By Karl Freitag
Hardcore boxing fans tend to gnash their teeth at the recent spate of exhibitions featuring former boxing legends, MMA fighters competing in boxing matches, combination boxing/Verzuz events, and Internet “influencers” squaring off in the ring. But there is a very bright side.
In the most recent Harris Poll, boxing now ranks as the fourth most-popular sport in the United States, behind only football, baseball, and basketball. And ahead of MMA. Ahead of ice hockey. Ahead of soccer. Ahead of tennis. Ahead of golf.
This is rather startling considering boxing wasn’t even in the top ten previously. And perhaps even more shocking is the fact that boxing is no longer just your grandfather’s favorite sport. Young people are flocking to the sweet science, even preferring boxing to baseball!
There is a market for celebrity boxing. Obviously, these match-ups aren’t high level, but they can be entertaining. And they’re clearly attracting a new audience to the fight game.
For example, on Saturday there’s a free stream featuring Game of Thrones star Thor “The Mountain” Bjornsson against British strongman Eddie Hall in a six round boxing match. This spectacle is nothing more than sports entertainment, but it’s still boxing.
And, the more people interested in watching boxing at any level, the better it is for the sport.
Yeah I have never had a huge problem with it. I would probably have paid for Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury but have dodged everything else. You need to get young people watching to move the sport forward and in the current era young people are unfortunately social media/YouTube crazy.
“Who says boxing is dead?”
– Not me.
– I am thankful for any televised boxing.
– Tale care.
“Take”
same here Gary G. i was a boxer and now a true hard core boxing fan. Truth be told, i’ll watch any boxing. The best shows to watch though aren’t the shows on tv, its the Smokers. well they dont call them that anymore but the young ammy kids boxing for their first times. Everyone needs to get out and support these young boxers and cheer em on. Those are defining moments for those youngsters
The celebrity boxers are more willing to face off and take risks compared to the top level boxers, especially nowadays.
unfortunately, that is the damn truth lol
I said that boxing is dying in the US, but alive and well in the UK, or something like that. Not arguing with the poll, but I can’t think of a single person who’s a hardcore boxing fan. Typically, the only chatter I hear about boxing, outside of this forum, like at work for example, is when something like Fury-Wilder goes down, or one of Jake Paul’s shows. Like it or not, Jake Paul almost certainly has a lot (everything?) to do with the surge in popularity of the sport, especially among young people.
I meant, Paul has everything to do with the popularity of the sport specifically with young people. Can’t think of any other reason that younger folks are suddenly drawn to the sport…
I think the hope is that someone will watch a Jake Paul card and then see like Amanda Serrano on the undercard and watch her fight and enjoy it and then the next time she fights, like now, they hear “biggest women’s fight of all time” and they’re interested. For me that helps the health of the sport in a non-obvious way.
As long as the events are affordable, I think most folks will keep up with the sport. Boy, some of the prices for PPV events are out of this world! My 2 cents…
ur right scoobs.. All these ppv’s show up not and over priced has alot to do with these fighters thinking they are a hotter draw then they really are. That is what we have to deal with in boxing right now is these fighters wanting huge money with only a descent skill level.
Boxing isn’t dead and will never be dead until they ban boxing in general if it is deemed too dangerous.
I laugh at the boxing vs mma opinions. MMA might have 2-3 elite/popular fighters where boxing, you can usually find that in each weight division.
The only thing the Harris Poll tells me is there are a lot of people out there that think they know boxing.
I’ve been a boxing fan for about 70 of my almost 81 years. The first heavyweight title fight I saw live (on tv) was Joe Walcott vs Ezzard Charles, somewhere around 1950, don’t recall exactly. We got a tv in our house around 1949, and I was quickly hooked on boxing. I’ve never watched ufc, mma, Jake Paul, etc., or women’s boxing. I wouldn’t waste a red cent on any of that stuff. Anybody watching it, that’s fine. Just not my cuppa tea. Once, back in the ’50s, boxing came on tv 4 nights a week. Top notch fights. And free. Now, I don’t blame folks for making a buck, but even if I could easily afford to pay close to 100 scoots for a tv boxing card, there are very few cards nowdays that I would come close to paying what they ask for.
The only time in my life that I got to see boxing live and in person was when I was stationed in Honolulu for 20 months in the Navy in the early ’60s. Sad Sam Inchinose always brought in some good stateside fighters to headline his cards. Curtis Cokes, Rip Randall, Carlos Ortiz, Bobo Olson, Denny Moyer, Gaspar Ortega, were a few I can recall right off my head. Welterweight Stan Harrington was the local headliner then. Good times back then.
– Thank you for that post, sir.
– My 88 year-old dad tells me about the “Gillette Friday Night Fights televised back in the day.
Boxing may be the fourth most popular sport in the U.S., but only because of the country’s huge Hispanic population. With white Americans, boxing is basically dead. If it were still thriving, then it would be on free TV and all over the popular media the way football and basketball are. It’s still alive here because of the Latino crowd.
Latino immigration has helped both the fan base and the talent pool. Back in the day, a professional boxing event in the rural Midwest or South was slightly above the caliber of a Toughman tournament. Today, rural America has immigrants who learned to box in Mexico and can compete against big-city professionals.
It is not the boxing , they are flocking to the events because off all the others things that surrounds it. Real boxing is definitely dying, when one think that while most dedicated boxers have to struggle to make a living, celebs and old pensioned former fighters are making millions from farting around in the ring.
Julian Reifer: Good perspective re ‘real boxing’.
I hate to admit it – but Boxing’s popularity is primarily due to the ridiculous amount of foofoo “Boxing” Gyms sprouting up in affluent, white collar neighborhoods ♂️
So many Champions in all categories and the only way to find out about the majority of fights is to go Boxing websites. Why is there not more Boxing on Television??????
The fact that MMA fighters want to prove themselves in traditional boxing only adds to the prestige of the boxing as a standard. And the number of fans who can now flock to youtube and “catch up” on Dempsey, Louis, Ray Robinson, Canzoneri, etc. etc., in training as well as in classic bouts, rather than hunt own old film collections also spreads the enthusiasm.
Boxiana will N E V E R die because everyone is born with two fists. No human is born with a football, baseball, and basketball. The same people who watch fights after-school in the parking lot are future spectators [ with an interest to watch Fistiana ]. ©️ Coach Hilario 2022