Sports Websites hating on Boxing?

Dragonstyle915 · 05-08-2008, 05:08 PM

This does no include ESPN.COM btw. They kept their Boxing page and while a few newstories have the inevitable "Boxing vs. MMA dabte" (and its died down on ESPN.COM really) they truly kept their Boxing page.

But,
Foxsports.com, SI.com, Yahoo.com, aolsports, ect... have added MMA along side Boxing and usually 90% of their stories are MMA related. Boxing stories are sometimes very negative towards the sport as well. Others like MSN sports just have a UFC section and maybe a Boxing story or two will be added along side it. Some have totally isolated Boxing and kicked it to the curb just like that (Basically)

I have nothing against MMA. I watch the sport. I do enjoy it. While I lean towards Boxing my self I feel this is a slap in the face to Boxing though. Especially all the big news stories Boxing has given sports over the years. Just like that they stab it on the back.

I cant believe they dont realize 3 key things. (there are prob more key things but these are the main ones.

1. Alot if not some of Boxing fans dont care for MMA

2. Alot of MMA if not some fans dont care for Boxing

3. They are not, in any way-shape-or-form the same sport. (Sure the concept is the same... but come on)

Sports Illustrated has had alot of their issues sold because of Boxing in the past and they've just anihilated Boxing and seem to be on a mission to force an extermination of the sport of Boxing from their mag. (Althought the Spanish version which my uncle always gets has alot of Boxing stories) . (The Ring issue I have actually briefly talks about Sports Illustrated and how they've declaired Boxing dead and MMA in btw)

What pisses me off the more is that Boxing had a very good 2006 year, An Even better 2007 year and is currently following that pattern with 2008. I can understand any argument (while I disagree) that more casual fans are watching "UFC" than Boxing but IFL? King of the Cage? Elite XC? Dream? These small orgs get more coverage than boxing yet alot of them are losing money. Tell me any MMA org besides UFC that can sell 250,000 PPV buys. Chavez jr. sells more PPV's than all MMA orgs except for UFC.(Although that kid needs to stop fighitng on overpriced PPV's against journey men)

The numbers for Boxing are very similar to UFC. (And costs more $ at that-Nothing to brag about of course, I hate paying for PPV) Boxing is breaking records as well. Mayweather/Hatton broke record for non Heavyweight/Non latino PPV. Pac vs. Marquez for any weight class under 140.

I would just be interested to know why they have to remove Boxing yet some of those websites keep Bowling, Poker and AFL Football in their respective slots/pages.

JMyersDTN · 05-08-2008, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragonstyle915

This does no include ESPN.COM btw. They kept their Boxing page and while a few newstories have the inevitable "Boxing vs. MMA dabte" (and its died down on ESPN.COM really) they truly kept their Boxing page.

But,
Foxsports.com, SI.com, Yahoo.com, aolsports, ect... have added MMA along side Boxing and usually 90% of their stories are MMA related. Boxing stories are sometimes very negative towards the sport as well. Others like MSN sports just have a UFC section and maybe a Boxing story or two will be added along side it. Some have totally isolated Boxing and kicked it to the curb just like that (Basically)

I have nothing against MMA. I watch the sport. I do enjoy it. While I lean towards Boxing my self I feel this is a slap in the face to Boxing though. Especially all the big news stories Boxing has given sports over the years. Just like that they stab it on the back.

I cant believe they dont realize 3 key things. (there are prob more key things but these are the main ones.

1. Alot if not some of Boxing fans dont care for MMA

2. Alot of MMA if not some fans dont care for Boxing

3. They are not, in any way-shape-or-form the same sport. (Sure the concept is the same... but come on)

Sports Illustrated has had alot of their issues sold because of Boxing in the past and they've just anihilated Boxing and seem to be on a mission to force an extermination of the sport of Boxing from their mag. (Althought the Spanish version which my uncle always gets has alot of Boxing stories) . (The Ring issue I have actually briefly talks about Sports Illustrated and how they've declaired Boxing dead and MMA in btw)

What pisses me off the more is that Boxing had a very good 2006 year, An Even better 2007 year and is currently following that pattern with 2008. I can understand any argument (while I disagree) that more casual fans are watching "UFC" than Boxing but IFL? King of the Cage? Elite XC? Dream? These small orgs get more coverage than boxing yet alot of them are losing money. Tell me any MMA org besides UFC that can sell 250,000 PPV buys. Chavez jr. sells more PPV's than all MMA orgs except for UFC.(Although that kid needs to stop fighitng on overpriced PPV's against journey men)

The numbers for Boxing are very similar to UFC. (And costs more $ at that-Nothing to brag about of course, I hate paying for PPV) Boxing is breaking records as well. Mayweather/Hatton broke record for non Heavyweight/Non latino PPV. Pac vs. Marquez for any weight class under 140.

I would just be interested to know why they have to remove Boxing yet some of those websites keep Bowling, Poker and AFL Football in their respective slots/pages.

I agree that it's sad that boxing coverage by the mainstream media has declined. I think there's room enough for boxing and MMA to co-exist, but it seems like the mainstream media wants to cover one at the expense of the other.

Dragonstyle915 · 05-08-2008, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMyersDTN

I agree that it's sad that boxing coverage by the mainstream media has declined. I think there's room enough for boxing and MMA to co-exist, but it seems like the mainstream media wants to cover one at the expense of the other.

I agree. But look at ESPN. They're the leader in sports and they didnt isolate either of them and created their seperate web pages for them.

I know MMA has to get more "hits" than boxing tho which can be a reaso why. Some of these MMA fans will have a whole discussion on "Did you see him not check if so-n-so was okay? Thats not sporstmanship".... or "So-n-so eats everymorning at exactly 7:13 am. I have source!"

But I still think its pathetic.

Sickening Thudd · 05:31 PM

Check out ESPNs navi bar at the top of their page. Boxing is listed next to the more "popular" sports, where as MMA is in the "other" sports section.

Edit" My bad, should have read the first line of your thread lol. Just read the title and started replying.

Valiss · 05-08-2008, 05:28 PM

Sounds like they are just lumping all the combat sports together. I'm not sure I would cry conspiracy though.

FIGHT FAN · 05-08-2008, 06:33 PM

conisdering that there is very little boxing on tv and other forms of media, its doing pretty damn good. there is some things that you can never kill off, rock n roll and boxing are two of those things.

Mr.pain · 05-08-2008, 06:36 PM

Good post I agree.

SI has turned its back on Boxing.

Dragonstyle915 · 05-08-2008, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valiss

Sounds like they are just lumping all the combat sports together. I'm not sure I would cry conspiracy though.

Its not a Conspiracy. Not even that. It's a blatant assault on Boxing. Sports websites like Foxsports, MSN and SI dont hide it.

MLB baseball and Hockey dont get ratings like they used to. I dont see the MLBpage on those websites being shared with Softball. And dont see Hockey merged wiht Soccer since they both are sports that consist of making goals.

MMAfan007 · 05-08-2008, 09:15 PM

I still do not see how MMA is bad for boxing. I did not watch boxing before I started watching MMA and now I am a casual fan of the sport. You would think that new people watching either sport would benifit both of them.

Tony Manifold · 05-08-2008, 09:54 PM

Blame boxing. For years they put on fights no one wanted to see and charged prices no one could afford. It is getting better and in the last 18 months or so we have seen some truly great fighters with big names fight each other. If that keeps up, look for boxing to make a come back but for every Mosley-Cotto, Calzghe-hopkins we have Ten DLH-Forbes or john ruiz fights.