OT: stroll down memory lane: ABC, cosell, ron lyle v. george foreman u-tube

[benchwarmer04]

you realize what is gone from the current sports scene. what farces we are subject to these days.

 

[pittjagger]

I've often felt personalities were more genuinely colorful back then. True "reality." Not the so-called scripted reality we get now.

 

[ameoba defense]

I watch old fights all the time. Most of these fights were on regular tv, or at least HBO, or Showtime. Only the mega-fights were on closed circuit. Now, every decent fighter wants his fights to be ppv. That is the biggest reason boxing has gone into a decline. I saw Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Duran, Ali, Holmes, and Tyson fight dozens of times, without having to spend extra money. I've never seen Mayweather, or Pac-man fight even once.

 

[USN_Panther]

I watch old fights all the time. Most of these fights were on regular tv, or at least HBO, or Showtime. Only the mega-fights were on closed circuit. Now, every decent fighter wants his fights to be ppv. That is the biggest reason boxing has gone into a decline. I saw Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Duran, Ali, Holmes, and Tyson fight dozens of times, without having to spend extra money. I've never seen Mayweather, or Pac-man fight even once.

I used to be a huge boxing fan. I would watch every fight that was televised anywhere. ESPN used to have regular good boxing shows. They even would have a 13th round to break a tie for their ESPN tournament bouts.

Fights that used to be on ABC Wide World of Sports or ESPN are now PPV. The titles are all diluted and the good fighters won't fight each other. The fighters you list above did not duck each other or other great fighters. That is why they were great.

I've only seen Floyd Mayweather fight twice, and I'm unimpressed. I hope to see him get stretched like his uncle did by Rocky Lockridge. I remember watching this fight on broadcast TV.

 

[9nationalchampionships]

Down goes Frazier

 

[OH Pete]

Casual boxing fans don't exist any more because of PPV. And kids today have no idea who the heavyweight champion of the world is. Heck, I don't even know anymore. I lost track about 10 years ago. Who even is it? I assume one of the russian brothers?

 

[USN_Panther]

Casual boxing fans don't exist any more because of PPV. And kids today have no idea who the heavyweight champion of the world is. Heck, I don't even know anymore. I lost track about 10 years ago. Who even is it? I assume one of the russian brothers?

Which champ? There are about 12 now.

 

[ameoba defense]

Casual boxing fans don't exist any more because of PPV. And kids today have no idea who the heavyweight champion of the world is. Heck, I don't even know anymore. I lost track about 10 years ago. Who even is it? I assume one of the russian brothers?

This is all true. Every fighter that gets a belt, or reaches the top 5 rankings, is looking to cash in with a ppv fight. I can't really blame them, as you can only get punched in the head so many times, so you might as well try to get paid for it. That said, because of this, once a fighter gets in position to get a payday, he won't risk it by fighting another contender, thus, you don't get non title bouts like Lyle vs Foreman. I remember when Hagler was first becoming known, one of the networks had him on a lot, and was promoting him as "the uncrowned champ". This is what made me a fan of his, and I followed him for the rest of his career. Fights were on all the time, and many of these featured big name fighters. Because fighters fought more often, two contenders could risk fighting each other. If the fight was competitive, the loser would still be in position to earn a shot at one of the titles, as the champs were fairly active, as they had to be to make money. Get boxing back on tv, and it will become popular again. People think that UFC hurts boxing. I don't buy it. I would have no problem watching boxing, and UFC.

By the way, Wladimir Klitschko, from the Ukraine, is the champ. In many ways, he's like Mayweather, technically sound, but boring, a good fighter though. If his fights were on tv regularly, he'd be much more well known. Back in the 70's, we'd see him defending on free tv at least twice a year. with maybe a third fight being a closed circuit deal.