Boxing's last leg

Quick how many current boxing champions can you name? Off the top of my head I have Wladimir Klitschko and Mason "The Line" Dixon. In fact thats the only two champions I have even heard of. Boxing is dying. The Heavyweight Division has been dying for a while now. Don King has slowly killed the division, as there hasn't been a truly talked about pay per view since Lewis got the lucky TKO against Vitali (that cut was definition of bullshit, I have got bigger scrapes playing football on astroturf). Let think about it, the reigning Heavyweight Champion is a white guy with a doctorate degree. It reminds of a Chris Rock joke about Rocky IV. "Two White Guys fighting for the Heavyweight title of the world. Boy that Spieberg is something else."

Boxing bled itself dry. The promoters got greedy. Too many pay per views not enough letting us get to know the competitors. There was no decent boxing HBO or Showtime, nevermind ESPN or network TV. No personalties that would entertain us. Gone were the days of Tyson, Ali, and Frasier. Simply we stopped caring. Boxing thought itself to be the only show in town. When the Heavyweights got old and boring, they relied on the equally old Middleweights which limped the sport along for a couple of more years. But the promoters weren't developing the brand and weren't watching the competition.

And while Boxing, like an old wife nagged and bored us to death, America has been screwing the hot young babysitter, MMA. MMA rocks Boxing's face off. The matches are shorter and much more interesting. The fighters look tougher and the undercards are extremely enjoyable. UFC (the top promoter/top flight fighting) is using cable to build their growing brand as well as outselling Boxing and WWE in pay per views. Tito Ortiz (this may do with going out with porn star Jenna Jameson) is more recognizable name than any Boxing champion outside of maybe Klitschko. Fedor Emilianenko's fight aganst Tim Silva got more attention than any Boxing PPV in the last year.

At this point, it will be hard for Boxing to come back. Why would fighters want to become boxers when there is much more money in MMA? Why do people want to watch a fight that ends because someone's eye was scraped by the glove of his opponent when they can watch a much more exciting throwdown fight? Who cares about people you never heard unless you watched every undercard of every horrible ppv?

If a decent Rocky movie (which delightfully washed away the well vodka aftertaste of Rocky V) can't garner more interest in boxing, then it is time to pack up shop. Sure Boxing might not die, but it will linger on like the NHL, Indy Car Racing, or SNL, a shell of its former self. Can anyone name a current SNL sketch?