[[In the old days Friday night was fight night..and it was free..
Right you are! I saw Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Carmen Basilio, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore, Kid Gavilan, Ralph Tiger Jones, Ingemar Johannson, and many others in championsip fights on free TV!]]
Exactly- pat per view killed boxing for the common man- and now mma too- I used to watch lidell, rampage, etc etc etc- all top tier fighters for free- now they are going to ppv- fighting went from being the everyman’s pastime sport to the rich person’s pastime sport-
Exactly.
I remember watching the Ali/Norton championship fight on .... Wide World of Sports.
Boxing got greedy and that lead to its demise.
That was borne out by the enormous number of wealthy people and celebs attending the Mayweather MCGregor fight.
McGregor did a good job against the greatest defensive fighter of all time, and one of the best boxers of all time.. Mayweather "mixed it up" a lot more than he usually does, accepting getting hit, both to give the fans a good fight and because I don't think he feared McGregor's punching power. In 49 previous fights he had to have encountered a few good punchers. Of course he doesn't get hit that often because of his elusiveness. That means he's not taken as many beatings as most fighters with now 50 pro fights.