Contempt for boxing

[skanksta]

If Boxing were ran like the UFC we we would of seen spence vs craw, Loma vs tank and AJ vs Wilder 3 fornicating years ago....

In that little side world boxing would be fuccking epic. I still love boxing, but its hard to be a fan when you might get 0 truely special fights in a year.

yes, this x2 plus the drugs, the mismatches and the bent verdicts.
Like all boxing fans I kinda hate boxing some times.

[HomicideHenry]

One major contempt that I have with boxing was the fact that it was over regulated to the point of effectively killing off the sport on the local and state levels here in America making it virtually impossible for small time promoters to continue putting on shows and bringing new people into the sport.

Because of people like John McCain and Harry Reid they only empowered the elite promoters in the business by cutting out everyone else. I think a major reason why boxing has really fallen out from the general public's interest is because it's no longer available like it used to be in the early 2000s and prior.

Most of the old boxing gyms have now become dojos for mixed martial arts. Most of the professional boxing shows at the local level have now become amateur MMA shows. And it's mainly due to the fact that the sport was over regulated to the point of no longer being a part of the social fabric. When I was a teenager and young adult there was pro boxing cards and amateur boxing cards and toughman contests staged all the time.

[RScarf1]

One major contempt that I have with boxing was the fact that it was over regulated to the point of effectively killing off the sport on the local and state levels here in America making it virtually impossible for small time promoters to continue putting on shows and bringing new people into the sport.

Because of people like John McCain and Harry Reid they only empowered the elite promoters in the business by cutting out everyone else. I think a major reason why boxing has really fallen out from the general public's interest is because it's no longer available like it used to be in the early 2000s and prior.

Most of the old boxing gyms have now become dojos for mixed martial arts. Most of the professional boxing shows at the local level have now become amateur MMA shows. And it's mainly due to the fact that the sport was over regulated to the point of no longer being a part of the social fabric. When I was a teenager and young adult there was pro boxing cards and amateur boxing cards and toughman contests staged all the time.

The state commissions regulate all or most combat sports. That is why the Florida State Boxing Commission changed its name to the Florida Athletic Commission. It regulates boxing (gloved and bare knuckle), kickboxing, and mixed martial arts in Florida. It does not favor one sport over another. Of course, there will be different rules for each sport. The reality is that some people have decided to watch other combat sports because that is their preference. Some of them may be boxing fans too when there is a fight worth watching.

I looked at the events scheduled in Florida for 2023. A couple of events have two sports (boxing/MMA and kickboxing/MMA). Aside from those two events, there are 34 events of either boxing or MMA. 11 of them are MMA and 23 of them are boxing. One of the boxing events is bare knuckle boxing. Even excluding that, there are double the amount of boxing events compared to MMA. This is just for Florida. I understand that other states may have more MMA than boxing.

In Florida, we have the Florida Panthers hockey team. When they went to the Stanley Cup Finals, there was a surge in popularity for hockey. Roller hockey was popular with kids and adults. Now however, some of the roller hockey rinks that are outside in parks are being changed to either pickleball courts or for skateboarding. I think boxing is just facing competition that it did not have in previous years.

[snake33]

Two guys in the missionary position. Hitting somebody when their down.
MMA don't work for me. On the other hand I like Kick boxing.
That said boxing is an overly diluted mess.
There should be one world title per division period.
Five judges to avoid BS. Instant replay for cuts and fouls.
And sane division rankings. If you lost several fights recently you shouldn't be in the top ten.
And the best should be required to fight the best.
A solid structure that forces promoters to work with each other
and not screw the boxers the "represent".

[RScarf1]

Two guys in the missionary position. Hitting somebody when their down.
MMA don't work for me. On the other hand I like Kick boxing.
That said boxing is an overly diluted mess.
There should be one world title per division period.
Five judges to avoid BS. Instant replay for cuts and fouls.
And sane division rankings. If you lost several fights recently you shouldn't be in the top ten.
And the best should be required to fight the best.
A solid structure that forces promoters to work with each other
and not screw the boxers the "represent".

The promoters will not want to pay for two more judges. The three judges just have to be competent and unbiased. The problem is the boxing sanctioning bodies continue to use incompetent/biased judges and rarely punish them. UFC President Dana White openly criticizes judges and referees who do a poor job and sometimes will refuse to use them ever again for a UFC event. A lot of boxing is not televised, so I don't think instant replay is feasible. The UFC controls who they rank and who fights for their titles. MMA rankings independent of the UFC include other companies such as Professional Fighters League (PFL), Bellator, and ONE. Because the UFC has most of the top talent, people consider the UFC champions to be the best in the world. However, the UFC champions cannot defend their titles against fighters from other companies. Four major world titles per weight class in boxing is comparable to what MMA has with the different companies. The boxing sanctioning bodies should try for unification if possible so there can be unified or undisputed world champions. It is happening more with women's boxing.

[wrighty]

One thing as well is the favoritism and how rules are bent for certain people if they're a commodity. Pacquiao coming up from Flyweigyt and utterly destroying big welters with unreal power. Canelo being gifted a Light Middle shot by the wbc against a fringe career welter, leapfrogging Ryan Rhodes and Angulo who had fought eliminators!. Cotto being able to drain people down to 155 to defend his middleweight title saying he's not a full middleweight and holding up fighters in the rankings that fought eliminators.

Also the double standards of Saul Alvarez pissing hot when he's obviously using PEDs and a ludicrous beef taco excuse given. He's allowed to take 6 months off as he makes promoters, cable networks, commissions and sponsors money. Contrast that to ex commonwealth champion Liam Cameron pissing hot for traces of cocaine, getting a 5 year ban and his life and career ruined.

I won't even start on the bias judging.

[wrighty]

Two guys in the missionary position. Hitting somebody when their down.
MMA don't work for me. On the other hand I like Kick boxing.
That said boxing is an overly diluted mess.
There should be one world title per division period.
Five judges to avoid BS. Instant replay for cuts and fouls.
And sane division rankings. If you lost several fights recently you shouldn't be in the top ten.
And the best should be required to fight the best.
A solid structure that forces promoters to work with each other
and not screw the boxers the "represent".

The promoters will not want to pay for two more judges. The three judges just have to be competent and unbiased. The problem is the boxing sanctioning bodies continue to use incompetent/biased judges and rarely punish them. UFC President Dana White openly criticizes judges and referees who do a poor job and sometimes will refuse to use them ever again for a UFC event. A lot of boxing is not televised, so I don't think instant replay is feasible. The UFC controls who they rank and who fights for their titles. MMA rankings independent of the UFC include other companies such as Professional Fighters League (PFL), Bellator, and ONE. Because the UFC has most of the top talent, people consider the UFC champions to be the best in the world. However, the UFC champions cannot defend their titles against fighters from other companies. Four major world titles per weight class in boxing is comparable to what MMA has with the different companies. The boxing sanctioning bodies should try for unification if possible so there can be unified or undisputed world champions. It is happening more with women's boxing.

I think judges in title fights need to go before a board and give reasoning and grounds as to why they've scored a round how they have. Look at that Taylor Catterall fight, I couldn't see any reality where Taylor won as many rounds as he did. You had Saunders vs Canelo where bjs was clipping canelo and not getting hit, some judges have canelo every round. Judges and referees need to account for their decisions and come up with grounds as to why they do something, kind of like police officers when they have to build grounds to carry out a search or arrest. Especially in controversial situations. In the catterall case, he'll likely never have the chance to fight for undisputed ever again.

[Perseus]

So when are any or all of you going to become judges so your scorecards can become the official scorecards?

Contrary to popular delusion judges actually do not grow on trees.
They keep using the same judges because that's what is available to them.
There is not an unlimited number of judges to pick from which means it's not so easy to get rid of current judges.
It would be great if they got rid of judges after they turned in a few perplexing scorecards but before that can happen they need more available judges.

[RScarf1]

So when are any or all of you going to become judges so your scorecards can become the official scorecards?

Contrary to popular delusion judges actually do not grow on trees.
They keep using the same judges because that's what is available to them.
There is not an unlimited number of judges to pick from which means it's not so easy to get rid of current judges.
It would be great if they got rid of judges after they turned in a few perplexing scorecards but before that can happen they need more available judges.

I thought about it, but I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I can't start a new career. Judges may never get the opportunity to judge world title fights and so they just work the events in their state which means they would make less money. I think boxing has judges who are intentionally incompetent. In other words, they are biased and corrupt, although they are capable of scoring the fights correctly. They may feel pressure to score a fight a certain way in order to get more work in the future. I don't know if they are getting money under the table. Some of these judges will be biased for a particular boxer, but then they will work in other fights and score correctly.

The sanctioning bodies have control over who the judges are for their world title fights. It is not the athletic commission's decision. I believe that sometimes the sanctioning bodies will choose biased judges on purpose if they want a certain boxer to win. The companies in MMA own the rights to all their own fighters, so they only care about a fair outcome. I know that the UFC uses the judges from the commission working the event (even for UFC title fights) which is different than what the boxing sanctioning bodies do. Maybe that is what needs to change. If the boxing sanctioning bodies were required to use the judges from the athletic commission for the event instead of their own judges, then they would have less control over the outcome of their title fights.

[Perseus]

So when are any or all of you going to become judges so your scorecards can become the official scorecards?

Contrary to popular delusion judges actually do not grow on trees.
They keep using the same judges because that's what is available to them.
There is not an unlimited number of judges to pick from which means it's not so easy to get rid of current judges.
It would be great if they got rid of judges after they turned in a few perplexing scorecards but before that can happen they need more available judges.

I thought about it, but I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I can't start a new career. Judges may never get the opportunity to judge world title fights and so they just work the events in their state which means they would make less money. I think boxing has judges who are intentionally incompetent. In other words, they are biased and corrupt, although they are capable of scoring the fights correctly. They may feel pressure to score a fight a certain way in order to get more work in the future. I don't know if they are getting money under the table. Some of these judges will be biased for a particular boxer, but then they will work in other fights and score correctly.

The sanctioning bodies have control over who the judges are for their world title fights. It is not the athletic commission's decision. I believe that sometimes the sanctioning bodies will choose biased judges on purpose if they want a certain boxer to win. The companies in MMA own the rights to all their own fighters, so they only care about a fair outcome. I know that the UFC uses the judges from the commission working the event (even for UFC title fights) which is different than what the boxing sanctioning bodies do. Maybe that is what needs to change. If the boxing sanctioning bodies were required to use the judges from the athletic commission for the event instead of their own judges, then they would have less control over the outcome of their title fights.

I wasn't defending any judge, any scorecard or the process for selecting judges.

Just pointing out what should be obvious but clearly is not to some people.

[KiwiRider]

I judge on boxrec RBR and I'm a bloody legend

[Thomastearns]

So when are any or all of you going to become judges so your scorecards can become the official scorecards?

Contrary to popular delusion judges actually do not grow on trees.
They keep using the same judges because that's what is available to them.
There is not an unlimited number of judges to pick from which means it's not so easy to get rid of current judges.
It would be great if they got rid of judges after they turned in a few perplexing scorecards but before that can happen they need more available judges.

I thought about it, but I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I can't start a new career. Judges may never get the opportunity to judge world title fights and so they just work the events in their state which means they would make less money. I think boxing has judges who are intentionally incompetent. In other words, they are biased and corrupt, although they are capable of scoring the fights correctly. They may feel pressure to score a fight a certain way in order to get more work in the future. I don't know if they are getting money under the table. Some of these judges will be biased for a particular boxer, but then they will work in other fights and score correctly.

The sanctioning bodies have control over who the judges are for their world title fights. It is not the athletic commission's decision. I believe that sometimes the sanctioning bodies will choose biased judges on purpose if they want a certain boxer to win. The companies in MMA own the rights to all their own fighters, so they only care about a fair outcome. I know that the UFC uses the judges from the commission working the event (even for UFC title fights) which is different than what the boxing sanctioning bodies do. Maybe that is what needs to change. If the boxing sanctioning bodies were required to use the judges from the athletic commission for the event instead of their own judges, then they would have less control over the outcome of their title fights.

Spot on.

It is, or or it should be, all about giving the 2 fighters in the ring the opportunity to advance their own careers by their own actions.

Inside the ring with unbiased referees and judges.


It's a little unfortunate and rather a lot more frustrating that when it comes to businessmen using pawns to play big money chess games against each other, boxing must be one the worst offenders.

One big deregulated backstabbing cash grab.

To really appreciate modern boxing we need to step back a little and watch the real fights, promoters vs promoters, promoters vs boxers, boxing lawyers vs boxing lawyers, boxers vs boxers fighting over contracts, drug testing protocols, rehydration clauses etc.

However that's just plain boring.

You might as well watch an old episode of Dallas.

MMA is a good alternative to boxing, but if you must insist upon watching a pantomime there's always good ol' wrestling.

Oh well, at least we do get the odd true fight and Beterbiev v Yarde is only a few weeks away.

[amwsnw]

I have found the opposite lately where people have been commenting about what a great run boxing is on. From heavyweight to bantam there have been some great fights and plenty to be made which keeps people talking. Guys I chat to believe the mma scene has been overdone. Likely because if the telecast it gets in Australia (over kill) where boxing is limited.