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***TheTeddyBear*** · 09-30-2018, 06:55 PM

It can't compete with the streaming services.

***Method*** · (This post was last modified: 09-30-2018 08:21 PM by Method.)

(09-30-2018 03:11 AM)ViperSniper Wrote: “Once upon a time we were a promising kid. Then a challenger. Then a champion. A great champion. A long-time champion. And then a has-been who finally retired.

“So long, champ.”

Larry Merchant on HBO dropping boxing.

Shut up, Larry. Have another martini.

Kidding. Poetic, Sir Lawrence.

***salvador*** · 09-30-2018, 08:45 PM

(09-30-2018 08:20 PM)Method Wrote: Kidding. Poetic, Sir Lawrence.

Yep, a real writer who elevated the sport.

***TheTeddyBear*** · 09-30-2018, 10:43 PM

Larry Merchant to HBO Executives "if I was fifty years younger I'd kick your ass"

***blackbelt2003*** · 10-01-2018, 02:52 AM

It's the opposite here in the UK. Boxing just keeps getting more and more exposure and TV time.

Some people bemoan the lack of free-to-air TV time, but i remember the days of big fights on ITV and BBC (our free channels) and the coverage was shit. You'd get a three minute preview, then the main event (riddled with commercial breaks) and it was off air sometimes before you even got a decent post fight interview.

These days you can settle down in front of the television for almost the entire card with another one on another channel being recorded. There's almost too much boxing on and a lot of it i have to fast forward to fit it in.

Plus it's back on the peripheral of mainstream, again, thanks to Anthony Joshua and a few others. Regular, everyday people are talking about boxing like never before (I would say even moreso than the 90's) because of social media and instant online videos.

I would hazard a guess that it's a similar story in a handful of other countries like Russia and Eastern European states.

But could all these nations carry boxing if the US continued to decline?

Black

JD · 10-01-2018, 06:44 AM

But that’s the thing...I’m not sure you can say the US is on decline.

Look at the recent agreements signed with Fox, ESPN and Showtime. Bigger money than we have seen in years.

***blackbelt2003*** · 10-01-2018, 07:01 AM

I think every generation thinks boxing is on its way out and it's all about to die.

I remember Ring Magazine reprinting an article from the 1950's about how boxing was finished and wouldn't be around in the future.

It seems massively healthy from where I'm sitting in the UK.

Black

JD · 10-01-2018, 09:22 AM

It's healthy here too - it is just not healthy in the traditional sense using the same old approach.

We are heading back to broadcast TV, Showtime has chased HBO, ESPN is putting on big fights with big names, ESPN+ is becoming a legitimate source of content, and DAZN debuted successfully over here with the Joshua fight.

Now we just need GBP to abandon this stupid Facebook streaming approach and I think the actual amount of content available will exceed what we have seen...the downside, you need Showtime, ESPN+ and DAZN to catch it all.

***lloyd mayflower*** · 10-01-2018, 09:25 AM

Boxing as a competitive sport is on life support thanks to the governing bodies.

Massive exhibition matches featuring show ponies who have decided the money is big enough to make the fight, they are alive and well.

***blackbelt2003*** · 10-01-2018, 02:14 PM

Lloyd it was like that, though, as far back as I remember. I think the 1980's were spoilt with superfights actually delivering...in many other eras (Ali notwithstanding) the superfights were often damp squibs. I remember how excited I was for De La Hoya-Trinidad and Holyfield-Lewis. They ended up sucking as much ass as MayPac did.

Black