Info on current state of boxing for a new fan?

Question

im fifteen years old, i have seen boxing matches and movies about boxing etc. but never really watched it as a fan or anything, but i kinda want to get into it. i understand the rules and concepts of the sport but i dont really know anything abou the current state of boxing.

what are the main boxing organizations? which is the biggest? who are the current notable champions? the only boxer right now i know of is this floyd mayweather, who is talked about quite alot, does he hold a championship, and if so what is it?

i have heard there is alot of corruption in boxing, what exactly does that mean and how true is that?

how much of boxing is on tv for free and when is it on? how much do pay per view events cost and are they usually worth it?

anything else you want to throw in there that may be helpful...

please and thankyou.

Answer 1

it didn't declined, just got too many other sports out there now competing for the fans attention.

Still boxing matches get such attention worldwide that other sports would love to have!

Answer 2

The four main organizations are: WBC, WBO, WBA, and IBF.  These are sometimes called "alphabet soup" titles and none of them can say that they are fair or unbiased.  Which is why if you want to know the true champions and number one fighters of each weight division, check out The Ring Magazine's champions and their rankings.  They do not strip their champions, or have undeserving mandatory challengers like the sanctioning bodies do- this is part of the corruption that you hear of and it is all true when it comes to the sanctioning bodies.  The other part is the controversial decisions that occur- for the most part, judges do a good job of judging fights, but when a huge robbery occurs, it sticks in our memory, which is why you always hear about the bad decisions instead of the good ones. Current champions and number one contenders of The Ring are as follows:

NOTE- for the ones with a #1, there is no current champ as of yet.

Heavyweight: #1- Wladimir Klitschko

Cruiserweight: champ- David Haye

Light heavyweight: champ- Bernard Hopkins

Super middleweight: champ- Joe Calzaghe

Middleweight: champ- Kelly Pavlik

Junior Middlweight: #1- Cory Spinks

Welterweight: champ- Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Junior Welterweight: champ- Ricky Hatton

Lightweight: champ- Joel Casamayor

Super Featherweight: champ- Manny Pacquiao

Featherweight: #1- Robert Guerrero

Junior Featherweight: champ- Israel Vazquez

Bantamweight: #1- Hozumi Hasegawa

Junior Bantamweight: #1- Fernando Montiel

Flyweight: #1- Nonito Donaire

Light Flyweight: champ- Ivan Calderon

Strawweight: #1- Yutaka Niida

Here is the top 10 pound for pound fighters according to The Ring:

1. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs)

2. Manny Pacquiao (46-3-2, 35 KOs)

3. Juan Manuel Marquez (48-4-1, 35 KOs)

4. Bernard Hopkins (48-4-1, 32 KOs)

5. Joe Calzage (44-0, 32 KOs)

6. Israel Vazquez (43-4, 31 KOs)

7. Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25 KOs)

8. Ricky Hatton (43-1, 31 KOs)

9. Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs)

10. Rafael Marquez (37-5, 33 KOs)

There are some that can be debated, but for the most part, their rankings are an accurate depiction of the best fighters in the world for each weight division.

Boxing is on ESPN2 every Friday throughout the rest of the season as well as the summer, and during the summer there is fights on Wednesdays as well as on Fridays every week. There are also fights on Versus on Thursdays sometimes.  There is usually fights on Telefutura every Friday as well, if you get that channel.  For premium channels there is HBO and Showtime which both feature higher level fights than regular TV.  Pay-per view events usually cost $50 and they are HBO pay-per view.  For the most part, I think they are worth it if you really are going to get into boxing because they show the highest level of fights and the best fighters in the world.  The majority of the pay-per views that are not from HBO are not worth it.

Lastly, as you already stated, boxing is not as popular as it once was.  The numerous sanctioning bodies and their favoritism toward certain promoters and fighters is what caused the decline in popularity for so many years, but in truth, its popularity has actually gone up over the past year or so.  The reason- everyone has been focusing on making the best matchups possible instead of just everyone going after all of these paper titles.  When the best fight the best like they are currently, I truly believe that there is no other sport that can compare to boxing.

Answer 3

YEAH, WHAT HE SAID.