Feel sorry for the Boxing fans today !!

When I was a kid....Curry...Bramble...Rosario...Camacho...Mancini...Pazienza.....Tyson......Nelson....Pedrosa......Pryor....McCallum...Chandler.....Benitez....Hilton and plenty of others...were all on cable.....

When I came over here Benn, Eubank, Tyson...Were all on cable...

Boxing fans now have to pay for anything and everything decent despite the fact they are paying for the SKY package al ready. .....Box nation is probably value for money but it is still more expense for the fan who is already discouraged by ABC titles and politics mixed with a lack of personality...

The past is gone....But it is a shame that today's Boxing fans are being short changed..

It's a shame that I can't see it changing anytime soon..

It's a mess I'm afraid Truss.

PPV is here to stay, best rarely fight the best, boxing unable to force the fights the fans want to see. More a business than a sport. Still, you can always watch on the computer if you don't mind poor picture quality.

Funny though that back then we didn't have to pay and for the most part the best match ups always came off.

For me people like Stevenson shouldn't be allowed to earn a penny till he faces Kovalev, Garcia till he faces Thurman.

It's not just PPV. I watched a vid of McCallum vs Curry the other week. Today's fighters just do not have the same level of craft that is on display in that fight.

Completely different levels.

My most depressing fight.....Curry boxed so well that night against a great fighter...Such a shame he never reached his potential..

Even more depressing to remember I watched it live and it's 30 years ago..

I also remember Tompkins and Leonard gloating about the result after the fight because Curry was suing Leonard at the time..

Truss what do you make of the Hawk? Did you rate him very highly??

Always remember reading Four Kings and being amazed that championship fights didn't happen on Saturday nights. A quick refresher shows

Leonard - Hagler was a Monday
Leonard - Hearns was a Wednesday
Ali - Foreman was a Wednesday
etc etc

I think the move to Vegas dominating the fight scene, moving fights to Saturdays etc did a lot of damage and took it away from the people and made it a "business" with promoters and TV companies following suit.

Group Cpt Lionel Mandrake wrote:Always remember reading Four Kings and being amazed that championship fights didn't happen on Saturday nights. A quick refresher shows

Leonard - Hagler was a Monday
Leonard - Hearns was a Wednesday
Ali - Foreman was a Wednesday
etc etc

I think the move to Vegas dominating the fight scene, moving fights to Saturdays etc did a lot of damage and took it away from the people and made it a "business" with promoters and TV companies following suit.

Not a particularly relevant comment for me to make but I still marvel that Ali/Frazier III took place at 11 o'clock in the morning

DAVE667 wrote:

Group Cpt Lionel Mandrake wrote:Always remember reading Four Kings and being amazed that championship fights didn't happen on Saturday nights. A quick refresher shows

Leonard - Hagler was a Monday
Leonard - Hearns was a Wednesday
Ali - Foreman was a Wednesday
etc etc

I think the move to Vegas dominating the fight scene, moving fights to Saturdays etc did a lot of damage and took it away from the people and made it a "business" with promoters and TV companies following suit.

Not a particularly relevant comment for me to make but I still marvel that Ali/Frazier III took place at 11 o'clock in the morning

FFS never knew that at all

Group Cpt Lionel Mandrake wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:

Group Cpt Lionel Mandrake wrote:Always remember reading Four Kings and being amazed that championship fights didn't happen on Saturday nights. A quick refresher shows

Leonard - Hagler was a Monday
Leonard - Hearns was a Wednesday
Ali - Foreman was a Wednesday
etc etc

I think the move to Vegas dominating the fight scene, moving fights to Saturdays etc did a lot of damage and took it away from the people and made it a "business" with promoters and TV companies following suit.

Not a particularly relevant comment for me to make but I still marvel that Ali/Frazier III took place at 11 o'clock in the morning

FFS never knew that at all

Apparently so the fighters would be able to participate as the heat and humidity would have been even more oppressive if it was held later in the day

It also doesn't help that there's numerous different organisations claiming that their man is a champion, some won't recognise others and unifications are rarely made.
The casual fans are confused as well as being ripped off. It would be so much easier to follow with one champ per weight.
The WBA have a lot to answer for with their interim, regular and super champs.

Not only that, there are no set of standard rankings used to dictate who fights who. Your Leonards/Haglers/Hearns etc. had number one contenders to accommodate (who generally were just that).

Yes I remember the big fights were always mid week and for us at the other end of the world in the middle of the afternoon. The number of sick days I had would have raised a few suspicions if my boss knew I was a boxing fan.