Is boxing losing its popularity – and if so why?

Since the dawn of time, boxing has been one of the oldest and most popular forms of combat sports. Over the years, there have been standalone events that have raked in tens of millions of dollars which isn’t too uncommon. In fact, one good fight can set up a fighter financially for life. You would also imagine that even if boxing loses popularity, it will always have a baseline of fans that are willing to support the sport.

Although this is the case – there is still talk of its potential decline. According to some, boxing simply wasn’t what it once was and its golden era has been and gone. These people argue that since MMA has arrived, boxing has faded in its relevance and although it’s still more successful than MMA, it’s also beginning to lose its grip on being the main combat sport. So, is this true or is it just speculation?

Boxing isn’t in decline…at least for now

If we’re going to compare boxing to MMA (which is often said as the main long-term rival to boxing), then there are a few financial facts to look at. For instance, back in 2015 Floyd Mayweather Jr fought Manny Pacquiao in the USA. This bought in over $72 million from the live gate. This date wasn’t too long ago and is a staggeringly high number.

Now, let’s compare this to the nearest MMA equivalent. In 2018, Khabib Nurmagomedov fought Conor McGregor in the US. This took home just over $17 million. Whilst it’s still a big number and was a massive financial success, it’s still nothing on the pull that boxing still has. Therefore, when looking at the raw numbers, boxing is still the king. Perhaps the culture is beginning to shift towards UFC, but at least where numbers are concerned, the balance is still firmly in favor of boxing.

Boxing may not be as popular in the US, but is still big worldwide

Gone are the days of casually watching boxing on your favorite TV channel. Now, PPV is king and you may have to fork out close to $100 to watch a main event. This is off putting towards boxing’s primary target audience which is the working class. Nonetheless, the numbers still suggest otherwise. Regardless, it’s safe to say that whilst watching boxing may not be as accessible as it once was on US television, it’s still big abroad.

During the 90s when boxing was huge in the US, it wasn’t as big in the poorer economies. For instance, in places like Russia and China, there was always a culture of boxing fans but this wasn’t as accessible. Now, due to the growth of these economies and the boom of the internet, more eyes are watching boxing than ever, at least in a global sense. You could argue that boxing mirrors soccer right now as it may have peaked in the west, but is still growing yearly in other parts of the world.

So, what could make boxing crumble?

So far, we’ve established that contrary to popular belief, boxing isn’t in a terrible place. Both financially and culturally, it’s still relevant and massively popular. However, what could potentially cause boxing to struggle? There are a few issues that boxing may have to face in the coming years that could test its dominance. These are:

The growth of the UFC and MMA

That’s right, the UFC is still growing too, as is MMA. In fact, MMA is far younger than boxing in terms of age. This means it’s playing catch up and has a long way to go. Even with this disadvantage though, it doesn’t mean boxing will be bigger forever. One issue with MMA is that it had a nasty image during its earlier years.

The UFC is over 30 years old, but for the first 10-15 years it was viewed as a barbaric bloodsport. Now, it has certain rules that make it less inhumane and its PR is greater than ever. Over the years, viewers have become less sensitive to MMA and now it’s viewed in a similar way as boxing is in terms of violence. This can be witnessed with the growing number of celebrity MMA fans which shows a cultural shift. Could MMA take boxing’s crown? It’s more varied in terms of fighting styles but time will tell.

Boxing is very fragmented

This has been the same way for some time. However, to a layman it can be confusing to see organizations such as WBO, WBA and so on. The more fragmented a martial art is, the less likely it is to succeed. For instance, the death of catch wrestling is most attributed to internal conflicts, political infighting and too many splinter groups. Sound familiar?

Whilst it’s unfair to compare an obscure martial art to boxing, it still doesn’t look good. Further, boxing arguably has too many weight classes. This may be good if you’re a professional boxer as it means less harsh weight cuts. Nonetheless, as fans it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on and who’s the best in each category. This may have been the way for years in boxing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s correct.

Talking of numbers, is MMA actually on the up?

So far, we’ve looked at the numbers in boxing favor. That is, boxing can bring in more cash. This is also backed up by the purses earned by boxers which far outweighs that earned by pro MMA fighters. The difference between a top fighter could be $30 million, compared to $5 million as an MMA Champion.

Having said this, if you’re an MMA fan then there is some good news in terms of growth. Out of the top 50 PPV records, boxing has an impressive 25 for sporting events. The UFC has 15. When you take into account the relatively new life of MMA compared to boxing, those aren’t actually bad numbers. Generally, the UFC PPV buys are on an upwards curve too. However, boxing is flatlinging. If this trend continues then MMA could potentially overtake boxing as the biggest combat sport.

Are celebrity boxing matches good or bad for boxing?

In a bizarre turn of events, boxing became infiltrated by Youtube celebrities in the year 2021 and onwards. This happened when Jake Paul defeated ex-MMA Champion Ben Askren in a sanctioned boxing match. He previously fought other Youtube stars and even basketballers for money. Promoted by Triller, many were quick to call this a freakshow and said it discredited the sport. Regardless, it did bring more eyes on the sport and highlighted something that boxing was missing, a bit of promotion and trash talk.

In short, the argument here is that whilst this sort of thing is great in the short-term, it damages the credibility of boxing in the long-term. Another wrestling example is with the WWE in the 90s. This was their golden era and they had wild, gimmicky matches that excited fans but sometimes went too far and focused on novelty rather than the original aspects of pro wrestling.

Since then, WWE has been in slow decline and some claim this is because it went too far with its outrageous matches. In fairness, boxing is different from WWE and isn’t acted. Nonetheless, it serves as a reminder that future generations may pay for its current success. The idea is that kids could eventually view boxing as too showy and turn to MMA which is taken more seriously due to its lack of celebrity fights. This turn would take decades but may happen at some point.

Conclusion

For the time being, boxing is going nowhere. Very rarely has any kind of civilization or culture suddenly died. However, some long-term issues still hang over boxing’s head. For example, on the one hand, there’s still lots of money in boxing which is a good thing and the PPV’s still bring in a large audience. Having said this, MMA PPV’s are also on the rise and this may take away from the success of boxing. As seen, the numbers suggest this is the case.

With this in mind, boxing may not be dying just yet. However, the threat of MMA is real and should not be taken lightly. Regardless, it’s a great time to be a fan of both boxing and MMA as we’re currently in a period where there’s a lot going on in both worlds, and long may this continue.

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