How to Save Boxing…
What Boxing Needs to do to Save Itself…
Back in the day, ABC’s Wide World of Sports was a weekend ritual for me. I remember watching Aaron ‘The Rock’ Pryor dismantle opponents. Amateur bouts were huge on Wide World of Sports. We would see Team USA face off against themselves to see who would represent the US in the Olympic Games. Now, finding a channel on free TV that regularly features the up and coming fighters and amateur bouts has gone the way of the Dodo. That being said, I have a few ideas that might save boxing.
First and foremost, get rid of most of the Junior and Super weight classes. When the Cruiserweight division was created and the boxing world had a tizzy, but I understood why they did it. There was this hole in between the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight classes that left many fighters around the 200lbs mark that were too heavy to get down the 175lbs limit for Light Heavyweight and too small to hang with the big boys in the Heavyweight division where the fighters can be as heavy as they want. Once the Cruiserweight division was created, a flood of other weight classes sprung up. Super Middleweight, Super Flyweight, and Minimumweight (now known as Strawweight) came about in the 80′s. Not to mention all the Junior weight classes that came about as well. Junior Middleweight, Junior Weltweight and Junior Lightweight. If you head over to the ESPN Boxing Champion page (http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?page=boxing/champions/index), you will see how insane the weight classes have become.
Next, change how promoters are able to conduct business. There are times where I feel that the business model in MMA stifles the ability to have the 2 best fighters face each other if they are under contract with rival promotions, being under contract with the promoter that also runs the events makes life a bit easier for the fighters to know that they will have a chance to fight more often and possibly make more money. While it might not be the payday that you see Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather make, but the money would be more consistent. What being with a promotion that runs the shows as well will do, is possibly lower the possibility for a promotor to scam the fighter. Think about how many times Don King has been sued by fighters claiming King had swindled them in some way, shape or form? Do you think Don King is an isolated incident?
Now one of the biggest problems is the fact that many of the fights are pretty freakin’ boring. This is one of the main reason why MMA is taking off the way it has and is being considered one of the most entertaining sports competitions going today. In many cases, professional bouts are 8, 10 and 12 rounds of boxing. If the round count is even, you have a true chance for a draw…Why? Also, with that many rounds some fighters will take a round or 2 off and still win a unanimous decision. I propose something similar to MMA…I know, I am essentially saying that boxing should adopt the MMA business model. I really don’t think that is a bad idea. Do you?…Non-title bouts should be 5 rounds and championship bouts should be 7 or 9 rounds. Make sure that the fighters lay it all on the line. I think if the the Pacquiao vs Clottey fight was a 7 round championship bout, the bout might not have been called a snoozer by some many analysts. With shorter fights and one company running the events, more bouts can be broadcast during a pay per view event and more fighters would be able to make a name for themselves. I just like the idea of fighters having a limited amount of time to win a fight. Call me crazy…
The biggest problem that boxing has to overcome is accessibility. While Showtime and HBO have boxing events on a regular basis, Showtime and HBO are premium pay channels and in a limited number of households. While ESPN has Friday Night Fights and available on basic cable packages, the number of hours that ESPN focuses on boxing is very limited. NBC gave a chance to a reality series similar to Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter entitled The Contender. There were 4 seasons of the Contender. The first was on NBC, second and third was on ESPN and the forth was on Versus. Sergio Mora, as far as I know, is the only fighter from the series that had any bit of success after the series. A network will need to take a chance and help boxing reclaim its glory. If the fighters do not find a national outlet to build their name, the USA boxing fans will no longer know who to watch and why. The Heavyweight division has moved over to Europe, as has several other weight classes. As far as I know Floyd Mayweather is the only American champion with any real clout to bring in big numbers for a pay per view event.
So what will Boxing do as a collective sport to keep itself relevant?
At this point, I have no clue. The powers that be in boxing will have to find a way to save itself. They can read this and consider the ideas. The Olympics use to be a full well of talent, but it seems that well has dried up. At least the talent pool has dried up for the USA. For boxing to survive it will have to find a way to re-invent itself. If boxing does not find a way for re-invention, boxing might not die, but boxing may be on permanent life support.
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