Boxing Ends It’s Decades Long Run On Regular Television, But Is It That Big A Deal In The Age Of Streaming?

By: Sean Crose

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth around the boxing world lately. Or perhaps more succinctly around the boxing media. For Saturday was the last time the sweet science aired on mainstream broadcast television. That was indeed a sad thing. But as someone brighter than myself pointed out in an internet comment section, moving strictly to streaming isn’t catastrophic, because frankly streaming is the wave of the future. Don’t believe it? Check out the numbers Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson did… or the numbers the recent Katie Taylor- Amanda Serrano 2 did. Those two cards were both broadcast on Netflix and both were nothing if not successful.

That’s not to say everything is great for the current state of boxing. Network television may be on the downslide, but it clearly isn’t interested in broadcasting boxing anymore, something it’s done since Truman was in the White House. That’s saying something. In truth, boxing promoters could do to take a look at Jake Paul and see how well he can present a fight to a modern audience. They can also look across the water and see how well British promoters are doing with their fighters. Wembley stadium is frequently sold out by major fights featuring at least one English boxer.

This September’s Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford super fight might speak very clearly as to the future of the sweet science. Like Taylor Serrano 3, it’s s going to be broadcast on Netflix free of any extra charges. Considering millions upon millions of Americans are subscribed to Netflix, that’s a whole lot of potential viewers. Add in the high profile aspect of the bout and the fact that it isn’t going to be on pay-per-view and there’s a lot for the broadcast service and the promoters of the fight to look forward to. If it ends up being a viewership success, boxing looks to have a potentially bright future on streaming services. If not though….

As for Saturday’s final television fight broadcast, ESPN showed a WBO junior middleweight title bout between Jorge Garcia and the Xander Zayas. The fight went the distance though Zayas was excellent and deservedly won both the match and the WBO title. It was an excellent performance on the part of Zayas, and it was a good way to wrap up an era. Now boxing must continue to push forward. It will be interesting to see what the future holds.

Images: Top Rank