Joe Scarnici / Handout Photo via USA TODAY Sports
A common refrain is that boxing is dying. If that’s so, then so is MMA, hockey, tennis and golf.
That’s according to a recent Harris Poll of 2,072 American adults that asked, “Do you consider yourself a fan of the following sports?”, according to a report in Yahoo Sports.
Here is how the eight sports included ranked:
- Football, 62% considered themselves fans
- Baseball and basketball, 49%
- Boxing, 33%
- MMA, 30%
- Hockey, 29%
- Tennis, 27%
- Golf, 26%.
The poll did not include soccer or car racing.
Harris also asked whether those taking part in the poll had heard of 20 designated fighters, including YouTuber Jake Paul. As Yahoo Sports pointed out, 12 are active and eight are retired.
Here are the fighters who were recognized by the highest percentage of people:
- Mike Tyson, 89%
- Muhammad Ali, 88%
- Floyd Mayweather, 79%
- Sugar Ray Leonard, 74%
- Oscar De La Hoya, 69%
- Evander Holyfield, 68%.
All of the above fighters are retired. Manny Pacquiao, at 52%, was the most recognizable active fighter.
The others on the list are:
- Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., 50%
- Tyson Fury, 37%
- Roy Jones Jr., 36%
- Paul, 32%
- Canelo Alvarez and Ryan Garcia, 26%
- Deontay Wilder, 24%
- Terence Crawford, 21%
- Anthony Joshua, 19%
- Gennadiy Golovkin and Gervonta Davis, 17%
- Errol Spence Jr., 16%
- Teofimo Lopez, 15%.
Harris then asked those who identified as boxing fans to identify their favorite fighter on the above list. Here are the results:
- Ali and Tyson, 51%
- Mayweather, 41%
- Pacquiao, 29%
- Leonard, 26%
- Holyfield, 25%
- De La Hoya, 22%
- Jones, 20%
- Chavez, 15%
- Fury and Alvarez, 14%
- Garcia and Wilder, 11%
- Joshua, 10%
- Paul, Crawford, Golovkin and Davis, 8%
- Lopez and Spence, 7%
- None of these, 4%
Alvarez was the favorite among Hispanic fans at 35%, followed by Chavez at 25% and De La Hoya at 24%.
Harris next asked whether fans had heard of recent fights or those scheduled. Here are those results:
- Tyson vs. Jones (exhibition), 44%
- Mayweather vs. Logan Paul (exhibition), 40%
- Jake Paul vs Ben Askren, 30%
- Fury vs. Wilder, 29% (although Harris didn’t designate whether it was referring to their second or upcoming third fight)
- Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders, 23%
- Josh Taylor vs. Jose Ramirez, 19%
The poll was conducted last month.
