Boxing - I Am Done With It. I'm Out.

I have been a fan of boxing since about 1986. One of the first big fights I saw live was the megafight between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard, and I was instantly fascinated. Then of course there were the BBC & ITV golden years involving Honeyghan, Bruno, Benn, Eubank, Watson, Hamed, Lewis etc. Plus the rise/fall/rise again/fall again of Tyson. I continued to enjoy the game into the 2000s with such international delights as Trinidad, Vargas, Hopkins, Holyfield, Calzaghe, Hatton (although I was never a fan), Cotto, Morales, Barrera then the 2010s with Mayweather, Pacquiao, the rise and fall of the Klitchsko brothers, Froch, Ward, Haye, hell, I even started to watch Audley Harrison.

However, it has all got to be a pile of dross in the last few years. Canelo and his failed drugs test not really mattering, and although him fighting everyone with a belt was a plus, everything came with an asterisk from then on. The farce that is/was Benn/Eubank jr v jr - a rivalry that wasn't even theirs - cynical matchmaking for a fast buck. More drugs tests failed. The ridiculousness of trying to get the fight sanctioned by a board other than the BBBC. The oaf that is Tyson Fury somehow thinking that the majority of the British public believe him when he says it's all Joshua and his people's fault that they couldn't make the fight, then making out that Chisora is a viable alternative. Crawford vs Spence not fighting each other - this has been going on for years. Dillian Whyte being frozen out by the WBC despite being their No1 contender for about 3 years (fat lot of good it did him in the end, but hey). By the same point, Wilder managing to avoid anyone likely to give him a fight, then cherry picking Fury because he thought it would be easy and falling on his butt. I just can't be doing with this BS anymore.

I've seen some good things, some bad things, some stinky decisions, some surprises, and a lot of really good fights. And although it's pretty much always been about the money, it seems that nowadays, the promoters are getting greedier, good competitive fights are rarer, and the likes of Jake Paul and numerous "Exhibition" fights just make me sad. Will fighter X beat fighter Y? I just don't care anymore.

Thank you 606v2 for the somewhat amusing sparring over the years - I have enjoyed discussing fights and fighters with you, even if some of my predictions have been a bit wide of the mark. There's a fantastic font of knowledge on here and it's always been fun to chew the fat (even if it's just winding up Truss).

It's definitely not you guys. It's definitely not me either. It is what boxing has become. It's a sad state of affairs and this time in 10 years, we'll probably find that there are now 6 recognised belts, Tyson Fury has just announced his 46th retirement, Floyd is still "unbeaten" and active, Canelo is unified heavyweight champion and is richer than God, and there's rumours of Crawford fighting Spence.

In the words of Peter Jones from Dragons Den - "I'm out".

I thank you all and good night.

I can't believe that I missed Fury during his long weekend off, and hoped to see him return to fight Joshua primarily. After his pop at True Geordie a podcaster who is a decent guy and has good knowledge, I hear him making positive sounds about fighting... Wilder.
Chisora is the human representation of a defeated sigh.
The smart money is on Spence Crawford after another decade has past a la Mayweather Pacquiao.
Add to that the leering smug face of Eddie Hearn makes zoning out of boxing a no-brainer!

I echo your sentiments......Must admit the Benn v Eubank debacle...Apparently the board knew about two tests and did nothing.....Probably didn't help....Kind of makes you wonder how many other drug cheats have won fights in the last few years...

I'm afraid Youtubers are going to be the next big thing aren't they ?? as is multi Brit female world title fights.....Harper winning a belt four weights up after being trashed shows the meaningless of it..

Looking at some P4p lists of the 80s and we had....Top 10s with...

Hagler...Hearns...Leonard...Benitez...Duran...Arguello....Pryor....Gomez...Sanchez...Holmes.....

Every one would be P4P number 1 now..

Take care Bouncy... but I'm probably right behind you anyway....

Future ain't lookin good....

I keep up with who the champions are but I rarely bother to watch fights now; the last one was probably Inoue dismantling Donaire in two rounds.

There are some very good boxers out there still but none of them have lured me in; Beterbiev bores me but he has undeniable power, Bivol is talented but again dull, Inoue is if anything too good, Alvarez has so much baggage, Taylor is a ****, Crawford and Spence won't fight each other, Lomachenko flatters to deceive etc.

Back as recently as 2012 i'd stay up to watch JMM, Martinez, Froch, Donaire, Pacquiao, Mayweather and a few others. For some reason I could never warm to Golovkin but loved watching Martinez for instance.

But your gonna miss KSI's missfits shows and they've been awesome (yes that is dripping with sarcasm)

I'm the same as most I used to plan around the boxing and make sure i could watch it and follow it all up, now if it's on and i'm not doing anything AND the kids aren't watching something then i might stick it on.

too many rubbish PPV's, too many really bad cards, awful decisions and a complete lack of excitement around it. The womens boxing is the way to go at the minute but only because there's not enough of them to completely avoid everyone

Like you Mr. Bounce, I became a big boxing fan in the 80’s. In 1983 I bought my first boxing magazine, Boxing Illustrated that had Michael Spinks on the cover. After that I was buying all the magazines that I could and watching and recording every single fight that was on TV. If the fight was good, I’d keep it, if not, then I’d record over it. Guess what? I never recorded over Hagler vs Hearns!


The last fight I watched from start to finish was the first GGG vs Canelo. I was so disgusted with the result that it was the final nail in the coffin. My interest in boxing had been waning for years but after that, I’d had enough.

There are other reasons why I have gone off boxing; the proliferation of titles, the day before weigh-ins, big fights taking so long to make, the overall lack of fights and PPV etc.

PPV used to be for massive fights like Hagler v Leonard but now every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to be PPV.

Boxing as an industry seems to be thriving with a globalized and social-media-ized markets, new forms of products, women's boxing, celebrity boxing, elderly boxing, thousands of weight classes and sanctioning bodies, huge numbers of professional as well as amateur pundits commentating on every rumour, behind the scenes intrigues, celebrity promoters constantly interviewed, boxers twittering and instagramming, getting into car accidents and plane fights, having mental breakdowns ....