Did boxing jump the shark tonight?

[RangerLee]

Hard to feel that this is not a dirty set up, the fact that a rematch was already being touted before this fight even happened. Then Arnum making the statement "I will make alot of money on a rematch, but this was still bad decision." does not inspire any confidence that this was not a fix.

Either way, I could care less about boxing, the UFC and MMA overall is so much more exciting and so much more involved, this fight just solidified the fall of boxing.

[Wanderlei]

The decision may not have totally killed boxing forever, but it certainly put another huge nail in it's coffin.

[LordZardoz]

People have felt that boxing is fixed for decades which is why it has moved from the main stream to the fridge. I know that unless it has a stellar undercard, I won't buy the rematch but there is still enough great fights that hardcore fans will stick around.

My understanding for the reason boxing has declined go beyond thinking its fixed.

- No worthwhile fights on free TV make it difficult to pick up new fans.
- Alphabet soup of champions make it hard to know who the best truly is. If you cannot identify the best, whats the point?
- Fighters trying to pad their records fighting cans.
- All midcard and lower fighters are unknown, only contenders or champions have any recognition.
- Best fighters tending to duck one another.
- Mike Tyson going to prison for rape did not make the sport look good.

I would say that corruption (fighters being paid to take a dive or judges being paid for a decision) are bad, but not quite bad enough to have killed the sport on its own. Where that would become an issue is with the way the media and networks handle the sport. Pride got killed because the network could not be associated with a Yakuza even indirectly. Boxing is not quite as vulnerable to that since it is limping along on premium cable and PPV.

END COMMUNICATION

[dogofwar]

I believe the fight was fix, just no way to arrive at the decision they did. I think the rational would be to create this controversy and then sell the fight as Manny's revenge. Mayweather hasn't wanted to make the fight but Arum has been just as big of an obstacle. With big money fights running low, this was a chance to create a panic and sell the rematch.

How many times have you seen a date, site, and venue already announced for a rematch for a fight that hadn't taken place yet?

[dogofwar]

My understanding for the reason boxing has declined go beyond thinking its fixed.

- No worthwhile fights on free TV make it difficult to pick up new fans.
- Alphabet soup of champions make it hard to know who the best truly is. If you cannot identify the best, whats the point?
- Fighters trying to pad their records fighting cans.
- All midcard and lower fighters are unknown, only contenders or champions have any recognition.
- Best fighters tending to duck one another.
- Mike Tyson going to prison for rape did not make the sport look good.

I would say that corruption (fighters being paid to take a dive or judges being paid for a decision) are bad, but not quite bad enough to have killed the sport on its own. Where that would become an issue is with the way the media and networks handle the sport. Pride got killed because the network could not be associated with a Yakuza even indirectly. Boxing is not quite as vulnerable to that since it is limping along on premium cable and PPV.

END COMMUNICATION

Mike Tyson's rape charge had nothing to do with the sport's decline, when he came out of prison he fought in front of huge crowds, did huge ppv numbers. All those other points are valid, although if you have cable, the majority of big fights are shown, so there is still plenty of reasonable access to fights. Boxing is no longer a ppv business like UFC. Boxing only has a few ppv events per year now. The bad decisions have lead to a lack of credibility which has lead the casual viewer to move on. Hardcore fans will continue to put up with all this mess.

[RangerLee]

How crazy would it be if Manny decided to retire, no rematch, just be done with it.

Arnum would be f'd! Of course boxing will be dead, but compared to MMA, it is not worth watching anyway, just to one dimensional.

[69love]

"Bob Arum would be f'd" Take a look at this and tell me if you still feel that way. We should all be so f'd. http://www.therichest.org/celebnetwo...rum-net-worth/