Fastest growing sport in the world. I'd say you are wrong/misinformed.
My dad took me to the Robinson-Basilio fight in the late 50's I used to get free passes to the Garden fights every week in the 60's & to me 7 I got hooked. Maybe to the young generation MMA is the in thing now I see its flooded on TV but to me its like the X-Games & never watch it. Even today I watch every boxing match on BO.
I admit guys like Haye are a joke and unlike the old days Boxing has too many divisions & fake champs but I bet the top yearly money fight in Boxing takes in more than the top 20 MMA fights & most MMA fighters tried boxing first & realized they couldn't become top fighters so they gravitated towards easier routes to earn some lesser fame & income!
My dad took me to the Robinson-Basilio fight in the late 50's I used to get free passes to the Garden fights every week in the 60's & to me 7 I got hooked. Maybe to the young generation MMA is the in thing now I see its flooded on TV but to me its like the X-Games & never watch it. Even today I watch every boxing match on BO.
I admit guys like Haye are a joke and unlike the old days Boxing has too many divisions & fake champs but I bet the top yearly money fight in Boxing takes in more than the top 20 MMA fights & most MMA fighters tried boxing first & realized they couldn't become top fighters so they gravitated towards easier routes to earn some lesser fame & income!
This isn't even close to true. UFC crushes boxing in all aspects of finances. Top boxing fight of the year bigger than top 20 MMA, lol.
I actually prefer elite boxing to MMA and I tend to gravitate towards being a fan of the MMAers who do more boxing and are sound on their feet but if you did "bet" that you would lose a lot of $, not even close.
http://www.mmanewsleak.com/mma-news/mma-business/mma-vs-boxing-by-the-numbers/292/
Check out that thread. I was surprised it wasn't 20X but its between 2 & 3 times!
It’s a popular belief that MMA is overtaking boxing as the most popular combat sport in the United States. However, saying that is like saying that NASCAR has overtaken the NFL as the most popular sport. The simple fact is that MMA’s top events don’t out produce boxing’s top events; not even close.