How many of you are just fed up with the sport particularly the british scene despite everything

[Loftgroov]

I'm fairly keen, all things considered.

My era of really getting into the sport was the early 90s; so Eubank, Benn, Watson etc. It does seem like we have fewer fights like those now.

But overall a decent British card still provides good entertainment.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I have to say, my interest in boxing is at an all time low, just not enough big matchups happening. It's easier than ever for the best to avoid the best, and more often than not, that's what happens.

[Kilburn]

Massive boxing fan but ufc is better as they have stacked cards with 50-50 match ups. McGregor is more exciting than any boxer at present.

Is he? I thought his tactics were pretty negative last time out. Clever, but no different to a boxer sticking to a game plan for twelve rounds.

To be honest I felt that there appeared to be something wrong about that fight. That Diaz may have been told not to try and take the fight to the floor where he had won it in the first fight. McGregor is the main face of the UFC these days and brings a lot of dough and therefore had to get the win.

Sorry for being cynical, but it was how I felt watching it.

To be fair the injury claims by Diaz seem highly plausible, he didn't look comfortable.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Is he? I thought his tactics were pretty negative last time out. Clever, but no different to a boxer sticking to a game plan for twelve rounds.

To be honest I felt that there appeared to be something wrong about that fight. That Diaz may have been told not to try and take the fight to the floor where he had won it in the first fight. McGregor is the main face of the UFC these days and brings a lot of dough and therefore had to get the win.

Sorry for being cynical, but it was how I felt watching it.

To be fair the injury claims by Diaz seem highly plausible, he didn't look comfortable.

Yeah he looked like shite, although to be fair, his defence seems to consist of pushing his chin forward, and McGregor can certainly hit, Conor does seem to have genuine one punch power.

[Bricks]

I think some people haven't got over the move from terrestrial TV to cable and digital.

I think some people get so bogged down and disillusioned and paranoid about the politics, that they don't enjoy good fights when they do get them.

1)We've had outstanding fights between Brits and visitors like Burns v Reilekh, Warrington v Amagasa, Crolla v Linares and Bellew v Makabu this year, and not long ago Mitchell v Linares, and I've not seen too much positivity, usually something to cry about.

2)Honourable and exciting away defeats, like Burns v Figueroa and Cleverly v Fonfara, to boot which didn't kill the career of either man, despite coming in sensitive periods for both.

3)We've had an amazing little run winning tough fights away, Brook v Porter, Jamie McDonnell v Tomoki Kameda twice, Degale v Dirrell, Fury v Wladimir, Frampton v Santa Cruz, but people seem to be forgetting already.

Always felt that things that actually happened end up completely being taken for granted.

We got the domestic fights we demanded, like Joshua v Whyte, Quigg v Frampton although two fell through, Brook v Khan and Selby v Warrington that could still happen.

4)No, we don't have any of the Benn, Eubank, Watson personalities and rivalries, or an absolute class act like Lewis about. But, in any other era, how often did we?

Been a rough recent time with Fury failing to hold it together, and there's been high profile defeats to the very, very best like Golovkin, Alvarez, going back Terence Crawford, but the British scene isn't getting bogged down with Joshua v Wladimir in the works.

Cmon mate, we all know the stock is there to work with to some extent but your points 1 and 2 above......these are the kind of competitive fights u would have expected for standard if the british title or European title or NABF/USBA level was being contested in the 70s,80s and 90s....

reference porter-brook that was 2 years ago now mate.......Im talking specifically about the UK scene in terms of how the sport is promoted......it is the absolute pits.....garbage.......with Adam Smith, any big fight will be a manufactured weak "grudge match"........with allegedly its just so low level low rent...the presentation and build up is wrong at times..........SKY deserve the main complaint.....the alphabet crrap no one has control over......

reference point 4 OMG! every era had more yes more than a benn/eubanks/Watson......that era it was promoted right on ITV in front of a boig tv audience with the fighters entire career path being mapped out on that channel, they fought regular and there was a large pool of americans to fight against....but honestly look at how many big name stars there were than Nunn, J Jackson, Toney, Barkley, Mclellan, Mccallum , Hopkins, etc etc......look at the 80s , 70. 60s, 50s,90s and so on.....there were always lots of personalities and rivalries.......rivalry is the key word.....in the modern day boxing promoters do not know how to do it.....its either done in a BS manner with sshit being sold as gold....or the big fights do not happen and when they do its just apathy as its been too long and one or both have deterioted ( GGG-Canelo, Adonis- Kov, Thurman-Garcia, fall into the first and pac-pbf fell in the second).......there has been a real fall off recently and with Al Haymon seemingly fading too.......when will the next don king come along, when will a TV channel who knows how to do things right cover boxing in the UK........say what u will about the BBC and the fact ultimately it all went wrong with A FARCE refusing to fight anyone and his turning out to be a C level pro masquerading as A level, but the BBC did have a plan.....they made the local HW scene exciting with Hide, Williams, sprott and Harrison (a good personality if not a boxer) and they were matching Hide and Willams well...... these men (audley aside) were also willing to fight boxers of a good level from around the world

Than conversely you look at the kind of promoting F Warrrrren was doing in the very early 2000s and the whole farce surrounding the british light middleweights that SKY had sold to us as the new fab four......these guys were no where near as good as made out and they refused to fight each other. So u had 5 guys hyped against each other who never fought each other and the few fights that did take place were already proven as meaningless on the world or even European scene

[Counter-puncher]

The quick answer is yes, I'm getting fucken fed up with it.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I think some people haven't got over the move from terrestrial TV to cable and digital.

I think some people get so bogged down and disillusioned and paranoid about the politics, that they don't enjoy good fights when they do get them.

1)We've had outstanding fights between Brits and visitors like Burns v Reilekh, Warrington v Amagasa, Crolla v Linares and Bellew v Makabu this year, and not long ago Mitchell v Linares, and I've not seen too much positivity, usually something to cry about.

2)Honourable and exciting away defeats, like Burns v Figueroa and Cleverly v Fonfara, to boot which didn't kill the career of either man, despite coming in sensitive periods for both.

3)We've had an amazing little run winning tough fights away, Brook v Porter, Jamie McDonnell v Tomoki Kameda twice, Degale v Dirrell, Fury v Wladimir, Frampton v Santa Cruz, but people seem to be forgetting already.

Always felt that things that actually happened end up completely being taken for granted.

We got the domestic fights we demanded, like Joshua v Whyte, Quigg v Frampton although two fell through, Brook v Khan and Selby v Warrington that could still happen.

4)No, we don't have any of the Benn, Eubank, Watson personalities and rivalries, or an absolute class act like Lewis about. But, in any other era, how often did we?

Been a rough recent time with Fury failing to hold it together, and there's been high profile defeats to the very, very best like Golovkin, Alvarez, going back Terence Crawford, but the British scene isn't getting bogged down with Joshua v Wladimir in the works.

Cmon mate, we all know the stock is there to work with to some extent but your points 1 and 2 above......these are the kind of competitive fights u would have expected for standard if the british title or European title or NABF/USBA level was being contested in the 70s,80s and 90s....

reference porter-brook that was 2 years ago now mate.......Im talking specifically about the UK scene in terms of how the sport is promoted......it is the absolute pits.....garbage.......with Adam Smith, any big fight will be a manufactured weak "grudge match"........with allegedly its just so low level low rent...the presentation and build up is wrong at times..........SKY deserve the main complaint.....the alphabet crrap no one has control over......

reference point 4 OMG! every era had more yes more than a benn/eubanks/Watson......that era it was promoted right on ITV in front of a boig tv audience with the fighters entire career path being mapped out on that channel, they fought regular and there was a large pool of americans to fight against....but honestly look at how many big name stars there were than Nunn, J Jackson, Toney, Barkley, Mclellan, Mccallum , Hopkins, etc etc......look at the 80s , 70. 60s, 50s,90s and so on.....there were always lots of personalities and rivalries.......rivalry is the key word.....in the modern day boxing promoters do not know how to do it.....its either done in a BS manner with sshit being sold as gold....or the big fights do not happen and when they do its just apathy as its been too long and one or both have deterioted ( GGG-Canelo, Adonis- Kov, Thurman-Garcia, fall into the first and pac-pbf fell in the second).......there has been a real fall off recently and with Al Haymon seemingly fading too.......when will the next don king come along, when will a TV channel who knows how to do things right cover boxing in the UK........say what u will about the BBC and the fact ultimately it all went wrong with A FARCE refusing to fight anyone and his turning out to be a C level pro masquerading as A level, but the BBC did have a plan.....they made the local HW scene exciting with Hide, Williams, sprott and Harrison (a good personality if not a boxer) and they were matching Hide and Willams well...... these men (audley aside) were also willing to fight boxers of a good level from around the world

Than conversely you look at the kind of promoting F Warrrrren was doing in the very early 2000s and the whole farce surrounding the british light middleweights that SKY had sold to us as the new fab four......these guys were no where near as good as made out and they refused to fight each other. So u had 5 guys hyped against each other who never fought each other and the few fights that did take place were already proven as meaningless on the world or even European scene

Yes, I recall the light middleweight thing, though I struggle now to remember anyone - Steve Robertson, was he one of them? Takaloo, and now I really don't recall. Can anybody else jog my memory. I was just starting to write about boxing at the time, and remember it being hyped up as a golden era, and then watched it all come tumbling down as they gradually all lost or otherwise became irrelevant n the world scene. David Walker, he was one too wasn't he, until Karmazin ripped him apart (no shame there mind.)

[Autobarn]

I think some people haven't got over the move from terrestrial TV to cable and digital.

I think some people get so bogged down and disillusioned and paranoid about the politics, that they don't enjoy good fights when they do get them.

1)We've had outstanding fights between Brits and visitors like Burns v Reilekh, Warrington v Amagasa, Crolla v Linares and Bellew v Makabu this year, and not long ago Mitchell v Linares, and I've not seen too much positivity, usually something to cry about.

2)Honourable and exciting away defeats, like Burns v Figueroa and Cleverly v Fonfara, to boot which didn't kill the career of either man, despite coming in sensitive periods for both.

3)We've had an amazing little run winning tough fights away, Brook v Porter, Jamie McDonnell v Tomoki Kameda twice, Degale v Dirrell, Fury v Wladimir, Frampton v Santa Cruz, but people seem to be forgetting already.

Always felt that things that actually happened end up completely being taken for granted.

We got the domestic fights we demanded, like Joshua v Whyte, Quigg v Frampton although two fell through, Brook v Khan and Selby v Warrington that could still happen.

4)No, we don't have any of the Benn, Eubank, Watson personalities and rivalries, or an absolute class act like Lewis about. But, in any other era, how often did we?

Been a rough recent time with Fury failing to hold it together, and there's been high profile defeats to the very, very best like Golovkin, Alvarez, going back Terence Crawford, but the British scene isn't getting bogged down with Joshua v Wladimir in the works.

Cmon mate, we all know the stock is there to work with to some extent but your points 1 and 2 above......these are the kind of competitive fights u would have expected for standard if the british title or European title or NABF/USBA level was being contested in the 70s,80s and 90s....

reference porter-brook that was 2 years ago now mate.......Im talking specifically about the UK scene in terms of how the sport is promoted......it is the absolute pits.....garbage.......with Adam Smith, any big fight will be a manufactured weak "grudge match"........with allegedly its just so low level low rent...the presentation and build up is wrong at times..........SKY deserve the main complaint.....the alphabet crrap no one has control over......

reference point 4 OMG! every era had more yes more than a benn/eubanks/Watson......that era it was promoted right on ITV in front of a boig tv audience with the fighters entire career path being mapped out on that channel, they fought regular and there was a large pool of americans to fight against....but honestly look at how many big name stars there were than Nunn, J Jackson, Toney, Barkley, Mclellan, Mccallum , Hopkins, etc etc......look at the 80s , 70. 60s, 50s,90s and so on.....there were always lots of personalities and rivalries.......rivalry is the key word.....in the modern day boxing promoters do not know how to do it.....its either done in a BS manner with sshit being sold as gold....or the big fights do not happen and when they do its just apathy as its been too long and one or both have deterioted ( GGG-Canelo, Adonis- Kov, Thurman-Garcia, fall into the first and pac-pbf fell in the second).......there has been a real fall off recently and with Al Haymon seemingly fading too.......when will the next don king come along, when will a TV channel who knows how to do things right cover boxing in the UK........say what u will about the BBC and the fact ultimately it all went wrong with A FARCE refusing to fight anyone and his turning out to be a C level pro masquerading as A level, but the BBC did have a plan.....they made the local HW scene exciting with Hide, Williams, sprott and Harrison (a good personality if not a boxer) and they were matching Hide and Willams well...... these men (audley aside) were also willing to fight boxers of a good level from around the world

Than conversely you look at the kind of promoting F Warrrrren was doing in the very early 2000s and the whole farce surrounding the british light middleweights that SKY had sold to us as the new fab four......these guys were no where near as good as made out and they refused to fight each other. So u had 5 guys hyped against each other who never fought each other and the few fights that did take place were already proven as meaningless on the world or even European scene

Rivalry is always the key word. And obviously we lost some major ones when Haye pulled out of a Fury fight and when Fury killed the biggest UK fight of all time, a future fight with Joshua for all the marbles, with his steroid and cocaine woes, and when Amir Khan ignored Kell Brook. We're really watching "career development" not "rivalries ", which is frustrating. But this is now new.

And following the Froch era, fierce, brutal matchups vs world class opposition, plus two serious rivalries, there is a bit of a comedown. But still there's plenty to like, at least for me.

Let's not forget, we did get some of the domestic fights we wanted, Quigg v Frampton, Saunders v Lee, which didn't deliver. Joshua v Whyte, Saunders v Eubank, which did.

And I've already given examples of Brits doing very well, having good fights home and away (McDonnell, Degale, Frampton) against international competition. Brook v Porter was two years ago? Great, we've been winning hard fights away for at least two years now! And even when we lose the hard American fights the likes of Burns and Cleverly are bouncing back.

Am I optimistic? Or do I just watch the stuff I like and ignore the dreck, who knows? But most people are so bogged down with negativity - the Eddie Hearn exclusive Sky contract, some wide scoring of competitive fights vs away fighters, Fury forfeiting the biggest prize in the sport - that they can no longer see a good fight if it bit them on the arse. I'll cry about Burns v Di Rocco but I'll praise an excellent contest like Burns v Relikh. And as long as good fights are produced, boxing will always be worth watching.

But is the Hearn monopoly that much difference than the years of FW getting most Sky Sports dates, and refusing to work with other promoters unless he staged the fights? Really? And in those days, were we taking on good international competition, both at home and away - consistently? I'm enjoying the sport much more now than, say, 2004-2008 (the year I gave up on the sport). I'm critical of the FW era, but with reason. The fights were so poor Showtime decided against renewing their deal to show Sports Network bouts stateside. And around 2004 when I actually first got Sky boxing had been sidelined to Friday nights.



Yes I remember the British light middles. Fights weren't made when they could've been. But they did take on the likes of Sergio Martinez, Harry Simon and Daniel Santos. When Jamie Moore came along he kind of paid for it, kept on the UK scene in thrilling fights until he wore out.

[Bricks]

Yes u had

Richard williams
Takaloo
Anthony farnell
Gary lockett
David walker
Wayne alexander

And u could add jawaid khaleeq the ibo 147lb champ to mix.

Takaloo was the one willing to fight the others most....but my lord sky hyped the LM"s.

[Autobarn]

Those who remember will never forgive those days of Alexander, Takaloo, Farnell. It was more about getting a fringe world title and looking after yourself. But, there were a couple of classic fights, I think it was Williams v Paul samuels, one of their fights was dramatic. And Alexander with the big KO of Takaloo.

I enjoyed seeing Sergio Martinez growing into a great fighter beating Richard Williams and Adrian Stone. I do think Wayne Alexander v Harry Simon was a very good little tear up.

Interesting to see careers of subsequent light middles were managed, for contrast Jamie Moore (gritty fights, life and death, drama) and Gary Lockett (WBU, little drama, obscure opponents, getting out at the right time).

[Autobarn]

No one enjoying the British lightweights?

For me, one of the strongest eras for the UK. Crolla and Flanagan holding belts, Burns a former champ, deep pool of domestic talent, Derry Matthews, Gavin Rees, John Murray, Kevin Mitchell. A number of classic fights, maybe too many to number. In particular Crolla, Burns and Derry showing a lot of resilience, bouncing back from defeats.

[boxingknockout]

There seem to be a lot more pull outs, postponements, missing weight limit, missed big fights and more hyperbole than ever before.

I remember Tyson being the first guy who used to pull out for spurious or made up reasons. But I'm sure in the 80s, 90s there weren't so many

[Autobarn]

I'm used to it. The era I followed the sport most intensively was the Cazalghe era, from the uninspiring middle years up to the "career defining fights."

The day I first got Sky Sports Calzaghe had pulled out vs Brian Magee.

[boxingknockout]

I'm used to it. The era I followed the sport most intensively was the Cazalghe era, from the uninspiring middle years up to the "career defining fights."

The day I first got Sky Sports Calzaghe had pulled out vs Brian Magee.

That might be the quote that most illustrates modern boxing!!!!!

[Andrew]

No one enjoying the British lightweights?

For me, one of the strongest eras for the UK. Crolla and Flanagan holding belts, Burns a former champ, deep pool of domestic talent, Derry Matthews, Gavin Rees, John Murray, Kevin Mitchell. A number of classic fights, maybe too many to number. In particular Crolla, Burns and Derry showing a lot of resilience, bouncing back from defeats.

Like it's said in posts before about a group of British fighters in the same weight class they never fight each other .

We heard for ages we have so many good lightweight we have but how many have actually fought each other ?... Well there was Derry v Campbell last week but Campbell should have been fighting Derry within a year of turning over when that would have been class.

Hearn had so many but did nothing, Ironically Warren did the best one with Burns v Mitchell and Murray v Mitchell.

Another one I refer to all the time. The middleweight scene of a few years ago. Martin Murray, Matthew Macklin, Darren Barker and Andy Lee all did that gloves are off. None of them fought each other

[Andrew]

To be honest if one of Ward or Kovalev backed out of that fight I would have probably f*cked the sport off this year from a hardcore point of view.

I could go on for a LOOOONG time what's wrong with the sport right now not just in this country but stateside as well it's in the pits.

We need less of Danny Garcias, Conelos, Chickensons,Paul Smiths, Billy Joe Saunders

And more Kovalevs, Framptons, Usyks, Lomas and Chocolatitos.

[bigjack]

I'm not as interested as i was 20 years ago when i would stay up through the night,nowadays i just look for the result the next morning if it's an american show,the last one i stayed up for was Mayweather v Canello.I'm fed up with all the potential match ups just not happening,we have at least a dozen good heavies and they all seem dead set on avoiding each other,David Price saying he would fight Joshua if the deal was good enough,haha he should think himself lucky he is even mentioned,never mind getting the fights.

[Andrew]

You know what has really started to p!55 me off in the past couple of years. With the rise of the Internet and social media. Is all these fight negotiations going public and promoters talking s**t about offers. The whole Joshua and Klitschko saga is a classic example of this and Hearn twisting it recently is nothing but disgusting and disrespectful to Wlad. This happens far too much and it must wind other people up. Mayweather started all this with Pacquaio and it went on for years.

Remember how refreshing it was when GGG v Brook and Conelo v Khan were announced out of the blue with no fighters or team talking about it. Course those fights were mis matches particularly the first one but I wish more fights were just announced without the details being made public.

[Counter-puncher]

Yes mate its become like politics, stories about stories which turn out to be non-stories, gossip about gossip, all to distract from the fact there's fornicate-all going on for the most part.

[Autobarn]

I'm used to it. The era I followed the sport most intensively was the Cazalghe era, from the uninspiring middle years up to the "career defining fights."

The day I first got Sky Sports Calzaghe had pulled out vs Brian Magee.

That might be the quote that most illustrates modern boxing!!!!!

hahahahahaha

[Autobarn]

No one enjoying the British lightweights?

For me, one of the strongest eras for the UK. Crolla and Flanagan holding belts, Burns a former champ, deep pool of domestic talent, Derry Matthews, Gavin Rees, John Murray, Kevin Mitchell. A number of classic fights, maybe too many to number. In particular Crolla, Burns and Derry showing a lot of resilience, bouncing back from defeats.

Like it's said in posts before about a group of British fighters in the same weight class they never fight each other .

We heard for ages we have so many good lightweight we have but how many have actually fought each other ?... Well there was Derry v Campbell last week but Campbell should have been fighting Derry within a year of turning over when that would have been class.

Hearn had so many but did nothing, Ironically Warren did the best one with Burns v Mitchell and Murray v Mitchell.

Another one I refer to all the time. The middleweight scene of a few years ago. Martin Murray, Matthew Macklin, Darren Barker and Andy Lee all did that gloves are off. None of them fought each other

there's been so many good fights, the last few years domestically and in fights between Brits and visitors. Matthews v Rees 2, Crolla both, Tony Luis, Curtis woodhouse, tommy coyle. Crolla v Watson, Farrell, Murray, Baroso, Linares. Mitchell-Murray. Murray-Ouazgari. Burns-Katsidis. Rees v Watson & Gary Buckland both fights.

Obviously we didn't get Flanagan v Crolla due to the rival promoters but that's nothing new to me, certainly wasn't going to spoil the excellent alternative Crolla v Linares for me. Luke Campbell developing will make things even more interesting.


Yeah it's frustrating about the middleweights. but they all did fight a pound for pound ranked Sergio Martinez. This was something I really looked forward to at the time. And Barker dethroned Geale. But definitely, if they faced one another they may have produced more satisfying bouts.

[banjo]

There's still good fights but there seems to be way more bullshit than there used to be but I think that's because we've become more exposed to it due to social media and 24/7 coverage of the sport. I don't follow it like I did, having your own business and 4 young kids will do that to you. Plus I have more interest in other sports.

[Southy1922]

Those who remember will never forgive those days of Alexander, Takaloo, Farnell. It was more about getting a fringe world title and looking after yourself. But, there were a couple of classic fights, I think it was Williams v Paul samuels, one of their fights was dramatic. And Alexander with the big KO of Takaloo.

I enjoyed seeing Sergio Martinez growing into a great fighter beating Richard Williams and Adrian Stone. I do think Wayne Alexander v Harry Simon was a very good little tear up.

Interesting to see careers of subsequent light middles were managed, for contrast Jamie Moore (gritty fights, life and death, drama) and Gary Lockett (WBU, little drama, obscure opponents, getting out at the right time).

I miss the WBU years. Yes they were wrongly selling it as a credible strap, though for me it made the times when a British fighter stepped onto the 'legitimate' world title stage an even bigger deal than it is seen to be nowadays. Hatton v Tszyu was huge. I may garner criticism, but I just don't think it would be treated with as much significance if the fight had happened in 2015 and hatton and tzsyu were fighting today.

[Autobarn]

I don't miss them. It was conning the public. Although, I give credit when it actually produced good or dramatic fights, like maccarinelli v Bruce Scott.

[Roco]

No one enjoying the British lightweights?

For me, one of the strongest eras for the UK. Crolla and Flanagan holding belts, Burns a former champ, deep pool of domestic talent, Derry Matthews, Gavin Rees, John Murray, Kevin Mitchell. A number of classic fights, maybe too many to number. In particular Crolla, Burns and Derry showing a lot of resilience, bouncing back from defeats.

I preferred Michael Ayers, Colin dunne,billy schwer and Wayne rigby to that lot.