By Brody Goucher Posted May 29, 2013
Boxing use to be the most popular sport in America, but has it finally run its course?
With football emerging as America’s most popular sport and basketball and baseball right behind it, boxing has slowly been declining and has not been popular since Mike Tyson and his run in 1986.
Many people would say that it is an American tradition, but how can it be an American tradition when fewer and fewer people are following it? Boxing is no longer even in the top five most popular sports in America with football, basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, golf and even tennis beating it in most viewed.
Although you could say MMA is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than boxing but MMA is also much more popular and does not have as many deaths because it is a younger sport.
Boxing has also contributed to more deaths than any other sport, even MMA, football and rugby. Just about every boxer leaves the sport with some kind of mental or physical injury according to bleacherreport.com.
Why should we continue a sport that has such low viewer turnout that is just throwing away peoples lives and trashing them mentally and physically?
People say any sport has risks, but in reality, boxing has the most deaths out of any and when was the last time someone actually died playing football or basketball in the last five years? The last person to die playing professional football during a game was running out for a pass and collapsed of a heart attack. Deaths in MMA are even uncommon, the last one was Thomas Herrion and he died in 2008. Boxing averages a massive ten deaths a year and 90 percent of boxers leave the sport with sustained brain damage according to askmen.com.
Boxing is a dying tradition and it’s just not worth it to continue the sport on when hardly anyone watches it.
