The Welsh fighter voiced this opinion in London today.
Joe Calzaghe believes boxing is on the ropes, with too many champions and few real stars.First of all, who is Joe Calzaghe? Never heard of him before today. I probably just make this fighter's point.Still weighing whether he'll retire after beating Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. this year to remain unbeaten in 46 fights, Calzaghe said Wednesday he was glad he was almost on the way out of the sport instead of just starting out.
"I think boxing is a dying sport. Globally -- in America for instance -- you've got UFC, which has taken a lot off boxing, business-wise," Calzaghe said, referring to the mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The Welshman who held the WBO super middleweight world title for more than 10 years before moving up to light heavyweight to fight Hopkins and Jones also said boxing has its own problems.
"There is too much politics in boxing, too many belts and too many champions, which dilutes real champions like myself," he said. "There are four world champions in each division and it's bad because there are no stars any more. It's a big problem."
Boxing has found PPV profitable but at the same time it has dwindled the fan base. I've only once paid to watch a fight. As no fighter is high profile enough, because I have never seen or even heard of them, I just don't feel obliged to pay $50-60 to watch 36 minutes of boxing. I make a bet many sports fans feel the same as I do about the sport. What ever happened to the days when there fights on prime-time network television? They're gone, I don't think they will coming back.
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Comments (2)
Have you ever seen Joe figh... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Erica | December 11, 2008 4:03 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Have you ever seen Joe fight? You should look him up on Youtube. He is awesome. He has been boxing for almost 20 years. But to me boxing will always be better than the UFC. Those guys are like the WWE or whatever it's called now. You can tell that most are on steriods. Most of the fights look like they are staged. Look at Kimbo Slice. Let's getting boxing back where it used to be!
1. Posted by Erica | December 11, 2008 4:03 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on December 11, 2008 16:03
2. Posted by Rob S | December 21, 2008 9:07 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I am a huge boxing fan but I also agree that boxing is a rip off, you hould'nt have to pay to watch a world title figt on sky box office for example, Calzaghe vs Hopkns, which was an absolute load of rubbish. Also boxing is a mugs game because it is one of the easiest sports to learn and if your a half decent athlete at a fairly young age then you can learn to be a half decent boxer. The Calzaghe/Hopkns fight was poor, the winner ofte ight got something like $10 million dollars and I could of peformed better than that for nothing. Pro Boxing is a bit like Pro Football, way too much money involved for the athletes. I was just like to say to al you Joe Calzaghe fans, he does'nt deserve to be top of the pound 4 pound listings because all he did was step up from super middle weight to light heavy weight just to take on to fighters who are over the hill. Manny Pacquaio is pound 4 pound the best fighter in the world and as for all you Ricky Hatton fans, hes an idiot trying to get a fight with Manny Pacquaio because he will knock Ricky Hatton clean out just like Mayweather did. I'd rather see Manny Pacquaio kick Floyd Mayweather Jr's backside anyday, Hatton will be too slow for Pacquaio, I know my boxing, trust me, Hatton is making a big mistake.
2. Posted by Rob S | December 21, 2008 9:07 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on December 21, 2008 09:07