Boxing

Any fans? I'll shoot the sh#t with you if so. Not as big a fan as I once was, and probably can't say who the big names are at the moment, but i've followed it all my life. Shame that the sport is almost irrelevant again. It had a slight resurgence not long ago but has seemed to fall off again. So yeah, any fans?

 

Yup. You pretty much nailed it. The PPV's are ridiculously priced and the undercards are garbage fights. Thing is you use to be able to tune into HBO or Showtime twice a month and see at least a decent fight. Now you'll rarely catch a fight on either channel and if you do it's either two no named fighters or a complete miss match.

What has really killed boxing IMO is PPV. They charge too much for an inferior product compared to what they use to show. Nowadays if there's a "marque" boxer scheduled to fight chances are it's going to PPV. It use to be only the big fights went to PPV but now it seems they all do. That and a lack of a marque fighter in the heavyweight division, as you stated.

 

The Gatti Ward fights were brutal! Two guys in the middle of the ring giving everything they have. You never see this anymore.

The other 3 matches you listed were great as well. I was a BIG Mancini fan. And of course I loved Hagler. Who didn't? lol

I can remember watching the WW of Sports as well. They tried bringing boxing back to regular TV on Saturday afternoons but it just didn't work out apparently.

Other notables were Cooney vs Holmes, Pryor vs Arguello, Benitez vs Duran, Chavez vs Mayweather...just to name a few.

I can also remember the Mancini vs Duk Koo Kim fight. Brutal fight that ended in Kim's death.Tremendous fights back then.

 

Same here. I saw that fight live too. 15 rounds back then. I have a cousin who was a professional boxer during that era so my whole family watched boxing a lot back then. I was pretty young at the time (like 9 or 10) but i remember the fight fairly well. I guess the death and seeing him removed by stretcher helped etch the fight into my mind.

 

Great thread in here. Yeah, I still love the sweet science of great boxing, but the people in boxing have ruined the sport. They got greedy and went the way of PPV and 40 million dollar paydays and fight once a year if....

I still think if a Paquio (sp) Mayweather fight ever happens it will go down as one of the best of all time. Once that fight does happen there is nothing exciting on the horizon except for rematches. I don't care so much that the heavyweights are gone. I wish they weren't, but I get psyched about a great match in any division.

As as MMA is concerned. I love it, and agree it has stolen the crowd from boxing, but don't think it has absorbed too many of the same athletes. Granted the stand up fighting could be an argument to some, but I don't think there is a boxing trainer in the world who would compare the two styles. No boxer can hang in the octagon and no top level MMA fighter could sniff success against a contender short of maybe a crazy lucky one off shot. They would get picked to pieces after a couple rounds. The body position is very different and the lack of fear for a takedown or kick changes everything.

I too remeber many of those WWOS sunday fights as a kid and even the HBO fights as a adolescent and teenager before it all became PPV. My all time favorite fights EVER was the Ward vs. Gotti matches. Saw all of them live and they blew me away. My girlfriend and I tried our asses off to try to get anyone we know to see them. She's awesome and sees a fight better than most men. We both grew up as kids watching boxing our whole life. Her grandfather grew up playing football and boxing in Patterson N.J. in the 30's. His football pictures are iconic and he trained at Lou Duva's gym and another one called "The Tub of Blood". Amazing!!! He was one of the greatest men I have ever met in my life. Athletic into his late 80's type of guy. He died at 94 with an big apple for a bicep muscle and could make them dance for his grand kids. When these type guys are gone the world will never be the same... They taught us everything.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/11/0 ... latestnews

R.I.P. Joe

 

Just finished watching the Ali-Frazier trilogy.(and yeah I saw them when they happened. Im old enough, just wanted to relive) All great fights!! Frazier having lost two of three,still impresses me to this day. He never took a step back in any of those fights (except when Ali hurt him near the end of round 2 in their second fight) Joe was always coming forward. Joe Frazier was a warrior. He WAS the baddest man EVER on the planet.Get in the back seat MIKE.Joes driving!!!...... R.I.P. CHAMP!!!!

 

i've always loved boxing......... the real problem in my eyes are the plethora of titles, and politics surrounding them........ there really isn't a clear cut champ anymore, since all the watered down titles started popping up........ maybe if the powers that be started unifying all the belts, we would see more of a resurgance of the sport........ untill then, boxing will continue to take a back seat to mma, and ufc in popularity.

 

I'll revive this topic, I'm still an avid fight fan, yeah it has it's technical problems, namely because of referees poor judgement in scoring fights and allowing one boxer to foul while taking a point from the other fighter for doing the same thing, or for something even less flagrant: Judges scoring fights eroneously giving home cooking to a fighter who clearly lost the fight, and a monopoly of fight promoters who only want to make a fight that will make big money but avoid the most competitive opponent that might jeopardize thir fighters title: But still there are some fights that are made that is the best matchup of equally skilled opponents and makes a fight fan glad they got to see it, there are still many talented fighters in every division that make for good fights, but between the Refs, Judges, and promoters tainting the reputation of pro boxing it's become more difficult to get the matchup the fans want and deserve. There is still good matchups to be seen on ESPNs friday night fights, HBO and Showbox, so boxing isnt dead yet, you just have to keep watching to see a good fight that will take you back to the days when boxing was, and still is the sweet science...

 

I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a decent fight on Showtime or HBO. At least one that interested me. A few years back there were fights at least once if not twice every month on HBO and Showtime. Especially HBO. But lately, if they even decide to show a fight these days, they aren't much better than your typical Friday Night Fight on ESPN, which has also lost my interest. If you want to see any popular fights you better be willing to spend the $50+ for pay per view.

It's a shame because i've been a huge boxing fan ever since I was a kid. I never really lost touch with the sweet science and it's players until recently. I'd say the last several years I haven't really followed it at all. Mainly because of the lack of good fight cards and the lack of coverage. I'm to the point now where I no longer recognize a lot of the fighters of today. I feel robbed of one of my favorite sports. lol

 

Actually there were a couple of good exciting fights on Showtime this past weekend,don't know if anyone caught them.While I agree it will never be the same as it used to be , too much politics ,there are still a lot of good potential fights to be made. The outrageous PPV prices are what is really turning the fight fans away. But I still like to watch the sweet science.

 

LOVE to watch classic boxing. Anything Joe Frazier, Ali, Foreman, Sugar Ray, Tyson, and all those classic fighters. Just the other day I rewatched the Rumble in the Jungle for about the 80th time. As far as I'm concerned Heavyweight boxing died in Japan on the canvas with Mike Tyson in 1990. Maybe I only think that because Tyson was the last REALLY big named heavyweight that I can think of people being mesmerized with but that's just what I think. If you like old boxing you should check out a movie called "Cinderella Man" I'm sure you've probably heard of it if you haven't seen it but I really liked it a lot. Also there' a really awesome documentary called "we were kings" and it's about The Rumble in the Jungle and the cultural impact that it had and I've watched it a few times. The last time I watched it was on Netflix but I'm not sure if it's still on there now.

 

I would say that eventhough I'm only 30 and never actually got to "see" these guys when they were actually fighting I REALLY respect Joe Frazier. He just seemed like the "every man". I think I probably still would say I like Ali better just because I find him to be more entertaining I still think Joe is a VERY VERY close second for me. What I would like to see is could Joe Frazier in his prime take down Mike Tyson in his prime. There's no way I could say this but I would just guess that Frazier could hit harder than Ali all day long. It's just that Ali could hit you so many times before you ever saw it coming that you were on your back before it registered. I would have to say that the "thrilla in manila" is by far the greatest boxing match I have ever seen. It's unbelievable to me that two people could have that much heart and desire to win that they would put their bodies through that.

 

Ever check this out?
http://voices.yahoo.com/heavyweight-fan ... 98522.html

 

I was a bit surprised to see Erik Morales still fighting! I knew he had made a comeback but though that was several years ago and figured he was retired again already. He may want to consider going back into retirement after that fight.

 

That's an awesome article but I've gotta sadly say that I think the TRUE Iron Mike with Cus as his trainer could probably beat Smokin' Joe not necessarily because of his power but his speed was BLISTERING! Has ANY heavyweight ever possessed that kind of speed and power combined? Tyson could hit from all angles and just devastate people. But I think he owes a LOT of his boxing style to Joe Frazier for sure. I will say this though. Joe Frazier would've pounded Buster Douglas in to the canvas in about 2 rounds. Tyson didn't have the heart of a champion like Joe did even when he WASN'T the champion! I think overall Joe was a better fighter but I think head to head he probably would get beat by Mike. I know that sounds weird but I hope you can understand what I mean. LOL.

 

Sorry BFT but you are wrong...Frazier would knock Tyson out in 5....He was just the better fighter....Tyson had no D..Bombs away... He fought many tomato cans that never made him a better fighter...Just improved his record...In my opinion Tyson was a bum!!!!

 

I would like to say that you are right because I actually LIKE Smokin' Joe better but man Tyson could punch and punch fast. Also I think of Tyson as one of those guys like Roy Jones Jr. that just never really had anyone to be his rival. I think up until the Buster Douglas fight Tyson was legit. AFTER that fight I think he did become a bum. As far as Joe goes when you listen to what Mohammed Ali said after the thrilla in manila during his interview in the ring Ali said Frazier was "the best of all times beside me". I think that's the best case that's EVER been made for Joe Frazier.

 

Sorry BTF but I cant count Tyson in the top 5 heavy weight champs of all time....JMO

 

I wouldn't put him as a top 5 CHAMP either. But I would say that if he went toe to toe with Smokin' Joe it would be really tough for Joe to catch him. There's no way that he's as good a champ as Marciano, Lewis, Ali, Frazier, or even Holyfield for that matter. Sonny Liston was probably a better champ than him and so was Floyd Patterson. I still really love to watch the old Tyson fights and also something you won't be able to understand concerning why I love classic Tyson so much is the fact that I was a little kid in the 80s and I was obsessed (and still am) with video games. One of the most classic games of all time was from that era and it's called Mike Tyson's Punch Out. In that game there were all these colorful fake fighters with magic powers and stuff but when you got to Iron Mike you faced him just as he was. He was seriously ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to beat! That image of Tyson is what is seared in to the mind of kids from my generation. So when I hear someone call him "the baddest man on the planet" I always think of Punch Out and think "yep. pretty much". Mike Tyson was a lot like Foreman in that people didn't think he could be beaten because of how powerful he was and he had this aura of danger about him. I feel like he was the last boxer to have that as a heavyweight. Even if Mike is not one of the ALL TIME greats I still think it's a pretty hard case to make that he wasn't great AT ALL.

 

For me it would come down to which Tyson showed up. In most cases i'd say Joe wins this fight, but in Tysons early career he'd have a decent chance of beating Joe. The thing with SJF is that he fought some of the greatest fighters to ever put the gloves on. You can't really say that about IMT. Tyson was certainly special for his time but he threw it all away, which is why I don't see a Tyson in the later part of his career coming close to winning that fight.

Tyson had a very quick uppercut and early on had good head movement. You keep the $ and drugs away from Tyson in his prime and he would have had a decent shot at winning that fight. Out of respect for what Joe did and who he had to fight during his time i'd have to go with him beating Tyson if that fight ever took place. They both could hit hard as hell but Joe could take a punch a lot better than Tyson could.