Boxing/MMA

[Tank]

I hope there are some other fans here. 

The undercard for Canelo/Berlanga tonight is loaded. Mad respect to all of the fighters for coming together for this one. Canelo hasn't knocked out an opponent since Plant three years ago although I believe he could have stopped Munguía and chose not to. I think he stops Berlanga tonight in the 8th. Also hoping my boy Rolly gets a much needed win tonight. 

[Tank]

Plant/McCumby was the fight of the night. Top 3 fight of the year. I got big love for Caleb. He's a good dude. 

[Tank]

One of my good friends is making their MSG debut this weekend on the Sandy Ryan/Mikaela Mayer undercard. 

[Tryptamine]

Dana White being an absolute shitbag turned me off on MMA and what not. With that said, and even though I know it's more sideshow than real fight, god I hope old man Tyson lays out Logan Paul.

[BigbadB]

Was a huge fan at one point. Don't care one bit anymore. You knew all of the boxers, and you watched them develop/grow into top ranked boxers, usually via HBO prefights or Showtime Next Generation as they helped you keep up on the new faces. Then PPV became a thing and I still followed along, even purchasing a few PPV fights or finding places that were showing them, legally or not legally. 

My favorite era was the Arturo Gatti/Micky Ward years. There were so many fun boxers then, and the fights were great. And I was around for the Ali, Foreman, Frazier years. I got to see most of Sugar Ray Leonard's career on tv. 

Judges and PPV kind of ruined it for me. Probably most of the country. I'm sure boxing still rakes in more money via PPV than it would airing fights on HBO or some other streaming channel, but I have zero interest in ever following it again. Or it would take a lot of effort on their part for me to enjoy it again.

I wish the best of luck to your friend. I've never even heard of Ryan or Mayer, which is a perfect example of how out of touch I am with the entire industry now. Is Michael Buffer still doing his thing before fights?

 

[Tank]

On 9/27/2024 at 7:52 AM, BigbadB said:

Was a huge fan at one point. Don't care one bit anymore. You knew all of the boxers, and you watched them develop/grow into top ranked boxers, usually via HBO prefights or Showtime Next Generation as they helped you keep up on the new faces. Then PPV became a thing and I still followed along, even purchasing a few PPV fights or finding places that were showing them, legally or not legally. 

My favorite era was the Arturo Gatti/Micky Ward years. There were so many fun boxers then, and the fights were great. And I was around for the Ali, Foreman, Frazier years. I got to see most of Sugar Ray Leonard's career on tv. 

Judges and PPV kind of ruined it for me. Probably most of the country. I'm sure boxing still rakes in more money via PPV than it would airing fights on HBO or some other streaming channel, but I have zero interest in ever following it again. Or it would take a lot of effort on their part for me to enjoy it again.

I wish the best of luck to your friend. I've never even heard of Ryan or Mayer, which is a perfect example of how out of touch I am with the entire industry now. Is Michael Buffer still doing his thing before fights?

 

Michael Buffer makes rare appearances these days. He was just at the Anthony Joshua/Daniel Dubois fight last weekend at Wembley. I would imagine it takes a pretty large paycheck to get him these days. Jimmy Lennon Jr. still frequently does fights. 

I envy you for getting to catch those eras of boxing as they happened. The fight game has absolutely been ruined by too many promotions, crooked judges, boxers who are too afraid to lose their "legacy" by getting in the ring with the other top fighters. Honestly, hats off to the women, because they are not afraid to make the big fights and go out there and lay it all on the line.

I love the sport and have a lot of connections to it, but boxing will never reach the glory days again. One billion people watched the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. That still blows my mind.  

[Tank]

On 9/26/2024 at 1:53 PM, Tryptamine said:

Dana White being an absolute shitbag turned me off on MMA and what not. With that said, and even though I know it's more sideshow than real fight, god I hope old man Tyson lays out Logan Paul.

Last thing to leave a fighter is the power and by the looks of Mike's training videos from the last several years he's still got plenty of speed to go with it. He's honestly still an athletic freak for a man in his mid-50s. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

I have been a boxing fan for a long time, but it's getting harder and harder to find any reason to continue following the sport. 

There just aren't enough compelling fights, and a majority of fights are either mind numbingly boring or completely non- competitive... That is if you can even find a fight to watch. 

HBO Boxing and Showtime Championship Boxing were huge when I was growing up.  They had interesting fights/fighters and the added bonus of replaying the previous week's PPV fight whenever there was one.  Even shows like ESPN's Friday Night Fights usually had better fights than anything happening today, and on basic cable nonetheless.

Now, where can you even find fights to watch?  DAZN had promise when it launched, but since then they have increased prices substantially, reduced the quantity of fights, reduced the quality of fights, and moved anything worth watching to PPV.  So you can pay $20-$25/month for a few awful fights.  Not worth it.  ESPN has occasional decent fights, but they are few and far between.  ESPN+ is another option for a somewhat more affordable subscription fee, but I haven't seen much of interest on ESPN+ outside of Japanese fights at 4am.  What else is there? 

PPV's are insanely expensive, even when the fights themselves are awful.  I think the last event I paid for was Mayweather/Pacquiao, or possible one of Terrence Crawford's fights, but that is about it.  There was a time when I would try to find "alternative methods" to watch PPV fights, but even that isn't worth the effort anymore. 

All of those things add up to a rapidly dying sport.  I just don't see how it ever gets out of this death spiral.  I would love to be wrong and see some form of boxing renaissance, but I'm not holding my breath for that.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

 

[Tank]

Women's boxing is being slept on. All the top fighters want all the smoke with each other. Taylor/Serrano was a banger tonight and Ryan/Mayer back in September was a great fight too.

[Brian707]

Last night's boxing brought to you  by

[JudasIscariotTheBird]