it happens in cycles,im`e sure in 5 years there will be a clutch of great fights happening
i suppose iv`e been spoiled growing up with the four kings,benitez,whitaker,chavez,jones
and on the home front mcguigan,benn,eubank and even big frank had people talking about boxing,it just needs a spark,someone like leonard or tyson to re-ignite the sport

[Flashing Blade]

The whole Pacquiao / Mayweather nonsense has made me lose interest.

[IRLangmaid25]

Over the last few years I would actually say it has gone up considerably through posting on here, buying The Ring every month watching and scoring fights regularly, it would be even higher if I had Sky Sports so I would then be able series link record all their fights on there and then watch them the morning after, but I will not able to do that until I get my own place so I have to make do in picking and choosing fights I would like to see on a stream. It does not really bother me at all if the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight never actually comes off at all because they are at least 10-15 good match ups that I can think that would I would like, plus the British scene is bubbling quite nicely at the moment.

[Quixall]

Down. Like others I have masses of boxing related stuff all around the house. Videos, DVDs, books & magazines. I have in the past proudly said that I have every Ring and Boxing News issue from the last 20 years. In my younger days when I was skint I would sacrifice eating for a couple of days in order to spend my last pennies on an issue of Ring(totally true!) I lived on the streets for a while in those days but continued to buy boxing mags with the little money I had and stored the mags at friends houses. Boxing was the only thing I lived for. However I've become disillusioned over the last few years to the point I haven't bought Ring magazine's last 3 issues and feel I am selling out. The guilt is eating me up.

It was bad enough with the WBO coming to the fore, but then WBU and WBF etc. started to arrive. Now they are gone the super champ, interim, silver and diamond belts have come along. Boxing is killing itself. I can't defend it to anyone anymore. Non fans see blatant dodgy decisions that benefit house fighters. They see that there is not a level playing field in a sport where a fighter can be seriously hurt. A guy can train like a demon for a fight, fly halfway around the globe, beat the crap out of the house fighter then go home with a loss on his record. How can that be defended?

I have a huge boxing collection and enjoy watching the great fights and will continue to do so. People talk about rose tinted glasses but I feel the quality of today's fighters is much lower than in the past. Yes there is a handful of guys today that could have lived with the guys of the past but that is about it.

The stars of today I don't really get excited about as they are picking and choosing who they fight and hyping their fights as 50/50 fights. It is more of a business now with the major promoters providing the lowest product for the biggest margin. We used to slag off Don King back in the day but he stacked his bills and provided in one night what we are lucky to get in a year these days.

Boxing fans get taken for granted these days because we devote our lives to watching this sport. I watch because I recognise the sacrifices the fighters make for our benefit. They risk their lives for our entertainment. When I go to watch fights I watch every undercard fight as they deserve credit for getting into that ring and the sport should reward them better. I feel that some promoters recognise that in us fans and abuse it.

Sorry for the rant. I live in hope that the powers that be in boxing will someday realise the rich history of boxing is just that and try to ressurect this one great sport.

Excellent post ketch, i totally agree

[Asterix]

Down, over many years, just not enough of the biggest fights happen to keep me interested.

Yeah, same here, though not over many years for me. I check the schedule most weeks, but there hasn't been anything unmissable, for me, for ages.

[Tunney]

My interest has declined slightly during the past eight months or so, because so many matchups I'd like to see are not happening.

Pacquiao-Mayweather
Sturm-Golovkin
Pirog-Martinez
Price-Fury
S. Mitchell-ranked contender
Ustinov-ranked contender
Boytsov-ranked contender
Wilder-live opponent
Wach-ranked contender
Chagaev-JC Gomez
Cleverly-Sutkosky
Lopez-Gamboa (when it was a hot matchup)
Mikey Garcia-Gamboa, Donaire or Salido
Bute-Ward

[hitman_hatton1]

greed has killed it.

all this paying for subscriptions and pay per views.

mayweather vs pacquiao should be demanded by HBO.

they should blackball both fighters.

tell em to take it elsewhere until they fight each other.

but HBO are more than happy with the gravy train.

and some of the decisions lately have been a joke.

billy jo saunders headlining albert hall is a new low tbh.

no disrespect to saunders but in pro boxing terms he's a complete novice. :>

[mfc_se15]

I'd say mine has gone up. Few years back I didn't have sky so only really saw the big fights, anything shown on terrestrial (ie not much) and went and saw a few shows live. Got most of my news through magazines/newspapers etc.

Since I've got sky seen a lot more domestic fights as well as a lot more shows in general. Joined a few boxing websites etc and also now in steady work been able to go and watch boxing live a lot more regularly, got a couple of fighters I enjoy going to watch now and hopefully have some good nights over the coming years following them around the country/Europe fighting for title fights. Having said that as my interest has grown frustration when the seemingly obvious fights aern't made grows too!!

[twenty six]

Down.
The politics of it all has finally got to me.
When Ryan's done I'm done.

[twenty six]

First things first - he won't.
In the outside chance he did he will carry on, perhaps have a tilt at the Lonsdale belt again.
Ryan may be 35 and have had 51 fights but he is fresh as a daisy and looks as good as ever in training.

[twenty six]

17 years and 3 months since his debut.
He's not done bad.

[twenty six]

Very philosophical !
There's no such thing as new ideas, just reinvention of old ideas.

[Quixall]

Down.
The politics of it all has finally got to me.
When Ryan's done I'm done.

I agree with you about the politics of it all Twenty.............

When you say that "your done" after Ryan has packed in, what do you actually mean by that ??

Are you saying that you won't bother with boxing at all ? So, you won't go to shows, won't watch on television and won't post and debate on this forum ? Seems a bit drastic Twenty !! Or do you mean you will cut down your interest significantly ?

[twenty six]

It's going to take a lot to keep my interest Quix.
I don't suppose I can answer that until the day comes.

[Quixall]

It's going to take a lot to keep my interest Quix.
I don't suppose I can answer that until the day comes.

I have to say that in some ways i feel the same mate..........

Once the top guys have finally gone, Mayweather, Pacquaio, Mosley, Hopkins, Jones, the Klitschko's etc, then i can see myself moving onto another hobby or sport. I have never been that interested in the domestic scene unless a fighter has been pretty special, like Naz, Benn, Eubank, Calzaghe, Lewis etc. I still like to watch Froch and will watch Brook and obviously Ryan until he retires, but the other domestic guys i can take or leave in all honesty. I feel that once Mayweather has gone, then i won't be watching anymore, because no-one stands out for me in terms of personality and style. No-one makes me feel the way i felt when i watched Benn, Naz, Lennox.

[Ezzard]

My interest is up.

From about 1982 to 1992 I bought The Ring, Boxing News, KO, World Boxing, Boxing Monthly (when it came out). I had a huge collection of Betamax tapes (don’t laugh). I used to tune into American services radio at all times of the night to listen to sports broadcasts to hear the odd US fight. At times listening to hours of baseball just so I could get fight results.

Once I went to Uni I was out all the time so not as devoted. But for me my love had taken a number of body blows. Ray Leonard finally granting mismatches/rematches to Duran and Hearns when they were finished as fighters (or so it seemed). Ray had been my favourite up until then but it was at this point I saw he was collecting the names of guys who had seen better days. Like a kid who took his ball home once he went 1-0 up only to return to the field when everyone else had gone home.

Benn-Eubank-Watson-Collins and Naz and Lennox kept me going but not with the same intensity. But then there was Roy Jones who did all the bad things Ray Leonard did but none of the good things. At least Ray took the challenges when he was a young man. Jones was a show not a man looking to fight the best. Then SKY took over and I stopped watching because boxing pretty much disappeared. Add to this the loss of 15 round fights and the WBO title…

I just watched old fights I bought from collectors. But really lost a decade. Then with the internet I thought one day about looking for a boxing forum. Read everything on boxrec and then finally started posting and generally irritating all the other users.

I decided to get SKY so I could watch the sport again. And certain people really make me feel the sport is on the up. Carl Froch is a big one. Just fought the best time after time. A great man. Haye, pre-Harrison fight. Then tournaments like the Super 6 make me think there is a genuine will to turn things around.

The amateur game seems to be throwing out lots of talent in the UK. Boxing back on terrestrial with a guy like Fury is a big step. He appeals to the casual fan.

There’s no doubt that the top Americans Floyd, Hopkins, Ward, etc are severely lacking. I think the standard of US journalism has fallen. Losing the heavyweight title for so long has made them a bitter lot. But boxing is much more international now. And better for it.