Boxing is almost down for the count (article)
Bill Simmons is one of my favourite sports writers.
In his latest column, he writes about how the upcoming May 5th superfight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr could well be boxing’s Last Big Fight, and raises many good points.
Indeed, boxing has been going through a steady decline the last few years due to a lack of superstars, which inevitably help generate interest in the sport.
Does anyone really care about boxing anymore?
Mike Tyson never truly regained his prodigious form of the early 90’s, Lennox Lewis is retired, Bernard Hopkins was never really a superstar, Roy Jones Jr is a pitifully pale shadow of the boxer he used to be, and boxers like Winky Wright, Jermain Taylor, Joe Calzaghe, and Antonio Tarver aren’t exactly considered superstar-level (in terms of global recognition).
Even Floyd Mayweather Jr, who is widely-regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world right now – How many non-boxing fans actually know what he looks like?
As Simmons argues, “De La Hoya is the only boxer who matters anymore.”
And I agree.
Another factor is the meteoric rise of the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts, in the form of both UFC and Pride. The UFCjunkie blog reports that UFC.com is the fastest-growing sports website in professional sports right now.
UFC is a huge competitor to the sport of boxing, and its emergence in the last few years is fast becoming the final nail in boxing’s coffin.
Firstly, UFC holds tournaments on a regular basis…around once every month or few months. In boxing, good fights seem to come along once every, what, half a year at least?
Secondly, UFC events are highly-engaging. The recent UFC 70 event held in Manchester over the weekend averaged 2.8 million viewers in the USA, and featured a stunning knockout upset of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. The main event of UFC 66 last Dec featuring Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz was one of the most highly-anticipated fights in UFC history.
Lastly, UFC has a whole bunch of superstars, which is something every sport needs for survival (and which is something boxing is struggling to find at the moment). Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck, Randy Couture, Joe Stevenson, Rich Franklin…these names seem to resonate so much more with the American public than any of the boxing names right now.
Let’s see if boxing ever recovers from this slump.
