There is hope for boxing as a sport. Anyone who has experienced the Junior Golden Gloves, the Golden Gloves, or Collegiate Boxing knows that the sport still has a lot of life in it although it's top tier professional segment is being choked to death by the greed of the few promoters who keep the best of boxing relegated to the few willing to pay the PPV rates. Boxing fans need to remember that back in the 1970's the PKA Karate craze was in full bloom and many predicted that PKA Karate would replace boxing. It has now vanished. The MMA really seems to be encroaching more on the 'pro rasslin' crowds than the boxing crowd. The MMA is not killing boxing, it's just giving pro wrestlijng a legitimate alterative. Pro boxing is suffering from the lack of new blood in the top of the sport, and it needs some help right now. Those enamored with the success of the NFL need only to look back on the first decade of television, when there were Wednesday Night Fights on CBS, Friday Night Fights on NBC, and Sunday Night Fights on ABC.
Viewers knew the fighters and could follow them. With today's miniscule ratings on broadcast TV, the heretofore modest numbers pulled by the NFL on NBC on Sunday nights make it a staple of all TV viewing. It's high time that somebody come to the forefront in the boxing world and reintroduce the sweet science to a national TV audience. Done properly, it would be blockbuster ratings and would provide the sport with the ability to have the general sports fan enjoy top boxing and learn the fighters and the fight game.
