DownSwinging.com

Last night Wladimir Klitschko defeated Rusian Chagaev to retain his title as Heavyweight Champion of the World. An avid sports fan would be forgiven for not knowing that the fight in Germany even took place last night. Is this surprising? Not really. An entire generation has been raised in a world where boxing is almost no longer even considered when thinking about sports. An afterthought. When I scroll my mouse over the “All Sports” tab on ESPN.com I see that Boxing is listed as the 16th sport on the list. It falls behind sports such as recruiting (one would think something like college football recruiting could be found within the college football section), Women’s College Basketball, High School sports and Racing. Racing, I might add, does not include the ever-popular NASCAR, as it has its own link. However, the mere fact that Boxing has ceased to be thought of in the realm of major American sports is just a sign of how far the mighty, primal exhibition of raw toughness has fallen. My thoughts are, if the Ultimate Fighting Championship can do it, so can Boxing. Here are five suggestions on how to improve the popularity of this once great American past time: