Anyone else getting a bit bored of boxing? Reasons why...?

[reggaereggae]

I have found myself getting less and less interested in boxing this year. Following boxing has been an obsession but for the first time in life, I haven't been that bothered when I've missed fights.... I don't even subscribe to SKY anymore....

I always buy boxing news and Boxing Monthly but have found I read less and less of them,man don't get that old feeling of excitement when they're published. I tried to put reasons together:

- big fights not happening. This is a big one. Many, many missed big fights over the years
- pull outs - Haye, Fury etc
- age: as you get older you get less excited about sports anyway
- lack of characters: there are a few (Fury etc) but world heavies have been stagnant for years
- TV Coverage: SKY presenters etc are awful... I cringe watching their poor delivery and shit eating grins. They are always in the fence as well, towing the line. Bunce is the opposite but awful in his own way. And no serious Free TV

That was all I could think of - for me, MMA is not a distraction. in fact I barely follow it now after being really interested in it a few years ago.

Anyone else?

[danamba7]

Personally I'm not bored of it but I understand your reasons why.

For me Boxing is like the wife you love. MMA (UFC mainly) was a hot piece of ass that came along and distracted you for a bit but you always go back to the wife. You felt guilty for looking at the hottie and taking less notice of the wife but all in all you're glad that you did as it makes you realize how much better your wife is!








I'm not married as you can probably tell.

[reggaereggae]

Personally I'm not bored of it but I understand your reasons why.

For me Boxing is like the wife you love. MMA (UFC mainly) was a hot piece of ass that came along and distracted you for a bit but you always go back to the wife. You felt guilty for looking at the hottie and taking less notice of the wife but all in all you're glad that you did as it makes you realize how much better your wife is!








I'm not married as you can probably tell.

Great analogy

[blanca]

I have found myself getting less and less interested in boxing this year. Following boxing has been an obsession but for the first time in life, I haven't been that bothered when I've missed fights.... I don't even subscribe to SKY anymore....

I always buy boxing news and Boxing Monthly but have found I read less and less of them,man don't get that old feeling of excitement when they're published. I tried to put reasons together:

- big fights not happening. This is a big one. Many, many missed big fights over the years
- pull outs - Haye, Fury etc
- age: as you get older you get less excited about sports anyway
- lack of characters: there are a few (Fury etc) but world heavies have been stagnant for years
- TV Coverage: SKY presenters etc are awful... I cringe watching their poor delivery and poo eating grins. They are always in the fence as well, towing the line. Bunce is the opposite but awful in his own way. And no serious Free TV

That was all I could think of - for me, MMA is not a distraction. in fact I barely follow it now after being really interested in it a few years ago.

Anyone else?

100% with you. I just cancelled sky sports as im bored of ringside and the hearn bills..Anything half decent is ppv...when i get my BN delivered every week i used to finish it by saturday..latest copy still not finished.i think we are just bored of knowing whowins each fight 90% of the time before it starts.as we get older we are also more wise about the cynical approach that the powerful in boxing have toward the fans. They think we are stupid and will pay for substandard fare whatever..
And quite how tv companies and promoters can determine the destiny of world titles is quite frankly appalling..fed up with it ...want the 80's back

[danamba7]

I have found myself getting less and less interested in boxing this year. Following boxing has been an obsession but for the first time in life, I haven't been that bothered when I've missed fights.... I don't even subscribe to SKY anymore....

I always buy boxing news and Boxing Monthly but have found I read less and less of them,man don't get that old feeling of excitement when they're published. I tried to put reasons together:

- big fights not happening. This is a big one. Many, many missed big fights over the years
- pull outs - Haye, Fury etc
- age: as you get older you get less excited about sports anyway
- lack of characters: there are a few (Fury etc) but world heavies have been stagnant for years
- TV Coverage: SKY presenters etc are awful... I cringe watching their poor delivery and poo eating grins. They are always in the fence as well, towing the line. Bunce is the opposite but awful in his own way. And no serious Free TV

That was all I could think of - for me, MMA is not a distraction. in fact I barely follow it now after being really interested in it a few years ago.

Anyone else?

100% with you. I just cancelled sky sports as im bored of ringside and the hearn bills..Anything half decent is ppv...when i get my BN delivered every week i used to finish it by saturday..latest copy still not finished.i think we are just bored of knowing whowins each fight 90% of the time before it starts.as we get older we are also more wise about the cynical approach that the powerful in boxing have toward the fans. They think we are stupid and will pay for substandard fare whatever..
And quite how tv companies and promoters can determine the destiny of world titles is quite frankly appalling..fed up with it ...want the 80's back

Woooooo the 80's! Pearms, New wave and Racism

[Crazyboy]

awww lets not get toooo carried away....

Its still a fantastic sport and can still produce nights of pure magic. The politics of how fights are made and why some are avoided is a fair point but there's no denying its still an incredible sport for excitement etc.

I'll never get bored of it personally

[stujones]

They need to promote the shows better. The boxing on five gets very little advertising. BN shows also barring the odd bit of "all access" or "allegedly speaks too", most Sky bills don't either.... the ones that do.... get the people buzzed - e.g. Froch vs Groves.

Sky, BN and 5 also need to do promo's (adverts) during their regular ad breaks to promote the fights more. Something like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwTMd5wujZg

Just none of the channels do this apart from the PPV's.

[pyenest77]

I still love boxing but probably not as much as i used to I pretty much agree with all of the above. A few of the things that probably helped me lose a little interest.

Shit matchmaking some bloke who has won 12/12 against a bloke that is 4/42. You know the winner before it even starts.
Eastern Europeans. What is the win-loss record of these chaps?
Inter-Continental titles. They serve no purpose but to literally buy your win into the top 15. Interim titles (when the champ is active)/Youth/Gold/Silver/Masters????????
Promoters/Sky deciding they will have massive gaps in live shows. A leeds show we went for first bell at 5.15 sat down watched a couple of prelimenaries then at 6.05 some bloke came in the ring & said ladies & gentlemen the boxing will re-start at 7.
The multitude of titles. Years ago we knew who all the belt holders were nowadays we would be lucky to name half of them!

[187]

Not the boxing itself but the circus that goes with it

[Boxing Prospect]

I'm the opposite. I've been really, really excited recently. Then again I've made a concious effort to follow the sport deeper than just what Sky and US tv show. I've really enjoyed the emergence of Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka (both are sensational fighters, absolutely amazing talents), I've loved watching Roman Gonzalez, Akira Yaegashi, Juan Francisco Estrada and Katsunari Takayama, the fights in the lower weights have been worth their weight in gold and battles like Guerrero Vs Rosas, Eto Vs Diale, Takayama Vs Rodriguez, Segura Vs Marquez and Eto Vs Porpramook have made the last 12 months so amazing.

I understand how you feel about boxing being boring and in my eyes the stuff on UK and US tv is a bit that way with less action and more talking. If you can make the effort to look lower down the weights however there is so much great stuff going on that the crap at 140+ really is easy to overlook.

[DMA1987]

Exhausted with the negativity

[Crazyboy]

I'm the opposite. I've been really, really excited recently. Then again I've made a concious effort to follow the sport deeper than just what Sky and US tv show. I've really enjoyed the emergence of Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka (both are sensational fighters, absolutely amazing talents), I've loved watching Roman Gonzalez, Akira Yaegashi, Juan Francisco Estrada and Katsunari Takayama, the fights in the lower weights have been worth their weight in gold and battles like Guerrero Vs Rosas, Eto Vs Diale, Takayama Vs Rodriguez, Segura Vs Marquez and Eto Vs Porpramook have made the last 12 months so amazing.

I understand how you feel about boxing being boring and in my eyes the stuff on UK and US tv is a bit that way with less action and more talking. If you can make the effort to look lower down the weights however there is so much great stuff going on that the crap at 140+ really is easy to overlook.

hey mate, I have seen you post many times now and I often wonder where you actually watch these boxers you mention.

I'm very much a 'casual' boxing fan and wouldn't even know where to go to watch some of the names above but I would love to as your enthusiasm for these guys is obvious. I know I could maybe google it etc but you seem in the know about this so I just thought I'd ask you if you don't mind.

Hope you can help, I'd love to watch these guys and give my own opinions on them, thanks for the insight mate

[Black Sam Bellamy]

Too much emphasis on the promoters and the general boxing politique for me. IFL and the whole Social Media circus creating a soap opera. "Eddie says this", "Frank says that". Who cares. Let the fighters fight.

[Mimmy]

Characters and personalities make boxing what it is. Basically we have not got a personality or a character in the UK today. That also goes for the US too.

Boxing is at a stagnant stage at the moment and promoters are suffering dearly. I think everyone in boxing is looking for the new Mike Tyson and the great boxers who were all around in the mid to late 80's. There are no rivalries at the moment, the odd one pops up here and there but then you have to wait another year or 3.

Back in the mid to late 80's there was a rival fight almost every month to wet your appitite. Boxing will come back at some point its all a waiting game

[Datsue]

I'm a weirdo, I just love watching good fights. I've seen loads of good fights lately.

Very few on British or American TV, mind.

Good fights are still happening, but the apparatus of "mainstream" boxing in the West--the way it's set-up, marketed, packaged, administrated & sold--is set up to stifle that very thing, imo, whilst creating the atmosphere that Black Sam talked of above (people social-meedja'ing the whole circus, the actual fights nearly forgotten) to keep us paying for fvck-all (or at least, not for good fights).

All the talk of "brands", "followings", "rivalries" (whether promotional or fighter-based) is utter dreck & has little to do with the fights, as far as I can tell. I am not so much bored as cvntingly annoyed with it, but I do think an important distinction needs to be made between the actual boxing done by the boxers & "boxing", the circus.

& also, people seemingly in love with "boxing" (as opposed to boxing, that is, people hitting each other) getting shirty with any dissent fvcks me off too. It's like the defenders of globalised hyper-capitalism: "IT'S THE WAY IT IS!!! ALWAYS HAS BEEN!!! ALWAYS WILL BE!!!!" they shout, whilst, actually, it's nowhere near as monolithic as that, it doesn't have to be done like that & it could be done a different way, they just don't want to hear about it (for reasons of vested interests or a failure of for want of a better word imagination or just 'cos they've been duped by the machine).

But the boxing? Fvcking love it, mush. I may have actually soiled myself during Yaegashi vs González, & JF Estrada doing Segura was mint, too.

[Datsue]

Too much emphasis on the promoters and the general boxing politique for me. IFL and the whole Social Media circus creating a soap opera. "Eddie says this", "Frank says that". Who cares. Let the fighters fight.

Actually, it was BS that really kicked the whole thing into life with a huge, "Getting to know you" bit with Hearn

[Burns Dooley in effigy]

I kid, I kid...

[Counter-puncher]

I'm a weirdo, I just love watching good fights. I've seen loads of good fights lately.

Very few on British or American TV, mind.

Good fights are still happening, but the apparatus of "mainstream" boxing in the West--the way it's set-up, marketed, packaged, administrated & sold--is set up to stifle that very thing, imo, whilst creating the atmosphere that Black Sam talked of above (people social-meedja'ing the whole circus, the actual fights nearly forgotten) to keep us paying for fvck-all (or at least, not for good fights).

All the talk of "brands", "followings", "rivalries" (whether promotional or fighter-based) is utter dreck & has little to do with the fights, as far as I can tell. I am not so much bored as cvntingly annoyed with it, but I do think an important distinction needs to be made between the actual boxing done by the boxers & "boxing", the circus.

& also, people seemingly in love with "boxing" (as opposed to boxing, that is, people hitting each other) getting shirty with any dissent fvcks me off too. It's like the defenders of globalised hyper-capitalism: "IT'S THE WAY IT IS!!! ALWAYS HAS BEEN!!! ALWAYS WILL BE!!!!" they shout, whilst, actually, it's nowhere near as monolithic as that, it doesn't have to be done like that & it could be done a different way, they just don't want to hear about it (for reasons of vested interests or a failure of for want of a better word imagination or just 'cos they've been duped by the machine).

But the boxing? Fvcking love it, mush. I may have actually soiled myself during Yaegashi vs González, & JF Estrada doing Segura was mint, too.

aye. not to labour our own well-wron point here, mate, but I reckon something like 2/3 of the best fights I have seen in the last 3-4 years have happened south of 140lbs, and often a long way south, and not on brit or yank mainstream tv channels

[stevedoc]

i get a bit pissed that the big fights just don't happen anymore other than froch vs groves i haven't been excited about many fights for a while ,haye vs wladimir should of been a good fight and it wasn't floyd vs canello the same . i see an old ratings from when tyson lost to douglas and most of the guys rated like holyfield and witherspoon had only had 15 ish fights where as now boxers weight till they're in their 30 (age and fights) before getting near a title fight and everyone is so scared of losing that they won't fight each other ,it's amazing that hearns and leonard were both around 23 when they fought the closes we have to that is floyd vs manny who are in there mid/late 30's and they won't fight each other . it's also becoming like wrestling in that fighters seem to fight for one company like golden boy and if there rival is with someone else the don't fight .
money has become the driving force for to many boxers as well so they don't want to risk fighting the best and losing .

[rm1]

Not the boxing itself but the circus that goes with it

exactly and the lack of meaningful activity in certain divisions.

[Boxerbeetle]

The big fights not happening is the main reason I get annoyed with boxing.

We all know that amazing feeling you get just before a genuine 50/50 between world level fighters? Boxing fans should get to feel that more than once every few years imo.

Its also annoying that I can rarely talk about boxing with my work colleagues or mates as most of them have only heard of a handful of fighters.

The absolute garbage that is the current heavyweight division does nothing to help matters - like it or not, it's always been the heavyweights that attract the mainstream media coverage. Without that coverage, we're just the followers of a very niche sport.

[reggaereggae]

I have found myself getting less and less interested in boxing this year. Following boxing has been an obsession but for the first time in life, I haven't been that bothered when I've missed fights.... I don't even subscribe to SKY anymore....

I always buy boxing news and Boxing Monthly but have found I read less and less of them,man don't get that old feeling of excitement when they're published. I tried to put reasons together:

- big fights not happening. This is a big one. Many, many missed big fights over the years
- pull outs - Haye, Fury etc
- age: as you get older you get less excited about sports anyway
- lack of characters: there are a few (Fury etc) but world heavies have been stagnant for years
- TV Coverage: SKY presenters etc are awful... I cringe watching their poor delivery and poo eating grins. They are always in the fence as well, towing the line. Bunce is the opposite but awful in his own way. And no serious Free TV

That was all I could think of - for me, MMA is not a distraction. in fact I barely follow it now after being really interested in it a few years ago.

Anyone else?

100% with you. I just cancelled sky sports as im bored of ringside and the hearn bills..Anything half decent is ppv...when i get my BN delivered every week i used to finish it by saturday..latest copy still not finished.i think we are just bored of knowing whowins each fight 90% of the time before it starts.as we get older we are also more wise about the cynical approach that the powerful in boxing have toward the fans. They think we are stupid and will pay for substandard fare whatever..
And quite how tv companies and promoters can determine the destiny of world titles is quite frankly appalling..fed up with it ...want the 80's back

That's another good point. PPV SKY rip offs..... And with only one good fight on the bill (the main one).

[lefty]

I'm a bit bored of it at the moment actually but I think that's more to do with watching so much of it at times.

[Ezzard]

It's a real shame that we've had Barker, Macklin, Murray and Lee...and it looks like none of them will ever fight one another.

I love boxing and had my time out from the sport over a decade ago.

We definitely need more 50-50 or even 60-40 fights.

I think the British scene is great.

The US scene is as bad as I can ever remember. The only time Andre Ward and Superstar should appear in the same sentence is when they offer him the Ted Neeley role.

[Broomhall]

It just isnt the same, PPV and satelite have marginalised the sport, the characters and legends are just not there anymore, the top fighters avoid each other,the heavyweight scene is stagnant....

When I was a kid..Ali, Foreman, Hagler, Hearns, Duran, Franklin, leonard..the lighter weights guys like Chacon, Arguello, Zamora, Pintor, Zarate, Olivares...good British fighters like Minter, Finnegans, Honeyghan, Stracey, Dave Boy Green...

We even used to talk about the ABA champions at school ffs....

Once the IBF/WBO came along and BBC/ITV turned out the lights the writing was on the wall. A "champion" can go 10, 15 defences without fighting any of the other title holders..

Paul Butler can be a two world champion and walk down a street and no one would recognise him, there just isnt that excitement and buzz anymore-Froch and Groves showed the public do want it, but while it stays on the margins in the Uk anyway it is hard to get excited.

[dbf]

With the OP on this one.

It's just too much hard work. I can't get into some of the average stuff matchroom put on - some of quiggs fights are laughable, billing Crolla as some massive superstar and the Ricky Burns opponents. (Bar Crawford who was mandatory) etc etc.

Sky's complete overhyping of everything and the cheesiness of ringside is beyond comparison. Jonny Nelson doing some corny intro and then getting the theatrics from smith, the complete opposite of reserved and subtle but slightly awkward ed Robinson ('oh no he didn't' - say something remotely critical about Ed), it's just a bit if a mess. Throw in some jargon and buzz phrases such as 'our sport' 'boxing man' etc, just make me want to cry.

Then you have boxing journalists and internet writers (how could they ever be journo's!) all acting as best buddies on twitter as if they are the only ones in the know and acting as guardians of the secret. Yet consistantly wheeling out the same tripe. I get this feeling that they believe that they are in some special club and nod and wink at each other as if to say 'yeah, I work in boxing'

The fact that the best just aren't fighting the best often enough. (Nothing new but tiring)

Other things that are making me lose interest;

Twitter 'fans'

Boxers banging on about how hard they train all the time on twitter. It's kind of expected, I mean it is your job. I don't need to hear about it every two minutes. Some insight is good but just constantly talking about hard sessions isn't of interest. Much like 'journalists' who bang on about how hard they work. For me hard work is a given in any industry for those who want success.

Twitter fans (who are mainly casual boxing fans) tweeting eddie hearn and calling him mate.

Death of the boxing forums. So quiet these days.

Everyone and their gran thinking they can be the next Kugan Cassius ( he's famous now)by pointing a smartphone in a boxers face.