Boxing Is Transitioning
Boxing is currently in a transitional period where the landscape is changing in a huge way, and it has some people rattled and beginning to say the sport is dying… again, REALLY!?!
Boxing is one of the oldest sports, spanning 1,000’s of years, and its popularity wanes sometimes but has always stayed relevant, and that’s not going to stop now.
I’ve written several times about how boxing isn’t a dying sport, so I won’t go in-depth on it here, but to sum it up, if someone got caught cheating during a game of poker, or there is a dip in the amount of people watching it on tv, would you think poker was a dying game? Do you think people would ask/expect it to die? NO
Boxing is part of a culture that loves betting and it’s a cash business, so this, like other cash ante -based entities, it will never fully die, even if it does dip in reputation.
The days of having boxing on regular tv channels, in theaters, and on VHS tapes, pretty much stopped existing in the 90’s but was replaced with a different method that wasn’t accepted by a lot of people, which triggered some believing it wouldn’t work, but lo and behold, HBO, Showtime, and some cable sports stations took over the controls and it worked. It worked better than the previous process, but it took time for it to become comfortable, and that switch is happening again.
We have already witnessed the arguably best network to broadcast boxing ditch the sport when HBO aired their last boxing event on December 8th of 2018, with Showtime following 5 years later in 2023. This can seem like the sport is going off the rails, but it is just adjusting to the times and taking a different route.
Since the decline of boxing on cable stations we have had an emergence of live streamed fights, which makes sense when almost all major networks have/are headed in that direction.
If you want to watch a boxing match today you more than likely will have to download the DAZN or ESPN+ app, or watch it on Amazon Prime or Netflix.
The switch to streaming apps hasn’t been welcomed by some, but I personally think it makes sense in the grand scheme of things. We are in a world where a youtuber can build an online following so large and faithful, that their viewership alone could carry the weight of a sporting event.
Whether you like the change or you’re one of those people that fights it tooth and nail, you have to admit, it makes sense at the least. If it’ll work long term remains to be seen.
