Why is boxing still producing bigger stars than MMA?

Ryan Garcia didn't become a star from boxing. He's social media famous like the Pauls. He used to run around with them (maybe still does idk). The others aren't really big stars. Canelo kind of is, but he's not on that Mayweather/Pac level. Ryan Garcia can be on that level now.

And UFC went too global to produce many American stars. Most cards are filled with stoic non English speakers.
 
boxing has been around over a century longer, and it was mainstream during some culturally formative years in the usa (most notably the civil rights era, vietnam, etc.). its biggest stars are also icons of those eras, and in some ways historical figures. boxing came of age alongside other pro sports, with the advent of radio, and then television. it was already well ingrained in our national consciousness by the time internet came around. today’s boxers benefit from that history because there is a larger base of people who have already heard of it, particularly among people who are over 40.

but given mma’s youth and some of the names it has produced, i’d say it’s beating the shit out of boxing. in another 50 years, if things stay the same, mma will probably be larger.
 
Says who?

Did u see the horrendous ppv numbers in boxing? Granted, we don't know the UFC ppv numbers anymore, but surely the numbers aren't higher... The Haney/Garcia ppv numbers were "highly disappointing"
 
theincognito said:
Ryan Garcia didn't become a star from boxing. He's social media famous like the Pauls. He used to run around with them (maybe still does idk). The others aren't really big stars. Canelo kind of is, but he's not on that Mayweather/Pac level. Ryan Garcia can be on that level now.

And UFC went too global to produce many American stars. Most cards are filled with stoic non English speakers.
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Ryan Garcia is not anywhere near the level of Mayweather/pac lilololol
 
ChessJitsu said:
Everyone in MMA is still impressed by Holloway/Gaethje and Alex Perreira but Ryan Garcia/Devin Haney was the biggest fight of the year.

Ryan Garcia is now bigger than any star in MMA (except McGregor).

Aside from him, there's Tank Davis. Who's also bigger than any star in MMA.

And of course there's Tyson Fury and Usyk.

All these guys are McGregor/Khabib level stars.
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Lol man what? I don't follow boxing at all I had no who Garcia was before this whole controversy. He's nowhere near Mcgregor.
 
I didn’t even know Garcia boxed Haney until my friend texted me about it a couple days ago.

Admittedly I am a casual when it comes to boxing but if they were such big stars I feel like I would have heard about the fight more. I was told it was a snoozer.
 
Despite not being the champion, Garcia was actually the one carrying the promotion of that fight. Devin Haney is not a superstar and is nowhere near as popular as the UFC 300 fighters you listed. Garcia's the one with the massive social media following and exciting fighting style.
 
Ares Black said:
There are 8 billion people in the world. That means that about 0.15% of the population follows him on Instagram. And approximately 99.85% of the population does not. The average person has never heard of him.


Why does Ryan Garcia have a lot of Instagram followers? He's successful, good-looking, and he has Mexican heritage. Boxing is huge in Mexico.


UFC is big business, but it's still ultimately a niche sport, and their business strategy is promoting the UFC brand rather than individual fighters.

The boxing business model is different, with a bunch of rival promoters each trying to create breakout stars.

TLDR; The UFC doesn't give a shit about creating stars. The brand is what matters.

Boxing needs to make stars to generate interest. No one tunes in to watch a random boxing match. Lots of people watch UFC without particularly caring who is fighting.
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By that metric, the average person hasn't heard of anybody because no one has 4+ billion followers. Other than maybe 1 or 2 people, there's no one in the world that 50% of the people have heard of.

Who are some people that you would say the average person has heard of?

Tom Cruise has 12.1 million followers, Tom Hanks has 9.5 mil, would you say the average person has heard of them?
 
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Wreckless said:
The amount of people on this planet who can become great at MMA is much smaller than boxing.

Everyone and their mother can train to become a boxer. MMA takes years to learn. Perfect example is Jake Paul and all those Youtube boxers.

Not to mention a lot of these boxers with 30-0 records have a padded record with a bunch of bums.

I'm not ready to say boxing has more stars, but even if it does, we're just talking about a few people. As a sport, MMA is crushing boxing and has been for quite a while. No one even takes boxing seriously these days.
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This is literally the opposite of what the GOAT Demetrius Johnson said. He said that there are potentially more pathways to the top with MMA because there are just more tools and options for victory, plus the element of luck and style contrasts are considerably higher in MMA.

In boxing, you have far less tools and work compete on a common element. Therefore, the competitive gradient is much steeper. Boxing does put out a ton of alphabet belts but the amount of people who can become great at boxing is much smaller than MMA.
 
ChessJitsu said:
Ryan Garcia has 11.6 million instagram followers.

only McGregor and Khabib in the UFC have more than that (and they're both basically retired).
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Other than Garcia what active boxer has that many followers? Izzy has more IG followers than Gervonta Davis or Tyson Fury.

Terence Crawford has 1.6m followers
 
FrankNStein said:
By that metric, the average person hasn't heard of anybody because no one has 4+ billion followers. Other than maybe 1 or 2 people, there's no one in the world that 50% of the people have heard of.

Who are some people that you would say the average person has heard of?

Tom Cruise has 12.1 million followers, Tom Hanks has 9.5 mil, would you say the average person has heard of them?
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I didn't bring up Instagram. The guy claiming that boxers are crossover stars did.

Do you think the average person knows who Ryan Garcia is?
 
Boxing is easier to understand and has near 100 years on MMA.

Everyone can understand two men punching each other until someone falls. You have to educate yourself to understand MMA. Most people see guys rolling around on the ground and think it's "gay".
 
The only names in boxing worth watching is Inoue, Loma, Bivol, Crawford and Joseph Parker.
 
World eater said:
I am a simple man. If Rajabzadeh is fighting, I tune in. Good to see him at LHW, even though I was hoping he could pull the upset against Rigters.
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Nice bro :cool:
Yeah man Bahram is a beast, I think he also beat Levi if it wasn’t for that “knockdown”
 
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