Boxing on the Decline?

I think this has been happening for awhile. It is said that the sport of boxing is on the decline. You know that you’re not in good standing when you go visit ESPN and boxing is in the “More Sports” section. Some reports also said that PPVs and ratings are down and that boxing have transformed or morphed into a new sport.

MMA. Mixed Martial Arts, that’s the longer version, you know.

Actually, I don’t know how or when this started. I found this interesting chat transcript from ESPN.

Person A from San Francisco: Is it official yet? Did UFC officially take the place of boxing? Is boxing done forever (even if a heavyweight emerges don’t you think he’ll fight in the UFC’s instead of pro boxing)?

ESPN columnist: It’s almost official. We’re like two months and one more boxing debacle away.

I know there are a lot of reasons for its decline and no sport is perfect. Take Tour de France for example with the recent drug accusation on Landis, the tour winner. But with the lack of a superstar in the heavyweight division and the MMA’s rise to public awareness, who wouldn’t be at least a wee bit curious of fighting in the UFC or Pride? I mean after Lewis retired from boxing, who is the first heavyweight that comes to mind? That Russian dude?

Aside from the lack of superstar, I, personally, don’t really know why it has come to this. Maybe it’s because of the lack of publicity. Maybe it’s because there’s not much hype. Help me out will ya?

Also what makes MMA appealing is that it tries to pit a boxer with a wrestler. It also tries to look at which discipline is better, boxing, Judo, Jiu Jitso, Tae Kwon Do, or others I forgot to mention. We already know that no one style is above the other. You should have a little bit of everything to win.

The only bright spot for boxing is the featherweight/middleweight division where Pacquiao, MAB, Morales, Mayweather, and others have keep boxing afloat with exciting matches that we have seen recently.

The only question to ask is — for how long?