Is British Boxing Dying?

KO Artist · Post by **KO Artist** » 26 Jun 2006, 15:24

Scroll through the topics on this forum and you get the answer

harrygreb · Post by **harrygreb** » 26 Jun 2006, 16:12

no. the british media has merely lost interest and boxing has to survive against the current politically correct/health and safety restrictions that buggers up many departments of our lives. so, perhaps yes, but its not entirely its own fault

hitman_hatton1 · Post by **hitman_hatton1** » 26 Jun 2006, 17:26

british boxing will never die.

well alright.......maybe when ricky hatton retires.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 26 Jun 2006, 17:57

Pull outs are not helping matters, plus it is "end of season" here.

I don't think ITV's/Warren's deal has helped matters a lot. It started off with the right amount of advertising - now though, I find myself looking more and more a schedules under the "Sports Network" promotions to find out when the next boxing on ITV is. Not that long ago, even the smaller (ITV4) bills got a fair amount of advertising on all the ITV networks.

Might not be all ITV's fault, they really have had it tough with the pull outs. They must be thinking "whats the point of advertising if the fights keep changing".

As a result of Frank leaving, the majority of the big British names now longer fight on Sky - and as a result their advertising for the domestic boxing has gone down. Before, the likes of Calzaghe, Harrison, Nelson and many others had adverts on Sky sports in the weeks building up to the fight... the most recent UK bill that I can remember seeing an advert for was Froch vs Magee and I cannot remember the one before that. The US bills still get a fair amount of advertising (and thats what is mostly discussed on the forum these days).

It might sound a petty arguement but advertsing makes us think "feck this could be alright" and it will create a bit of discussion here. At this moment we are seeing matches that aren't being advertised and we think "forgone conclusion" even if they turn out decent.... like Hunter on Friday.

Olsugen vs Lynes sounds like a very good fight, but I bet it will get zero publicity on Sky and very little discussion here.

It seems like Sky and ITV are just going through the motions about showing domestic boxing. Maybe if this fight+ (or any other) specialist boxing channel came along and advertised these decent small hall fights that are still going ahead (i.e. Gary Reid's been in some good ones, no attention though) then it would create more discussion and thus British boxing wouldn't be dead.

An excellent question, its not looking great but the potential is there for it to come again. allegedly seems to have the time/resourses to get some decent matches - but seems to be out of luck with pull outs (Harrison/Guzman, Calzaghe vs Johnson, Williams vs Skelton, Nelson vs Maccrinelli, Calzaghe vs Lacy - originally) and Sky don't seem to be over enthusiatic with the domestic scene at the moment. Its all swings and roundabouts though.

Southpaw Stylist · Post by **Southpaw Stylist** » 27 Jun 2006, 02:49

Yes, in a word.

There are not enough amateurs and the whole 'money' mentality has begun to pervade the amateurs that are at the top. The elite amateurs are getting all the treatment and the ones below are treated like they don't exist - thus putting people off the sport.

Believe me, British boxing is dying, I do not just speak as an armchair fan.

shoutout · Post by **shoutout** » 27 Jun 2006, 02:56

KO Artist wrote:Scroll through the topics on this forum and you get the answer

good point!! as an american i dont have anything close to an insider's view, but i remember back in 1990s i was subscribing to excellent british weekly BOXING NEWS & editor claude abrams was lamenting the downturn in number of actual pro bouts held in UK from 1996 to 1997 (or some similar years),...

i would be interested in knowing if there any similar numerical declines in recent years...i know that is only a quantitative measure but could be useful in determining the game's overall health!!

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 27 Jun 2006, 03:19

I have to say, there have been some great domestic matches over the last several months. Macca-Hobson, Hobson-Keeton, Earl-Romanov, Thirwall-Smillie, Meager-Stewart, Muttley-Anderson. We were also treated to Jackson Asiku, who has bags of class & is going places at featherweight. When Warren had the exclusive Sky contract, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember this kind of quality being on Sky Sports. All I remember, from when I got Sky in 2004 till last year, was lots of SN showcase fights that were tedious. I may be generalising a bit, but too many promoters and too many fighters were excluded.

Also, even the international fights we were getting seemed to be Warren approved. We'd see MAB cos of the S Harrison angle, we'd see Tszyu cos of the Hatton angle. Wasn't until spring/summer of 05, that we were free to see pretty much what we wanted.

Not so long ago, everyone was more pissed off than they are now. I don't think it's really working out on ITV. The ITV4 shows, shit even I forget when they're on. I'm sick of Williams and Skelton & don't want to see Amir Khan beat on super featherweights anymore.

I think what we have to accept is that we're not going to get 9m viewers for big fights. Calzaghe-Lacy had a chance but was in the early hrs of the morning & ended up with about 1m. Boxing has been marginalised, but ti still can be quality. The fights that ppl do see aren't great, sad to say. Warren has delivered two massive fights in the last year or two, but what do we get in between?

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 27 Jun 2006, 05:36

hink what we have to accept is that we're not going to get 9m viewers for big fights. Calzaghe-Lacy had a chance but was in the early hrs of the morning & ended up with about 1m. Boxing has been marginalised, but ti still can be quality. The fights that ppl do see aren't great, sad to say. Warren has delivered two massive fights in the last year or two, but what do we get in between?

It got 2m when it was live at 2am and another few million on the repeats I think.

Got more than Hatton V Tszyu though as that only had a few hundred thousand ppvs on Sky.

If big fights happen then whats wrong with little fights inbetween while were waiting?

Alex Arthur's rated the highest in the IBF, Warren should get that for him asap.

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 27 Jun 2006, 05:57

I have to say that my interest in boxing is at an all time low. Some of you remember I would post here several times a day but very rarely do these days (for most of you that's a positive thing I'm sure!).

I do visit the forum almost daily but just don't feel that inspired to write something. I just have look to see what the latest boxing news is and buzz off to a football forum.

My declining interest in a sport that I have actively followed for 20+ years is probably down to a few reasons:

1 - A poor Heavyweight division. I started following the sport when Holmes was boss and although his IBF title reign was hardly boxings 'golden' era it was better than it is now and then Mr Tyson came along followed by Holyfield and Lennox. Obviously Lennox having the British link helped wit hthis.

2 - Poor domestic scene. Just doesn't seem to have the same matchups that were regularly shown on Sky a couple of years back. Fights like Gomez-Arthur, Alexander-Samuels just seem a distant memory.

3 - Hatton & Calazghe. Yes Britain top 2 P4P's whilst retaining my interest are also partly the reason my interest is on the wane. Their spluttering 'will they won't they' careers begin to wear you down after a while. I'm getting to the stage where I don't give a toss what they do, at least until the fight is announced. The endless months of speculation, the postponments, I just don't have the time for it!

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 27 Jun 2006, 07:27

The continuality of boxing depends on new talent entering the sport, and youngsters are only drawn to the sport when they see it at its best. Most of the current boxers in the sport today will mention watching the likes of Ali, Ray Leonard and British based boxers will almost always mention Benn.

But where does the excitement come from today to encourage the young kids into the boxing gym?
Sky still does not reach enough people, as good a fights they are now showing the young audience just are not seeing it.

And with the said promoter with the ITV deal, well that cannot be helping much.
The two most high profile boxers in terms of the general public, i.e. Audley and Amir Khan , make a bad example of the sport, even them not in the know can see terrible mismatches getting sold as something special, and that turns people off, its seen as little more than American wrestling.

Boxing will always survive, but to what degree? MMA is seen as a rawer fighting technique much the same as boxing was over wrestling many, many years ago.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 27 Jun 2006, 11:55

Nope.

We have the most EBU champsand one who is challenging for an EBu title.

We have 5 world title holders and 6 if Witter wins.

Prospects who could win titles like Haye and Arthur and an Olympian like Khan hopefully who won't get sparked out.

Decent enough.

hitman_hatton1 · Post by **hitman_hatton1** » 27 Jun 2006, 14:52

Max Molyneux wrote:We have 5 world title holders and 6 if Witter wins.

make that 5 then.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 27 Jun 2006, 15:11

Your boy ducked him!

KO Artist · Post by **KO Artist** » 27 Jun 2006, 15:14

I think it is dying.

Just look at the topics on the British Forum, the majority of them are about overseas fighters.

I have been an avid fan since the late 70's and my interest in the game is at an all time low

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 27 Jun 2006, 18:33

KO Artist wrote:I think it is dying.

Just look at the topics on the British Forum, the majority of them are about overseas fighters.

I have been an avid fan since the late 70's and my interest in the game is at an all time low

But boxing talk has almost always been dominated by non-British boxers, because let us be honest how many British boxers have we had to compete with the top foreign boxers about at that time

The Benn era was the boom time of British boxing, he had the style and audience to really make an impression, only then was the top foreign boxers in the background.

But almost every other top Brit before or after has had a bigger boxing celebrity star out shining them.

James Corbett wrote in his autobiography that boxing was in decline, that was 1927

shoutout · Post by **shoutout** » 27 Jun 2006, 19:34

tonyevs wrote: James Corbett wrote in his autobiography that boxing was in decline, that was 1927

there it is!! that sums it all up right there!!

Lorn · Post by **Lorn** » 28 Jun 2006, 06:53

Last week a manager of note said to me the game is dying. Its exatly the same words I heard 50 years ago.

Razor · Post by **Razor** » 28 Jun 2006, 08:53

It is dying, i posted this the other week, even this board has died imo.

Is British Boxing Dying?

Is British Boxing Dying?

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