Boxing Is Now Putrid and Getting Worse...

[caldo2025]

Is anyone satisfied with the boxing they've been seeing lately? I know of two people that surely are (Arum & Al) but I was wondering if there was anyone else that found these fights the last 5 months remotely entertaining? Aside from the Cotto/Canelo fight and MAYBE the Klit/Fury fight, there's nothing on the upcoming schedule. Usually Boxing has some big fights to end a calendar year but we've got nothing.

I'm so tired of watching these one sided showcase fights between a really good fighter and a truck driver. That seems to be what boxing has turned into now. Back in the day, fighters rose up the ranks by beating better quality fighters. Now, boxers are rising up the ranks by how badly they beat pathetic opposition. I can't remember the last good fight i've seen and i'm at the end of my rope with the sport.

Golden Boy is the only promoter putting together entertaining fights right now. Al and Bob clearly have a different goal in mind and it's pathetic. Look at the upcoming schedule and tell me about a fight that's worth watching. Spence is fighting in a few weeks against a guy that the PBC can't even supply simple stats on like height and reach. That's when you know it's junk. It's the same thing on down the line. Putrid.

[man]

there is one big problem the ABCs carry along
with them: the top three to five guys in each
division have more incentive to not fight each
other than to slug it out. it is not only a joke
to have so many belt holders, it is a guarantee
that you see fewer quality fights among them.

[johnswan1]

Cotto-Canelo
Abraham-Murray
DeGale-Bute
Klitschko-Fury
Joshua-Whyte
Lee-Saunders
Porter-Thurman
Frampton-Quigg

All interesting fights, except for maybe DeGale-Bute as James should beat him easily.

Of course it is always nice to see more fights in the Pipeline. The problem for you is that you don't have a lot of respect for British boxing and six of the above eight fights involve a British fighter.

[caldo2025]

Cotto-Canelo
Abraham-Murray
DeGale-Bute
Klitschko-Fury
Joshua-Whyte
Lee-Saunders
Porter-Thurman
Frampton-Quigg

All interesting fights, except for maybe DeGale-Bute as James should beat him easily.

Of course it is always nice to see more fights in the Pipeline. The problem for you is that you don't have a lot of respect for British boxing and six of the above eight fights involve a British fighter.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of British Boxers (aside from Froch who was one of my favorite boxers period). With that said, those fights look a heck of a lot better than any of the American fights on tap. That's for sure. Porter and Thurman is not signed and probably won't happen so you can't have that one on your list yet. Again aside from Cotto/Canelo-Klit/Fury, I 'm not impressed.

Every other year, Boxing makes a point to go out with a bang and this year is pathetic.

[Heretic]

I am really looking forward to the Helenius vs Teper match. Real 50/50 match and the winner will have spot in the top 10 for heavyweight

[jewboypgh]

I think Alan Hayman has done wonders for the game.
PBC is fantastic for the sport. guys like Don King are a disgracve

[sucracristo]

the best fights are most often the ones nobody expected would be classics.
i don't see this year as being a worse year so far than most others and
i don't see the upcoming fights as being bad. there's also a lot more going
on in the sport than just title fights. i never hear people say this kind of crap
about other sports. either boxing has been putrid and getting worse as long
as i can remember, or the sport attracts a peculiar crowd that like to show
up just to boo and heckle and talk about how horrible it is in perpetuity.

[caldo2025]

the best fights are most often the ones nobody expected would be classics.
i don't see this year as being a worse year so far than most others and
i don't see the upcoming fights as being bad. there's also a lot more going
on in the sport than just title fights. i never hear people say this kind of crap
about other sports. either boxing has been putrid and getting worse as long
as i can remember, or the sport attracts a peculiar crowd that like to show
up just to boo and heckle and talk about how horrible it is in perpetuity.

In every other sport the best teams need to play each other each and every year to determine who is the best or champion. In Boxing, the best in each division very rarely fight in a 5 years much less one year. If you can't see the glaring differences then you must be new to the sport and i'm glad you like it. It's like having the New England Patriots play the Cleveland Browns each and every week of the season. It's so broken, boxing. Just check the viewership from Saturday's fight on HBO. The numbers are declining each and every weekend.

[sucracristo]

If you can't see the glaring differences then you must be new to the sport

boxing has never had the best fighting each other every season like other sports.
even in the golden era when they fought every few weeks, the best didn't always
fight each other. aside from a few great trilogies over the decades (some recent)
we have been lucky if the best fought each other once. the best from other sports
only play each other if they are in the same league. i first competed in the sport
almost 30 years ago and my username on this site is 3 years older than yours. don't
get all emotional when someone inserts a little sense into your whiney threads.
you seem like you would be happier doing something else

[Badhusker]

Is anyone satisfied with the boxing they've been seeing lately? I know of two people that surely are (Arum & Al) but I was wondering if there was anyone else that found these fights the last 5 months remotely entertaining? Aside from the Cotto/Canelo fight and MAYBE the Klit/Fury fight, there's nothing on the upcoming schedule. Usually Boxing has some big fights to end a calendar year but we've got nothing.

I'm so tired of watching these one sided showcase fights between a really good fighter and a truck driver. That seems to be what boxing has turned into now. Back in the day, fighters rose up the ranks by beating better quality fighters. Now, boxers are rising up the ranks by how badly they beat pathetic opposition. I can't remember the last good fight i've seen and i'm at the end of my rope with the sport.

Golden Boy is the only promoter putting together entertaining fights right now. Al and Bob clearly have a different goal in mind and it's pathetic. Look at the upcoming schedule and tell me about a fight that's worth watching. Spence is fighting in a few weeks against a guy that the PBC can't even supply simple stats on like height and reach. That's when you know it's junk. It's the same thing on down the line. Putrid.

Whenever someone constantly pisses and moans about boxing, the sport, I always think..why not just go follow another sport? Maybe come back after it gets up to your standards? I understand frustration with the pathetic match-making, but I try to have the glass half full approach, and enjoy what is presented to us. Believe me, I am not above my own rants of frustration, but boxing as a whole is fine.

As far as Spence, maybe it would help for us to call out some chicken boxers that use the excuse of him not being known so they can avoid him? Thurman, Khan, Porter, Maidana, Bradley, Pacquiao, Brook, Garcia, etc. Boxing has been about money for years, not boxers wanting the best fights for the fans.

[koolkc107]

The future of boxing is a lot brighter than even a few years ago.

Folks need to stop acting like crappy matchmaking is something new- it's been going on since the sport was born.

But, we are getting good matchups too. And more of them.

The increase of boxing on free tv can only lead to more fans. And anecdotally speaking, I have run into quite a few folks who don't usually watch the sport yet have tuned into PBC bouts...and liked what they saw.

[ImranSarwar]

No. I am into it! Though, the SPORT certainly does have "problems"! I've been a FAN, A BOXER, A ADMIN GUY, WRITER A BIT, A COACH.... but mostly A FAN. Look at my Fb Chris Uwbcafo-i where I talk about my organization, the UWBCAFO-I [we "ECHELON" boxing w/ the WBC WBA IBF WBO "1 St] -thank you- ps: look at also the jerry quarry foundation & LOOK at my DESERT IF YOU LIKE.. "How would you improve boxing in USA?" Amateur and pro. Text me if you get at all --lost-- 860-515-7680

[caldo2025]

If you can't see the glaring differences then you must be new to the sport

boxing has never had the best fighting each other every season like other sports.
even in the golden era when they fought every few weeks, the best didn't always
fight each other. aside from a few great trilogies over the decades (some recent)
we have been lucky if the best fought each other once. the best from other sports
only play each other if they are in the same league. i first competed in the sport
almost 30 years ago and my username on this site is 3 years older than yours. don't
get all emotional when someone inserts a little sense into your whiney threads.
you seem like you would be happier doing something else

Way to go all forensic on your reply but i wouldn't say this resembles "someone inserting any sense" into my thread but i can see that you are like most boxers today. You have a bloated self image of yourself and think you should be the A side of this negotiation.

Unfortunately you don't know what you are talking about. In every boxing era, the best have fought the best. In the 1980s the WW/MW's carried boxing and did so by fighting each other. Hagler, Duran, Hearns and SRR all fought each other and some multiple times. Then in the 90's, the heavyweights took over boxing Holyfield, Tyson, Lewis and Bowe.

See the above is proof that you are clueless so you can go CSI to see when people created their logins or scratched their asses but next time, spend your time a little more wisely.

[caldo2025]

I am really looking forward to the Helenius vs Teper match. Real 50/50 match and the winner will have spot in the top 10 for heavyweight

Oh i completely forgot about this megafight. I take back everything now. This fight is going to save boxing.

[Heretic]

I am really looking forward to the Helenius vs Teper match. Real 50/50 match and the winner will have spot in the top 10 for heavyweight

Oh i completely forgot about this megafight. I take back everything now. This fight is going to save boxing.

[jamesmcdonnell]

If you can't see the glaring differences then you must be new to the sport

boxing has never had the best fighting each other every season like other sports.
even in the golden era when they fought every few weeks, the best didn't always
fight each other. aside from a few great trilogies over the decades (some recent)
we have been lucky if the best fought each other once. the best from other sports
only play each other if they are in the same league. i first competed in the sport
almost 30 years ago and my username on this site is 3 years older than yours. don't
get all emotional when someone inserts a little sense into your whiney threads.
you seem like you would be happier doing something else

Boxing fans have a right to criticise their sport, they are the ones paying for the PPV's and the subscription to sports channels. It's not whining.

Boxing has a chronic problem right now, with fighters protecting their unbeaten record, and the best only fighting one another if there's no other option.

Your point about the best in other sports only facing one another if they are in the same league makes no sense, if we take 'league' in this instance to mean 'elite level fights in the same weight class' then clearly this isn't happening nearly often enough.

I've been watching boxing 30 years, just because I never competed professionally, doesn't mean I can't understand what is happening in the sport.

The best facing the best has always been a problem in boxing, but I believe it's worse now, than perhaps at any time since the days when the Mafia were in direct control of the sport in America.

[tiny_acres]

We would all love better match ups.But with the seperation of all of the major promoters
I doubt we see it anytime soon.You can only blame the fighters to a degree.
I am still excited about the quantity of fights though a little disappointed in the quality.

[caldo2025]

Boxing fans have a right to criticise their sport, they are the ones paying for the PPV's and the subscription to sports channels. It's not whining.

Boxing has a chronic problem right now, with fighters protecting their unbeaten record, and the best only fighting one another if there's no other option.

Your point about the best in other sports only facing one another if they are in the same league makes no sense, if we take 'league' in this instance to mean 'elite level fights in the same weight class' then clearly this isn't happening nearly often enough.

I've been watching boxing 30 years, just because I never competed professionally, doesn't mean I can't understand what is happening in the sport.

The best facing the best has always been a problem in boxing, but I believe it's worse now, than perhaps at any time since the days when the Mafia were in direct control of the sport in America.

Jimmy the Mick, for once we are in agreement. You've said it a lot better than I tried to, per usual. I'm not very swift with the keyboard.

It just infuriates me to be in era with talent up and down the rankings in the Welterweight division but the only one that wants to fight the best is Tim Bradley, god bless his soul. I disliked him quite a bit early on but right now, he's the only one I think deserves credit for bringing it every single fight. If he doesn't walk in the HOF when he retires then boxing is more of a sham than I thought.

But just imagine if the welterweights now fought against each other like Duran, SRL, Hagler and Hearns did back in the day. From 1980-1989, there was at least one huge fight between them each year. It could be so great.

[Tony1244]

There are a lot of good fights coming up as johnswan points out and some are in the Heavyweight division.

So I don't think it's as doom and gloom as you suggest.

[sucracristo]

It's not whining.

starting several threads with the premise that you are going to stop watching bla bla is whining.
nobody cares if you stop watching. not everything is about you. we all criticize boxing on here
to one extent or another.

Your point about the best in other sports only facing one another if they are in the same league makes no sense, if we take 'league' in this instance to mean 'elite level fights in the same weight class'

ok this is how this train of thought went. the OP whines about how boxing is
putrid and getting worse and he is going to stop watching bla bla, and this
is a theme over many threads. i brought up that people who watch other
sports hardly ever talk like that (whining and threatening to leave) despite
all the problems and corruption, etc. yeah we all criticize stuff here but the
issues being brought up have no sense of history, just a few anectodes from
past decades as an example of the way things used to be, and ignoring recent
examples of the stuff he claims doesn't exist anymore. i thus brought up other
sports. he then said the best in other sports always play the best. no, they don't.
i'm not sure how you don't know what league means. league means league.
go to the website of any team and find the links to the league and division stats.
those are the other teams they play. bundasliga doesn't play premier or mls
teams on a regular basis. there are countless examples in the past few years of
the best boxers in many divisions meeting and many discussions currently going
on between camps of top guys. there are coutless examples in the past of top
boxers not fighting each other. constantly saying you want to leave boxing because
it is putrid bla bla and anyone who disagrees doesn't know anything or hasn't been
around or yada yada is sad. i'm just saying maybe he would be happier if he took
a break and watched swimming. that looks like a cleaner sport.

The best facing the best has always been a problem in boxing

that's what i said

[jamesmcdonnell]

That doesn't mean we should accept it, and as I said, the problem has gotten far worse. It's never been easier for fighters to cherry pick their way to world titles and avoid their biggest rivals - look at Pacman v Floyd, that didn't happen until both of them were past their primes, in Manny's and the fight was more of a dud as a result. The big unification fights happen too seldom, and when they do, the sanctioning bodies just split the titles up again if they can. The exception is at heavyweight right now where one guy holds all the belts that matter, but Wlad has serious clout financially, and the sanctioning bodies know what side their bread is buttered.

We should expect more from the sport, sure we can't expect a champion to face the best available challenger every single fight, it's not very realistic, fighters aren't machines and the sport is incredibly demanding physically and dangerous, but come on, boxing needs to be more competitive at the highest level.

[caldo2025]

It's not whining.

starting several threads with the premise that you are going to stop watching bla bla is whining.
nobody cares if you stop watching. not everything is about you. we all criticize boxing on here
to one extent or another.

Your point about the best in other sports only facing one another if they are in the same league makes no sense, if we take 'league' in this instance to mean 'elite level fights in the same weight class'

ok this is how this train of thought went. the OP whines about how boxing is
putrid and getting worse and he is going to stop watching bla bla, and this
is a theme over many threads. i brought up that people who watch other
sports hardly ever talk like that (whining and threatening to leave) despite
all the problems and corruption, etc. yeah we all criticize stuff here but the
issues being brought up have no sense of history, just a few anectodes from
past decades as an example of the way things used to be, and ignoring recent
examples of the stuff he claims doesn't exist anymore. i thus brought up other
sports. he then said the best in other sports always play the best. no, they don't.
i'm not sure how you don't know what league means. league means league.
go to the website of any team and find the links to the league and division stats.
those are the other teams they play. bundasliga doesn't play premier or mls
teams on a regular basis. there are countless examples in the past few years of
the best boxers in many divisions meeting and many discussions currently going
on between camps of top guys. there are coutless examples in the past of top
boxers not fighting each other. constantly saying you want to leave boxing because
it is putrid bla bla and anyone who disagrees doesn't know anything or hasn't been
around or yada yada is sad. i'm just saying maybe he would be happier if he took
a break and watched swimming. that looks like a cleaner sport.

The best facing the best has always been a problem in boxing

that's what i said

First of all, what the hell is a Bundasliga? it sounds delicious but I've never tried one.

Way to site an example of a sport that no one's even heard about. In the 4 major sports in life, there's Football (American, don't be silly), Baseball, Basketball and Hockey. There's only 4. In each of those sports, the best two teams face off for the championship each year. Get your head out of a hole and look into some other sports other than soccer or whatever a Bundalsiga plays.

It's probably why you don't have a problem with the current state of boxing affairs and love to turn the tube on and pay for a one sided fight. You my friend, are the target audience so I'm glad we figured something out.

[littlepug]

When the world scene is a bit lacking you need a good domestic scene to fall back on, us guys in the uk are pretty fortunate to have a healthy domestic scene and while not always world class the lure of obtaining the British title and along with it the historically prestigious Lonsdale belt can produce fights of an epic nature. It helps that we also have quite a few lads who are operating at world or on the fringes of world level to keep our interest

[tiny_acres]

When the world scene is a bit lacking you need a good domestic scene to fall back on, us guys in the uk are pretty fortunate to have a healthy domestic scene and while not always world class the lure of obtaining the British title and along with it the historically prestigious Lonsdale belt can produce fights of an epic nature. It helps that we also have quite a few lads who are operating at world or on the fringes of world level to keep our interest

Yes I agree they are lucky.People actually follow the British scene.
Here in the states most could care less about the USBA title
I wish Americans took more pride in their fighters.
But the British do it right

[littlepug]

When the world scene is a bit lacking you need a good domestic scene to fall back on, us guys in the uk are pretty fortunate to have a healthy domestic scene and while not always world class the lure of obtaining the British title and along with it the historically prestigious Lonsdale belt can produce fights of an epic nature. It helps that we also have quite a few lads who are operating at world or on the fringes of world level to keep our interest

Yes I agree they are lucky.People actually follow the British scene.
Here in the states most could care less about the USBA title
I wish Americans took more pride in their fighters.
But the British do it right

I remember when all the top American fighters used to fight for the USBA or NABF title because it seemed an important step