What are possible ways for boxing to gain its popularity back like it did in the 1900s-1950s

[elmersalsa]

He may have promoted the most big fights. So what? He had monopoly on the sport and boxers had virtually no choice. The sport didn't need King to promote these fights. If King wasn't a round, someone else would have done it.
A great promoter can make fight that should not be that big of a draw into a fight that is a big draw.

Tex Rickard promoted a fight between Floyd Johnson and 41-year old Jess Willard in 1923. This was years after Willard got destroyed by Jack Dempsey. Johnson was a fringe contender.
Any idea how people went to this fight? Over 60,000! That is a great promoter. He got a ton of people interested in a fight that they otherwise would not be interested in.

Not in Don King's class! End of story.

[elmersalsa]

CALM DOWN!

Well, tell me a promoter that promoted better and greater fights than Don King. Do you have the answer?

Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

Just cut the bullcrap. You know that Don King was the best promoter ever in the sport of boxing. Plain and simple.

Anybody else that doesn't agree is because is wicked, biased, and racist or want to play stupid.

[elmersalsa]

The sad thing is that he actually believes this. He admits that the big fights would have happened without King. he admits that the sport was worse of when King stopped being the top promoter. Yet, somehow, some way, he is convinced that King was great for the sport and that the sport needs someone like him now. He just never gets it. Never. Unbelievable.

The sport of boxing is at its lowest point for the last 20 years.

Don King is the greatest promoter in boxing history. Anybody else that wants to disagree is either biased, racist, wicked or want to play stupid.

[keithmoonhangover]

Well, tell me a promoter that promoted better and greater fights than Don King. Do you have the answer?

Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

Just cut the bullcrap. You know that Don King was the best promoter ever in the sport of boxing. Plain and simple.

Anybody else that doesn't agree is because is wicked, biased, and racist or want to play stupid.

elmer, you need to calm down, this is just a boxing forum, you don't need to get so agitated, you'll give yourself an aneurism.

I'll ask again.... Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

[elmersalsa]

Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

Just cut the bullcrap. You know that Don King was the best promoter ever in the sport of boxing. Plain and simple.

Anybody else that doesn't agree is because is wicked, biased, and racist or want to play stupid.

elmer, you need to calm down, this is just a boxing forum, you don't need to get so agitated, you'll give yourself an aneurism.

I'll ask again.... Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

Whatever it is, Don King was the man, period. It's not difficult to figure out. It's plain and simple. If you have a problem that he is the best fight promoter, I understand your agenda.

[elmersalsa]

Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

Just cut the bullcrap. You know that Don King was the best promoter ever in the sport of boxing. Plain and simple.

Anybody else that doesn't agree is because is wicked, biased, and racist or want to play stupid.

elmer, you need to calm down, this is just a boxing forum, you don't need to get so agitated, you'll give yourself an aneurism.

I'll ask again.... Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

Don King was the best in promoting the fights.
He promoted the greatest fights. Look at the outcomes.
He matched the best against the best. End of story.

I hope that I have answered your questions.

[Ambling Alp II]

Anyway, let's move on from this nonsense. it does seem that one thing that is on people's wish list is for there to be a credible organization To me, that would mean an organization that has legitimate rankings, mandates that champions defend their title frequently and most of all against the top contender.

It really should not be asking too much to require a champion to defend his title twice a year, with both defenses against 2 top 10 ranked contenders and once against the #1 contender in a 12-month period of time.

Imagine a credible organization would have their own officials who were reasonably competent and unbiased? If they could get the backing of the networks to the exclusion of the WBS organizations, the WBS organizations would fade into the background. top 10 contenders would actually have to fight each other instead of biding their times by fighting carefully selected opponents while waiting for an opportunity from one of the 4 "major" champions.

Not sure if a lot of people realize how different the WBS organizations are form say the NBA or the NFL or MLB. Those sports run the regular season, the playoffs and championship games with their own officials. The WBS organizations in boxing really don't have anything to do with non-title fights. Imagine if a credible organization existed with the WBS organizations on the sidelines. They could use their officials in fights that were not for their title. Officiating could be better across the board.

Dare to dream.

[keithmoonhangover]

Just cut the bullcrap. You know that Don King was the best promoter ever in the sport of boxing. Plain and simple.

Anybody else that doesn't agree is because is wicked, biased, and racist or want to play stupid.

elmer, you need to calm down, this is just a boxing forum, you don't need to get so agitated, you'll give yourself an aneurism.

I'll ask again.... Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

Don King was the best in promoting the fights.
He promoted the greatest fights. Look at the outcomes.
He matched the best against the best. End of story.

I hope that I have answered your questions.

Tex Rickard was a much better promoter than King.

[elmersalsa]

elmer, you need to calm down, this is just a boxing forum, you don't need to get so agitated, you'll give yourself an aneurism.

I'll ask again.... Are you talking about solely promoting a fight, which is the promoter's role? Or are you also talking about matchmaking and the actual fight itself?

Don King was the best in promoting the fights.
He promoted the greatest fights. Look at the outcomes.
He matched the best against the best. End of story.

I hope that I have answered your questions.

Tex Rickard was a much better promoter than King.

Not in a million years. Don King, like it or not, is the greatest boxing promoter of all-time. Then, comes Tex Rickard. And next? Probably Bob Arum.

1. Don King
2. Tex Rickard
3. Bob Arum

[keithmoonhangover]

Don King was the best in promoting the fights.
He promoted the greatest fights. Look at the outcomes.
He matched the best against the best. End of story.

I hope that I have answered your questions.

Tex Rickard was a much better promoter than King.

Not in a million years. Don King, like it or not, is the greatest boxing promoter of all-time. Then, comes Tex Rickard. And next? Probably Bob Arum.

1. Don King
2. Tex Rickard
3. Bob Arum

Rickard promoted so well that he got over 120,000 fans to attend a fight in 1927. With the promotional resources available to him, that achievement

[keithmoonhangover]

Don King was the best in promoting the fights.
He promoted the greatest fights. Look at the outcomes.
He matched the best against the best. End of story.

I hope that I have answered your questions.

Tex Rickard was a much better promoter than King.

Not in a million years. Don King, like it or not, is the greatest boxing promoter of all-time. Then, comes Tex Rickard. And next? Probably Bob Arum.

1. Don King
2. Tex Rickard
3. Bob Arum

Rickard promoted so well that he got over 120,000 fans to attend a fight in 1927. With the promotional resources available to him, that beats anything Don King ever did.

[Ezzard]

The biggest problem is TV. The channels/networks have offered top talent big money and soft opponents far too many times. We even had Mayweather pick his own opponents set the date, venue, ref... and all carefully put into place so he could hit the PEDs but his opponent was never given enough time to do the same.

Any organisation that did not dance to Mayweather's tune would simply see him start a new organisation up. And back to square one we go. It's easy in football. All the clubs need one another. In tennis it's all about tournaments. And the top players are guaranteed to play one another multiple times.

It would require all the channel and networks to work with the one organisation and only that one. Even the boxing press don't really want it.

[elmersalsa]

Tex Rickard was a much better promoter than King.

Not in a million years. Don King, like it or not, is the greatest boxing promoter of all-time. Then, comes Tex Rickard. And next? Probably Bob Arum.

1. Don King
2. Tex Rickard
3. Bob Arum

Rickard promoted so well that he got over 120,000 fans to attend a fight in 1927. With the promotional resources available to him, that achievement

Big deal. He still wasn't no match for Don King.

[keithmoonhangover]

Not in a million years. Don King, like it or not, is the greatest boxing promoter of all-time. Then, comes Tex Rickard. And next? Probably Bob Arum.

1. Don King
2. Tex Rickard
3. Bob Arum

Rickard promoted so well that he got over 120,000 fans to attend a fight in 1927. With the promotional resources available to him, that achievement

Big deal.

Yes, it was.

[elmersalsa]

Rickard promoted so well that he got over 120,000 fans to attend a fight in 1927. With the promotional resources available to him, that achievement

Big deal.

Yes, it was.

Nobody remembers Tex Rickard. End of story.

[keithmoonhangover]

Big deal.

Yes, it was.

Nobody remembers Tex Rickard. End of story.

You do, and so do I. So, you're incorrect.

[Ezzard]

The Olympics is a big deal. Nations get behind their boxers and that fan base ciontinues into the pro game.

Both my nans would watch the fights. McGuigan, Bugner, Cowdell, Bruno... We watched all their fights together. My one nan remembered listening to Louis-Farr on the radio. She said she was so thrilled that she clenched her fists so tightly her finger nails cut into her skin.

So many people are put off by the fake Ali gobshites in today's boxing.

[Ambling Alp II]

Agree about the Olympics. it would help make someone a name. Boxing used to get as much attention as swimming, gymnastics, and track during the Olympics. Now you really have search to even find Olympic boxing on TV. I haven't seen an Olympic boxing boxing match in the alst several Olympic Games.

Funny to hear about your nanas following boxing. Reminds me a little of my mom. She used to tell a story about her being a party early in 1964. she told some men that she thought that "Cassius Kid" would beat Liston. she got laughed at.

[Ambling Alp II]

The biggest problem is TV. The channels/networks have offered top talent big money and soft opponents far too many times. We even had Mayweather pick his own opponents set the date, venue, ref... and all carefully put into place so he could hit the PEDs but his opponent was never given enough time to do the same.

Any organisation that did not dance to Mayweather's tune would simply see him start a new organisation up. And back to square one we go. It's easy in football. All the clubs need one another. In tennis it's all about tournaments. And the top players are guaranteed to play one another multiple times.

It would require all the channel and networks to work with the one organisation and only that one. Even the boxing press don't really want it.

Pretty much agree with this well. If there was one legitimate organization and the networks would band together around it and ignore the rest, it would help the sport immensely. Dare to dream.

[Cap]

Network television which help promote and ultimately kill professional boxing (and boxing clubs) is pretty much dead. Streaming services rule the day now. Only dedicated fight fans will pony up 50-100 bucks to see two mediocre paperweight Latinos beat each other up. The pool of good fighters (not great) has shrunk since the seventies and eighties to where it's now a puddle. The potential audience for boxing is going the way of nickle beer and pogo sticks. People now prefer baseball, real football and hockey, and the young athletes are not interested in getting their faces rearranged. Boxing is a sport of the very poor, desperate for a way out of poverty.

Even forcing all official boxing commissions under the umbrella of an International Boxing Union with 12 round world title fights (and only world title fights) and 8 weight classes wouldn't revive interest in boxing. Boxing now is the ugly sister of sports and the mass media chooses to ignore it. (It confounds me as to why MMA is broadcast when boxing is not).

Nah. Boxing is heading the way of cock fighting and bull-baiting.