Boxing is one of the most popular martial arts in the entire world. It was even more popular than hockey, MMA, and even football, back in its prime. However, various unfortunate circumstances have led to its decrease in popularity.
Boxing isn’t likely to be as popular as it was a few years ago. Although boxing isn’t as popular as it used to be in its “golden days”, elite professional boxers are still able to generate millions in revenue. The rise of team sports, including MMA, seems to have decreased the relevance and interest of boxing as a sport.
Of course, others reasons have contributed to the fast decline the sport of punching has seen. Therefore, fewer and fewer people are willing to invest their money in monthly classes. Likewise, less professional and amateur boxers will invest their soul into this sport.
This article will discuss and examine the rapid decline boxing, as a sport, has seen. Likewise, it’ll explain why we see such a phenomenon happening, so stay tuned for that.
Before we dive in if you want to learn more about ways to know you’re good at boxing & how you can progress faster, follow the link to an article of mine on the topic.
Is boxing losing or gaining popularity?
Although boxing is one of the most popular martial arts in the entire world, its prevalence is slowly declining. Eventually, we can see a large difference between boxing in its prime compared to today.
Boxing is losing popularity as more people are less interested in individualistic sports other than MMA. The rise of team sports and MMA has greatly contributed to its decline in popularity. Likewise, the increase in subscription prices to watch boxing matches—has ensured dedicated fans stopped following the latest matches.
And still, elite boxers with a large following are still able to generate a superb income. For instance, Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Manny Pacquiao had 4.6 million PPV buys and a revenue of over $400 million. However, it’s difficult to estimate the accurate amount.
Equally, in 2017 the fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko had over 90,000 attendees at Wembley stadium
So, as you can see, if you’re an elite professional boxer, you can still make extremely high amounts of money. However, the average amateur boxer is likely to work another job in addition to his current doing.
Let’s look at more instances where we can see the steady decline happening:
| Boxing fight | Viewers | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield | 1.59 Million Buys | 1996 |
| Naseem Hamed vs. Kevin Kelley | 2,525,000 viewers | 1997 |
| Morrell vs. Fox | 1,031,000 | 2021 |
Of course, other boxing matches have had more viewers than that. It doesn’t, however, change the fact that its prevalence in the entire world—has been slowly declining.
Some will even say that it’s related to the rise of YouTube boxing, which made it only entertainment and not about the martial art itself.
Why boxing is losing popularity
This section will discuss why boxing, as a sport, is losing dedicated followers and fans. Overall, we can never really know the primary reason for its rapid decline.
However, we can give various examples of things that happened that influenced, even if indirectly, the decline.
Let’s dive into why this is the case.
#1 – The rise of MMA
First, you might be hearing about MMA, Mixed Martial Arts, more frequently than you hear of boxing fights. That’s what many people have reported feeling and hearing more about.
Frankly, there isn’t room for two martial arts to control the market. Few people will follow both MMA and boxing. Because they are the two most widespread fighting styles globally, only one will really control the market.
According to research: “An average UFC event could generate 300,000 to over 2,000,000 viewers globally.”
And there are much more UFC fights broadcast every single month. As a result, more people are turning to it as the primary source of martial arts entertainment.
Likewise, UFC is much more entertaining and makes boxing look dull and slow. As a result, fewer people are prone to view boxing over intense MMA fights.
To understand my point, just look at how popular Conor McGregor is. You’ll never see such levels of influence in the sport of boxing. The closest one is Floyd Mayweather Jr.
#2 – Fights are made from financial incentives
There have been numerous instances where the viewers were left wondering whether the money they spent on watching the fight was worth it.
That’s why many loyal boxing fans have stopped following it. Boxing fans are expected to pay large sums of money for single fights. Such a result can only lead to a decline in the number of people willing to pay as much for subscriptions.
We can really see that phenomenon in specific fights, such as in Logan Paul vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. Many fans reported feeling remorse for watching this fight, as they felt as if they only arranged this fight to deepen their wallets.
It really is too bad to see such instances happening. Frankly, it makes the sport of boxing not as enjoyable to watch.
#3 – The rising interest in team sports
According to a poll, the 5 most popular sports in the US are:
- Soccer
- Football
- Basketball
- Hockey
- Baseball
There was a time when boxing was on that list. However, the rise of interest in team sports, especially in America—ensured that fewer people cared about martial arts, particularly boxing.
Fewer people are interested in boxing than in team sports, such as football, soccer, basketball, and even tennis, an individualistic sport.
So, why is tennis popular? one may ask. In short, it usually represents countries and nations, so people feel a deeper connection and are more inclined to watch the match.
Don’t get me wrong; boxers still earn millions. It’s not that boxing has become less popular; it’s that others sports have become more popular. Nevertheless, you won’t see as many loyal fans following the matches as closely as we used to see.
#4 – Boxing is far too physical for the boxers to fight regularly
Boxing is far too physical for the top stars to box frequently. Professional boxers fight, on average, 3 times per year. However, the number may be closer to one in some instances.
However, when we examine football, we see the players playing much more often. Therefore, the sport will be more popular than a sport where its athletes are only playing once every 3-8 months.
As a result, people are less interested in waiting around for their favorite fighter to step into the ring. That’s why basketball and football are much more widespread globally.
There’s too much early game to boxing. For example, there are sometimes more than 5 conferences for each boxing fight, making it duller than it really is.
If you want to learn more about how often professional boxers fight per year, follow the link to an article of mine on the topic.
When was the peak of boxing’s popularity?
Boxing’s golden days seemed to have peaked in the 80s. That was when Mike Tyson, perhaps the most popular and fierce boxer in history, was in his prime. Since then, boxing’s popularity has been slowly declining due to various reasons, such as a rise in team sports’ prevalence and expensive subscriptions.
Final words
Boxing will not be as popular as it used to be. That’s because of many sports that replaced it, such as MMA and other team sports.
Few are the people who are inclined to invest money into watching or actually participating in the sport of punching. Frankly, I understand them; watching people punch each other in such a manner—can become dull quickly.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you’ll also enjoy reading about whether boxing is seasonal or all year round.