Yeah it is and has lost a lot of its appeal because of that. Do the people who control boxing not see that?
That Fury fight made a lot of money tho.
Boxing is absolutely corrupt.
However, boxing has ALWAYS been corrupt. When it's been popular, its been corrupt, when it's been down, it's been corrupt. It's a thing for sure, but it really doesn't correspond with boxing's popularity or lack thereof.
A lot of the problems that plague boxing have always been problems, or are intrinsic to the sport, and are really side issues not directly related to whether its up or down.
Also, boxing is wildly popular almost everywhere else in the world, so it's really the United States where it is "down" (although not as much as people like to say).
In my opinion, the main factors impeding more popularity
in America is as follows:
1) Inactivity of the fighters. This is a more recent development when almost nobody is fighting more than 1-2 times a year. Now, when you're talking the MEGA superstars, that's not unusual. You might have 1-2 guys who are the absolute pinnacle of their fame and they only fight once or twice a year, that's no big deal. When you reach that stage, you've earned it, and every event is a huge deal. Right now, only Canelo Alvarez, Manny, and maybe now Tyson Fury are that status.
But when there are so many good young exciting fighters, they just simply don't fight frequently enough to maintain momentum. Let's say you tune into a Terance Crawford or Errol Spence fight or something and they are spectacular...it's simply too much to wait at least six months (if you're lucky) before you tune in again. It's just too much. Established stars should be trying to fight 3 times a year, even if two are against bums.
And with so many belts, guys are picking up a belt early in their career now, and are barely exceeding prospect status before going on the 2x a year schedule. Guys like Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney, etc...these guys have belts, but they absolutely should be trying to fight 3-4 times a year.
2) The three way cold war between promoters/networks that ties up fighters into exclusive contracts and prevent good fights from being made. This happened in the past to some extent, for example when Tyson and Lewis were tied up with different interests. Fights have been tough to make over promotional or television differences. But in the past, that mainly applied to superstars.
Currently, virtually every fighter at every level is now gated off, we're not talking about merely obstructing mega-fights between mega-stars, although that's a problem. You're talking about obstructing the kind of fights that MAKE boxers into mega-stars. There are so many great fighters who are being denied the career-making fights that they need to become stars, and engage the fans more than a few times a year.
There are other problems too, but those are the most serious and intractable to me. The truth is, boxers are making more than ever. Boxers you've never heard of make money that would make almost all UFC stars jealous as hell. There isn't a whole lot of incentive to do things differently from the fighters perspective. And I can't blame them for not wanting to take more beatings by better fighters more times a year as long as the money is what it is.
