BoxRec

Read the third letter..... Its people like this who have contributed to boxings decline. The continued pussification of the American male

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10250/1085521-110.stm

I recall that in western PA where even today we cling inordinately to our guns and religion, the Clay/Ali - Liston fights were very damaging to boxing. Many fans never recovered. After these fights they put boxing in the same category as pro wrestling. Prior to these fights boxing and baseball were the two most popular pro sports in this area. But, after the "towell of tears," even the pro football (with the then very lackluster Steelers) were more popular than boxing.

Some might say that it was the discontinuance of the Gillette Calvalcade Friday Night Fights and other free bouts that were all over network TV, but I really don't think this was the major reason for the inception of boxing's decline. And, I do realize that boxing's alleged ties to organized crime had been a popular subject throughout the 40's, 50's and 60's. But, I really do think it was the "red pepper towel"; the "phantom punch"; and other shenanigans of the two Clay/Ali - Liston fights that really KO'd boxing. The Liston - Clay/Ali bouts were just too much theater - one expected Gorgeous George to make an appearance at any moment!

But, I'm old and probably err in my perceptions. Nevertheless, I do still remember VIVIDLY how angry I was when Liston dropped to the canvas for no "apparent" reason! I mean I had become accustomed to watching Marciano, Louis, Charles, Moore and the best of them all, Sugar Ray Robinson, win fights with real blows!

Indeed, I remember Sonny Boy West dying - actually dying - a few months after I watched him beat Sammy Angott in Detroit in 1950! I rhink a lot of other fans had memories similar to mine and just stopped paying attention after Liston did what he did.

Steeler out

Steeler wrote: I do still remember VIVIDLY how angry I was when Liston dropped to the canvas for no "apparent" reason!

no apparent reason? since when is getting punched "no apparent reason"?......people go on like the punch that ali dropped him with was soft or that it missed or something.......in this video you can clearly see the punch lands right on the bottom with some considerable force...(watch listons back muscles wobble as he absorbs the punch)...maybe it wasnt a ko punch but there is a big difference between someone giving up and someone throwing a fight.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prxnGjKjxoo

There is alot to consider here in your "Decline of Boxing in America".

I dont think the popularity as a sport has declined by fans wanting to see good fights, but rather the lack of so-called Good Contenders who's career you can follow often.

For those of us who go back to the 50's or 60's , there were numerous fighters who were great entertainers and who would fight often enough across the country to generate viewership. That's why small boxing venues survived with monthly and some weekly fights going on.

In the 70's with the added weight classes and the various alphabet soups arguing over who their champions are going be and sanctioning only the fighters that they recognize, lost lots of fan viewership.

Then your pay-per-view started with less than stellar bouts asking for $35-$60 a pop for lousy match-ups. The good ones were far and few between-many people said "not my money for PPV" and lost a great dael of fan base.

Live fights were now mainly in tax-free or less taxed states like Nevada(Las Vegas, Reno) or Atlantic City New Jersey. New York lost their prime fighters to these other places because of the money the state was taking from them.
Now we got a very small pool of mostly so-so boxers putting on shows and no body cares. Yes there are some very good fights going on, but they are few too many and cost prohibited in todays economy to attend live or buy PPV at a risk if they are going to show up or not to put an effort in.
I mean really- James Toney on PPV for $60 today-ruins the whole scope of things.

You can still find small venues putting on fights for $50-$75 a seat and get a good view of some local talent and enjoy a evening, and hoping someday you can say "I seen this guy starting out and now he's a champ". But mostly those days of Saturday afternoons of free TV with top notch fighters are gone; Along with it's disgruntled die hard boxing fans who hope it makes a great return-dont hold your breathe. I dont like MMA but there is a slew of Gen Xers who do and thats the next big thing in marketing.
Boxing and MMA are big business, and MMA is winning out.

What I do notice is a rapid Boxing Build up going on in Europe with alot of champions being Ukraine or Polish or English, or whatever so there is hope yet for a revival of sorts.

i think technology has alot to do with it aswell....kid were more motivated to go out and find hobbys such as boxing and basketball etc because there was not much else to do....now we live in a world of the internet, online gaming, dvd, mp3 etc so that people can be amused without having to leave there house thus making them less motivated to go out and play sports etc...

boxing needs some people who not only know how to box but they must have charisma,these 2 qualities are very important in revamping the boxing image,

Jesus, you hit the nail on the head there. There are tons of kids out there who rather play a boxing game on XBox than watch a sport on TV. Some parents try to keep their kids off the games but who are they kidding, the kids school chums bombard them with the newest things out there and many kids are not into the physical aspect of sports- hence soccer popularity has grown. Even less kids playing football nowadays.

If kids arent interested in boxing by 21- then they never will be.

CNorkusJr wrote:Jesus, you hit the nail on the head there. There are tons of kids out there who rather play a boxing game on XBox than watch a sport on TV. Some parents try to keep their kids off the games but who are they kidding, the kids school chums bombard them with the newest things out there and many kids are not into the physical aspect of sports- hence soccer popularity has grown. Even less kids playing football nowadays.

If kids arent interested in boxing by 21- then they never will be.

kids nowadays are different from my day (god i feel old saying that). my youngest brother is 13 and he is lazy and does nothing but play computer games or is on facebook all day..when i was that age i was never indoors and was always out doing some sort of activity (played alot of football and tennis). we didnt have facebook so had to actually go out to socialise with friends and meet new people....the school craze was yoyo's and tamagochi's...now its psp's and nintendo ds...moral of the story is technology has come on so far that kids can be quite easily amused and entertained at the touch of a button in the comfort of there own house meaning less and less kids are going to take up sports as hobbys....

Agreed, When I was 10-16 my mother kicked me outside at 9 am and told me to stay out and play until she called me in for lunch (with 7 other boys that grew up with me on my block- the mothers would take turns feeding us at lunchtime) then kick us back out until it was dinner or got dark and then some.
No computer games were around then (1960's). My father gave us some old boxing gloves from time to time and taught us how to spar. Football and stickball were the favorites though.
Today I watch my nephews freak out if they dont touch the XBox game at least once during he day. Their parents are trying to adjust them now but I think its to late.

Jesus wrote:i think technology has alot to do with it aswell....kid were more motivated to go out and find hobbys such as boxing and basketball etc because there was not much else to do....now we live in a world of the internet, online gaming, dvd, mp3 etc so that people can be amused without having to leave there house thus making them less motivated to go out and play sports etc...

Well back in the 1960's and 1970's people said the same thing about television having that effect on kids in the USA. I think poverty is more a reason. There are more opportunities for kids and youngsters in America than to do a sport where you get hit for so little reward.

Kids will always at some level want to go out and play sports themselves rather than just on a console online with their buddies. Its just nature u want to play a game outside sometimes.

Things like the army are gettting plenty of recruits to fight, so maybe where boxing is losing out right now in the 2000's is kids who want to fight going into the army rather than boxing.

You look at how many white kids are going into MMA as well. So its something about boxing they dont like. MMA , the whole cage thing, the clothes, the tatoos, the image, the steroids, its all a lot more glamourous than boxing in the USA now. Same for the WWE and pro wrestling plenty of kids going into that too. Other sports arent suffering , baseball, basketball, american football, they all continue to find kids........so its not a video game/gadgets/internet thing full stop......its just a problem boxing sufferes from as a sport and as a business in the USA

in the UK kids are going into boxing more and more despite all the other distractions.

I think one contributing reason for boxing decline is the lack of interest of the media in general,I was in New York for the Jones v Calzaghe fight & before the fight it was hard to find a preview of the fight in the NY press & after the fight very little to be found in the way of a report & that when one of the boxers was an all time great ( I mean Calzaghe of course)

telboy66 wrote:I think one contributing reason for boxing decline is the lack of interest of the media in general,I was in New York for the Jones v Calzaghe fight & before the fight it was hard to find a preview of the fight in the NY press & after the fight very little to be found in the way of a report & that when one of the boxers was an all time great ( I mean Calzaghe of course)

Terrible shout.

Lack of media interest is clearly a symptom of the decline of the sport, not a cause. The press doesn't suddenly stop reporting on something unless it's already yesterday's news.

Also, Calzaghe isn't an ATG unless you're either Welsh or under the age of 18.

Knucklez wrote:

telboy66 wrote:I think one contributing reason for boxing decline is the lack of interest of the media in general,I was in New York for the Jones v Calzaghe fight & before the fight it was hard to find a preview of the fight in the NY press & after the fight very little to be found in the way of a report & that when one of the boxers was an all time great ( I mean Calzaghe of course)

Terrible shout.

Lack of media interest is clearly a symptom of the decline of the sport, not a cause. The press doesn't suddenly stop reporting on something unless it's already yesterday's news.

Also, Calzaghe isn't an ATG unless you're either Welsh or under the age of 18.

I did say one of the contributing reasons not the only one, not a terrible shout quite a reasonable comment I thought.
the last line of my post is whats know as irony sorry you didn't get it.
of course Calzaghe would not be on your list if you happen to be American