Boxing has more problems than title belts. Yet one of the single biggest issues this once great sport faces is that one of its most popular fighters just died. More people know Smokin' Joe Frazier than they do any of the fighters who have succeeded him, and Frazier's last fight was in 1981.
Do not believe extremists who say boxing is dead. It's not dead, but it is hurting, either through maddening incompetence or the serious shots that mixed martial arts and Ultimate Fighting Championship continue to land.
While the UFC continues to muscle its way into mainstream America, and the global market, boxing increasingly corners itself as a niche sport.
Don't believe me? Turn on the TV tonight.
Tonight, boxing's biggest name -- Manny Pacquiao -- will fight Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas on HBO Pay-Per-View for $54.99.
"Long awaited," is how ringside announcer Jim Lampley calls this fight on the HBO website teaser.
Long awaited? This will be the third time these guys have fought.
The only suspense is not whether Pacquiao wins, but "how bad can Manny beat Marquez," former featherweight champion, and Fort Worth's own, Paulie Ayala said this week in a phone interview.
A few hours before Pacquiao beats Marquez, for the first time an Ultimate Fighting Championship event will be broadcast on free TV when Cain Velasquez will defend his heavyweight title against Brazil's Junior Dos Santos.
The telecast will last only an hour but, beginning at 8 p.m., Fox and the UFC will see just how far this sport has come.
Prediction: a lot further than the Ring of Fools who run boxing think.
With the UFC, you talk about fights, fighting and fighters. With boxing, you talk about past fighters, corruption, fights that never happen and controversy.
Fox is televising this title fight on its flagship network from the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. This is part of a seven-year agreement between the UFC and Fox to televise four major events each year, as well as becoming a fixture on FX.
On the same night boxing asks you to pay almost 60 bucks to watch its biggest name against an opponent he should crush, the UFC asks you to pay nothing to watch a genuine main-event title fight.
I can't recall the last time a noted boxing match was on free TV. Decades?
It's not as though UFC chief Dana White is some genius; all he is doing is stealing boxing's plan from decades ago that helped make guys such as Frazier, Foreman, Ali and Sugar Ray household names and generate massive international appeal.
"Some of it is boxing has shot themselves in the foot by putting it on pay-per-view and the fights not being that good," Ayala said. "People want to see good fights. The UFC puts on good fights, for the most part. I like it. The UFC fans want to see blood and knockouts. It's more barbaric. It's a totally different demographic."
The eyeball tests say the UFC has gained a big following among the white community, while boxing continues to thrive among minorities, especially Latinos.
"That's the truth," Ayala said.
There are household UFC names now, Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Mark Coleman and Ken Shamrock. Kimbo Slice may be a stiff, but you know who he is.
However well the UFC does tonight, and beyond, it is not a formal grave for boxing.
"Boxing can't commit suicide on its own," Ayala said. "There was that fight at Cowboys Stadium that had 50,000 people. Look at how many people watched the last Mayweather fight."
Yeah ...let's talk about that.
When Floyd "Fraud" Mayweather Jr. knocked out Victor Ortiz with a glorified sucker punch in the fourth round of their fight in September, the subject wasn't the fight but the controversy.
Boxing can't be hurting too badly, though; that "fight" generated nearly $80 million in PPV. Count me among the suckers. But this is not the same sport that made Frazier so celebrated.
The fight that would put the UFC back in its place, at least for little a while, still is not happening.
Mayweather-Pacquiao is the fight that people want, but if it doesn't happen soon, boxing will have missed out on its biggest event since the days of Tyson-Holyfield. A Mayweather-Pacquiao bout would break every fight record conceivable.
"Hopefully, it can happen next year," Ayala said. "There is no one else for these fighters to fight."
Dana White and the UFC have the advantage of running the sport like dictators, which cuts out all of the political garbage that cripples boxing.
And that is why I intend to watch Velasquez-Dos Santos for free and skip Pacquiao-Marquez III.
Follow Mac Engel on Twitter @MacEngelProf and the Big Mac Blog.
Mac Engel, 817-390-7697
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/11/12/3519893/boxing-doesnt-stand-a-chance-vs.html#ixzz1dVmk8sUg
read it stupid
agreed, good read.
Pretty much what everyone already knew and what a few here are too delusional to admit: Boxing is slowly losing relevance. 
Probably the key quote:
With the UFC, you talk about fights, fighting and fighters. With boxing, you talk about past fighters, corruption, fights that never happen and controversy.
There are always new fighters just around the bend. Nonito Donaire is going to be a major star in the very near future. (IMO)I find it Ironic that the majority of people saying Boxing is dying/dead are Caucasian. They always throw a bone to Boxing's Latino fans. Oh yeah.."those Latins sure do love Boxing!"
There is plenty of room for both sports to exist and draw. However one thing boxing promoters have got to stop doing is putting semi important fights on PPV. Example: Bernard Hopkins Chad Dawson. Absolute stupidity some of these PPV Boxing cards.
ttt
UFC helps boxing. The only reason I am even slightly in touch with boxing anymore is because there is some bleed of boxing news into MMA news. I used to be a huge fan but constantly seeing the best fighters in a division not fight each other for one reason or another killed it for me.
A dominant UFC may not be everyone's choice, but it does help getting the fights to happen.
I think even the boxing trolls (like brspc) are realizing this now.
Boxing is not dead, but slowly becoming less popular and relevant.
The sport fragmented among alphabet soup promotions doesn;t help (God bless the UFC, NBA, NFL "monopolies".)
The future belongs to the UFC. MMA is more accessible to today's youth with regular TV exposure. It has a great appeal, being complete martial arts. This will keep translating fans into adulthood while boxing's demographics age.
Unless boxing makes some changes, the future belongs to MMA.
"I look at boxing from a different angle now and it is dying a death compared to the fashionable Ultimate Fighting Challenge." - boxer Ricky Hatton
I've been reading posts on boxing's demise for 10 years. Before Pac became the thing I heard the same about RJJ ducking people.
Boxing is still a bigger overall sport with bigger PPVs, it's based more on building up and milking individual stars. I don't see it ever dying, but I do agree that someday MMA will pass it buy.
Cain vs dos santos is awesome cant wait......but still cant touch manny vs marquez
I prefer watching boxing, but the alphabet soup business really has destroyed what was once the biggest sport in the world. I can turn on a tv and watch a tiny European i've never heard of, fighting in a weight division so small nobody watches it, and he is apparently "world champion" of an organisation i didn't even know existed. It's beyond pathetic.
Back in the day when there were 8 weight divisions and 1 world champion in each of them, loads of people knew the names of every champ there was. Now if i walk around a lot of the people i speak to haven't even heard of the Klitschkos.
Boxing will never die, it will probably fluctuate in popularity as the years go by depending on what stars they can build up. One things for sure though, as much as guys like Bob Arum would hate to admit it, MMA isnt going away.
Has boxing ever been popular (as a whole sport), or are there just periods with greater numbers of popular fighters?
I like boxing & MMA. I don`t understand why some mma fans seem so eager to see boxings downfall?
Boxing is still far bigger than mma in most countries.
I suppose maybe MMA appeals more to white americans because there are no successful white american boxers?
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lol
cant wait to ttt this thread sometime next year when the mma trolls get shocked with a big deal almost ready for public announcement
oh btw Martinez- Barker did over 1.2 mill viewers JUST in the US..
but you know bubble people just cant see
This whole boxing dead or dieing was created by tuf noobs who never watched boxing to begin with lmao
ttt
Tad Ghostal - Has boxing ever been popular (as a whole sport), or are there just periods with greater numbers of popular fighters?
It was the most popular sport in the world in the 20s, and had a couple of "golden eras" in the 50s and 70s.