"MMA.....it's the easy answer"
And absolutely the wrong answer. MMA has actually helped boxing.
First off the reason not many bars show boxing ppv's anymore is because of a law that makes them pay a ridiculous amount of money to show it. The same law does not apply to UFC events.
Second the tired adage "as the heavyweight division goes, so goes boxing" is absolutely true.
I've got 100+ years of boxing history to back up that statement.
For nearly a decade the best heavyweights have been Europeans and boxing is doing great over there.
Wladimir Klitschko's last fight drew 60,000 fans.
To put that in perspective the largest crowd Ali ever drew was 63,000(Spinks rematch).
I could go on about how boxing draws over there but I'm trying not to post a novel.
Here in America boxing is doing fine even without the heavyweights.
For the first time since 1999 the sport produced three big fights in one year. Pacquiao/ Hatton, Mayweather/Marquez and Pacquiao/Cotto.......the first sold 825,000 ppv's and the latter two both sold over a million. There have only been 14 total boxing ppv's that reached a million buys so I don't want hear any garbage about how they used to sell more, that is false.
Mosley/Margarito drew 21,000 to the Staples Center........more than any event of any kind has ever drawn to that arena......the arena the Lakers call home.
The 15,000 screaming lunatics that fill the Toyota Center when Juan Diaz fights must not have gotten the memo about boxing being dead.
Right here in our backyard Youngstown doesn't have an arena that Kelly Pavlik can't sell out.
Again, I could keep going but am trying not to post a novel.
Somebody must still be interested.
The boxing clubs are still out there.
For the first time in quite a while there has been more boxing shows in one year than the previous year and the majority of them are club shows.
652 boxing shows and counting in 2009 so far.
In 2008 there were 647.
That is only a slight increase but it's been a long time since the number of shows went up instead of down and the 2009 number isn't final yet, it may approach 700 for the year.
Boxing isn't as big as it was in the 70's and 90's but it absolutely is not dying. If a dip in popularity means a sport is dying then tennis, the NHL and NBA are all dying too.
The fight that drew the largest viewing audience for HBO's World Championship Boxing this year: Vitali Klitschko vs Chris Arreola..........a heavyweight fight.
ok, that's enough for now
