Someone in the comments said boxing was better when Don King was on top. I think I agree

[mag357]

Just been thinking about how boxing seems to be the only sport where the athletes aren't getting better.
It's like they peeked at a certain point, went down a notch and stayed there.

Also, it's a byproduct of society not really fukking with boxing like that anymore.

Your pops, All your uncles, and grandpa was taught how to box at the boys club, PAL, or by family.
Boxing was a part of life for most young men back in the day.
But it's fell out of favor.

So it really isn't a promotional issue, it's been a change in society from Dons time til now

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Better for the fans, worse for the fighters.

 

[Damnshow]

Yall can stan that scumbag, I'm good, lol

Even Simpsons made a parody out him.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Just been thinking about how boxing seems to be the only sport where the athletes aren't getting better.

Sports can face decline in talent if they have a serious drop in available talent pool due to cultural factors. In this case, the best athletes realized they could keep more of their paychecks with less brain damage by becoming DBs and RBs and LBs (or, occasionally, point guards or strikers/midfielders or even shortstops). Even the youth who weren't "good enough" to play pro football, are you going to spend your teenage years trying your best to develop yourself on the football field with a dream of making it, or are you going to spend every day getting your head bashed in for a sport that offers virtually nothing in the way of development at school or academic scholarships, just for the hope that you "might" make it as a boxer in the distant future?

The only place where boxing talent hasn't declined is for weight classes so short that they never had a hope of playing any other sport, or by super tall motherfukkers from cultures where you don't have a serious shot to play TE/DE.

 

[nieman]

Well, Don King started promoting in the 1970s. I don't think you can credit him for exactly shaping the boxing landscape in that decade. Boxing was already huge before him. Though he did engineer the Ali/Foreman fight and deserves credit for that.

I think the question you have to ask is...was boxing better because of Don King? Or was the talent just better when he happened to be promoting?

He knew how to create a must-see event through his antics. The sport was paid attention to more...even most casual fans were knowledgeable of the sport during Don King's reign. One thing that is not seen now is that he knew who to put the spotlight on, who to allow to get some light, and then who to keep as "mysterious as possible" to make for interesting narratives.

Leaving the boxers to promote themselves and their bouts isn't really the draw like that.

 

[Erratic415]

don got some street in him

King has 2 verified bodies on him and god knows how much other shyt he did.

The prosecutor who cross-examined him had a lot of years of experience and seemed to be in awe as of King’s intelligence.

Extremely smart and cunning criminal. Basically he took his criminal mind from the numbers running game in Cleveland to the sport of boxing.

Jack Newfield (RIP) wrote a good book on him.

 

[Wargames]

I think it was more talent because the pool of talent was larger in general because boxing was the really the only combat sport that paid. I am pretty sure some mid tier MMA guy with hands would have had a better boxing career but chose to learn kicks instead, and even if they weren’t a champ steel sharpens steel and some pretty good boxer would be better overall.

I do not think King was great for boxing. He and Arum are both parasites in their own ways but they also operate differently.

 

[theflyest]

Gotta give Don King his credit. Look at the under cards on his fights. He made the whole card interesting. That shyt is no more

This is exactly what I came here to say. Don would have stacked cards, as opposed to the “ we are just here to see the main event” cards.

 

[Big Boss]

Sports can face decline in talent if they have a serious drop in available talent pool due to cultural factors. In this case, the best athletes realized they could keep more of their paychecks with less brain damage by becoming DBs and RBs and LBs (or, occasionally, point guards or strikers/midfielders or even shortstops). Even the youth who weren't "good enough" to play pro football, are you going to spend your teenage years trying your best to develop yourself on the football field with a dream of making it, or are you going to spend every day getting your head bashed in for a sport that offers virtually nothing in the way of development at school or academic scholarships, just for the hope that you "might" make it as a boxer in the distant future?

The only place where boxing talent hasn't declined is for weight classes so short that they never had a hope of playing any other sport, or by super tall motherfukkers from cultures where you don't have a serious shot to play TE/DE.

Yep funny that you said that about 10 years ago somebody was asking me where the great boxing heavyweights at, I said they are in the NFL

 

[mastermind]

He killed the heavy weight division in the 1980s.

 

[WesCrook]

You will never see a loaded card like this again.

 

[CHICAGO]

Boxing was better when fighters had less control?

YEA YOU CANT DUCK FIGHTS
WHEN YOU HAVE LESS CONTROL



​

 

[Po pimp]

Easily the talent

Any breh could be don king if they wanted to

Is boxing the only sport where the talent hasn’t evolved?

 

[RickyDiBiase]

Is boxing the only sport where the talent hasn’t evolved?

Heavyweights of this era are way more talented than they were when DK was around

 

[Po pimp]

Heavyweights of this era are way more talented than they were when DK was around

I’m not saying I agree or disagree, but it seems like boxing is the main sport where people say fighters of the past would wash today’s fighters. In football or basketball, all we hear about is how the players evolved, especially basketball.