Forumophilia - 18 Years Online!
bristlchappy
Good Poster
billyellis
The last fight I watched was Hagler-Leonard. If I had any doubts about how corrupt boxing was before that fight, they were all erased watching Coward-Ray run and hide...into a win. 
Boxing needs to make a few changes to lure back generic sports fans like myself:
1. Enough with PPV. In the internet age, why on Earth would I shell out huge $ for something I can DL for free as soon as the event is over?? PPV just keeps casual fans away. It arose in an era when boxing was interesting and capitalized on the fact that everyone wanted to see Mike Tyson destroy someone. But now that boxing is completely devoid of interesting personalities, PPV is killing the sport.
2. Show me live scoring during the bout so that I can see how the judges end up with their scores. That way the scoring system will be more honest. If the broadcasters can go to a replay b/w rounds and note that this exchange netted Fighter A two points on 2 scorecards, but only one point on the 3rd, it would make it much more difficult for judges to do anything but score the bout as they see it.
3. Figure out a more regular schedule for the top competitors in each division. Having to wait 14 months to see the fight that is the next logical matchup because of previous commitments to fights no one cares about is asinine. Once a fighter makes it to the top, there should be no more cream-puff, record-building fights that delay the good matchups.
4. Merge the various sanctioning bodies. This is not intramural high-school athletics. Figure out a way to make a single boxing 'league' already. Joe Blow has no idea what it means to call a fighter the WBA, WBO, IBC, WNBA, FUBAR, SEAL, or OU812 Champion. When there are literally dozens of belts, none of them mean anything at all.
5. Find a deep, deep hole and make sure Max Kellerman never comes out of it. Please, boxing. Do it for all of us.
That being said, I think that the artistry and tactics of a good fight are somthing that can come back if the greedy bastards who run the sport ever wanted it to happen. But since they might have to sacrifice $ in the short term to recoup it in the long term, that is unlikely to happen.
But the most important thing is to get a regular (see #3) fight schedule on the braodcast networks that will showcase good fights and bring boxing back into the living room of average sports fans. I wish them luck. Call me when they finally apologize to Marvelous Marvin for the Robbery in Las Vegas.
Boxing needs to make a few changes to lure back generic sports fans like myself:
1. Enough with PPV. In the internet age, why on Earth would I shell out huge $ for something I can DL for free as soon as the event is over?? PPV just keeps casual fans away. It arose in an era when boxing was interesting and capitalized on the fact that everyone wanted to see Mike Tyson destroy someone. But now that boxing is completely devoid of interesting personalities, PPV is killing the sport.
2. Show me live scoring during the bout so that I can see how the judges end up with their scores. That way the scoring system will be more honest. If the broadcasters can go to a replay b/w rounds and note that this exchange netted Fighter A two points on 2 scorecards, but only one point on the 3rd, it would make it much more difficult for judges to do anything but score the bout as they see it.
3. Figure out a more regular schedule for the top competitors in each division. Having to wait 14 months to see the fight that is the next logical matchup because of previous commitments to fights no one cares about is asinine. Once a fighter makes it to the top, there should be no more cream-puff, record-building fights that delay the good matchups.
4. Merge the various sanctioning bodies. This is not intramural high-school athletics. Figure out a way to make a single boxing 'league' already. Joe Blow has no idea what it means to call a fighter the WBA, WBO, IBC, WNBA, FUBAR, SEAL, or OU812 Champion. When there are literally dozens of belts, none of them mean anything at all.
5. Find a deep, deep hole and make sure Max Kellerman never comes out of it. Please, boxing. Do it for all of us.
That being said, I think that the artistry and tactics of a good fight are somthing that can come back if the greedy bastards who run the sport ever wanted it to happen. But since they might have to sacrifice $ in the short term to recoup it in the long term, that is unlikely to happen.
But the most important thing is to get a regular (see #3) fight schedule on the braodcast networks that will showcase good fights and bring boxing back into the living room of average sports fans. I wish them luck. Call me when they finally apologize to Marvelous Marvin for the Robbery in Las Vegas.
bristlchappy
Good Poster
billyellis