In my opinion the reasons are because everytime you want to watch a fight its on pay per view, and if you ever wath the old espn classic fights there were more punches thrown in a 15 round bout than todays 12 rounders. The only fights worth watching are the little guys welterweights, lightweights, etc... The heavyweight division is killing boxing its run by bohemeth easter europeans who all they do is just lean on people and jab.

promoters and the all mighty $ have killed the sport in my opinion

That and the UFC and Pride fighting. America has become more violent and wants to see a REAL fight. Not 2 guys tickling one another.

I agree. The OLD fights are the BEST! After Tyson went to jail it was all downhill from there. Holyfield is bringing back some old interest, but what does that say about a sport when one of it's relics holds the title?

DON KING!

We use to watch boxing because two guys would get in there and go to war... It was never about looking good, or making 10-12 million dollars....

One word is doing boxing in....MONEY

Among other things I agree with that statement. I wonder if this new Rocky movie will drum up some interest?

Very True but everything on boxing revolves around a jab because it sets everything else up. You wouldn't last long with out a jab.

Cause Muhammad Ali is too old to fight

It will take another Tyson, Ali, etc. to get boxing back on the map. Someone with a little flare or controversy.

When you look at the fighters like Ali, Foreman, etc.

They were heavyweights that threw lot of punches with speed. There's where the problem is with today's heavyweights.

I agree. UFC is really growing and I believe will someday take over. Fast action, hard hitting, multiple tecniques, comparison of various styles, very little stoppage of action by ref. This sport is evolving every fight. I also think it will eventually change the way people look at traditional martial arts and their effectivness and benefit.
Bruce Lee was one of the first to embrace the idea of breaking away from the constraints and limitations of traditional martial art styles and combining the best of many.
Put a boxing fight on one big screen and a UFC fight one another in two corners of a bar full of rowdy beer drinkers and see where they all pile up to watch.

Definitely. Bring in some flavor and you will win over more fans. Boxing had it, but somehow lost it.

There is more walking and reaching than actually jabbing. I used to love to watch Roy Jones Jr. in his earlier years when he was still hungry to get to the top. He was awsome in the ring then.

Heavyweight boxing has no heroes anymore. I think that has more to do with the availability of it than anything. Used to, there were countless channels that carried boxing. Now, the only time I see it on is when they're doing replays at 3:00 in the morning when the station can't find an infomercial to take its place. Everything is pay-per-view now and I just can't afford it. I remember being able to watch some sort of boxing nearly every night of the week on different channels. I sure miss that. USA network's Tuesday Night Fights were the best.

I really think that boxing has gone the way of Pro-wrestling. I really believe that every match is fixed...except on the amateur level.....

It's true, the only good fights are Lightweights and Middleweights. But, De Le Hoya's old, Roy Jones, Jr. looks like he's lost it, whatever happened to Prince Haseem or whatever his name was ? Tito Trinidad has hung it up. I like Winky Wright, and Spinx's kid.

Heavyweight fights, have never had this long of a drought. I liked Heavyweight matches from 1973 (when I was 4) to 1989, and then Rocky came out in 1976, and it was a wonderful time for Heavyweight boxing. I still keep up with it, but Oliver McCall, Trever Berbick, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman's comeback, never lit my fire. Actually, Heavyweight boxing, made a turn for the worse with the "Tex" Cobb/Gerry Cooney vs. Larry Holmes matches, then Tyson roared on the scene, and puttered out. Now, it doesn't excite me anymore.

Git rid of all the belts and unify it and then you will get some intrest back in the sport otherwise the UFC will soon dominate.

Boxing still has a future and will be standing strong when all this MMA mush is gone. Unification is key, though.

I'm unsure, i wish I could say unification of the title belts is what will bring fans of the "Sweet Science" back.

But, boxing is looking like a crap shoot to me.

pay the natural, I can't roll any bones.

My boxing coach was on USA Tuesday Night Lights with one of his fighters who later became his son in law. USA in general has went downhill. They used to have good tv game shows as well as good cartoons like Street Fighter, Mortal Combat, etc.

Heck... If I wasn't in college, I'd be training to the near extreme because of my size and speed in the ring and I have an excellent coach.

The answers simple. People want a champion and with about a hundred different title belts aroud theres no way to know who the champion is... plus if you even want to watch one of those title fights you have to pay 50 bucks.... When we get unified belts and free fights the sports popularity will increase again.

I don't believe that unification of the belts would help boxing now. No I believe that boxing is fading out, and MMA is taking over. Boxing, i'm sorry to say, is boring compared to MMA. It is one style, fists only (heavily padded fists too I might add).....no elbows, no backhands, etc. In the Octagon, there are so many different styles, from brawlers to boxers to Judo specialists etc. there are so many different takedowns, chokes, locks, throws, etc. One punch or one kick to the head, or an arm bar or a rear naked choke, and it can all be over. It is high energy, high excitement. That is what the American people want, it is a part of the American lifestyle. We don't want to be bored, we want to be entertained. In MMA, a fighter has to be the total package. Focusing on one style only will surely be a fighters downfall, and that is what is so exciting about it, one minute they are standing and striking, and the next its ground and pound until someone taps out or is knocked out.

Don King and his hair......that's why

That and that the fact that any division over Welterweight is just flat out boring!! People don't wanna watch two fat outta shape men box!! They wanna see two guys who wanna get in a ring and beat the mess out of one another. But all I see today is one fat piece of lard leaning on or clenching one another. It just doesn't seem like anybody wants to fight anymore. But when you watch a smaller weight division fight its exciting because they step in that ring to go to war. Solution more in shape heavy division fighters, One Belt for each division, and NO PPV!!! And to say UFC is better that boxing is just ridiculous. UFC is just barbaric and idiotic!

Given the choice, I'll watch UFC everytime. More athleticism. More skill. More diversity.

We do not have that rivalry in Boxing anymore. A lot of the sport has gone to foreigners and not many American boxers can live up to what the sport was once was.

I hate to say this but I agree with you on UFC. I really tried to like it a couple of years ago, but it was so brutal I just gave up. All the knee and elbow hits are just too much, imo. To me, boxing has killed itsself and MMA has come in and taken over, kinda like a buzzard coming in and cleaning up the mess.

I think you're right. That's what's killing boxing, no one can actually watch a "good fight" without PPV. That has been what has driven your average boxing fan from watching. It's all PPV or HBO.

UFC is simply, bite, kick, and claw, which is what life is about. But, I don't want to go back to Thunderdome, been there done that.

Can't say I disagree with the effect PPV has had on fan interest in boxing. There are currently three guys, though, that I would gladly pay to view anytime they're fighting: Manny Pacquiao, Joe Calzaghe, and Kelly Pavlik. Every fight I've seen these three involved in has been action-packed. All three are active, big-time punchers. Pavlick is defending his Middleweight title in the next few weeks on HBO.

Kind of weird replying to my own post, but I have to add one more name to the list of current "PPV-worthy" prize fighters. Miguel Cotto is fighting Antonio Margarito on Saturday night. Cotto is another fighter who steps into the ring to fight. There will be alot of big punches in this fight...no doubt about it. Mayweather did himself a huge favor by retiring when he did. It's widely thought that he ducked Margarito because of Margarito's style and I don't think he wants any part of Cotto's power.

It's really too bad, no one deserves to be punished more than Mayweather.

Crooked promoters. Trashy boxers. No strong Americans. Don't want to pay for pay-per-view. Don King. There are better sports. Too many names I can't pronounce. No Howard Cosell. It is no longer main stream.

Gone are the days of Marvelous Marvin, Hitman, Sugar Ray, and Duran in the welterweight division. That was as good as it gets.

Ali, Smokin Joe, Norton,GF, Iron Mike, before he lost his mind, in the heavyweight division were great also.

I'll take a good UFC fight anyday over anything boxing has to offer.

IMO the main reason Mike Tyson was so dominate was how weak the heavyweight field was in his tenure and it has not recovered since