page_title: Sports in the United States
section_title: Boxing
hierarchical_section_title: Sports in the United States / Individual sports / Combat sports / Boxing
caption_attribution_description: English: Oscar De La Hoya at Fight Night Club event at the Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California, United States.
context_page_description: Sports in the United States are an important part of culture in the United States. American football is the most popular sport to watch in the United States, followed by baseball, basketball, and ice hockey, which makes up the "4 major sports". Soccer, Rugby union, Rugby league, tennis, golf, wrestling, auto racing, softball, field lacrosse, box lacrosse, handball, volleyball, and water polo are also played in the country. Based on Olympic Games, World Championships, and other major competitions in respective sports, the United States is the most successful sports nation in the world.
  Based on revenue, the four major professional sports leagues in the United States are Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. The market for professional sports in the United States is roughly $69 billion, roughly 50% larger than that of all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa combined. All four enjoy wide-ranging domestic media coverage and are considered the preeminent leagues in their respective sports in the world, although American football does not have a substantial following in other nations.
context_section_description: Boxing is an iconic sport in the US and is the focus of the most successful sporting movies both critically and commercially with Oscar winning films like Rocky, Raging Bull and The Fighter. As with many sports it has allowed Black Athletes to breakthrough to be become major figures of US culture, with Joe Louis, Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali all becoming know on the world stage.
  Boxing in the United States became the center of professional boxing in the early 20th century. The National Boxing Association was founded in 1921 and began to sanction title fights. 
  Joe Louis was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949, and is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. In 2005, Louis was ranked as the best heavyweight of all time by the International Boxing Research Organization, and was ranked number one on The Ring magazine's list of the "100 greatest punchers of all time". Louis had the longest single reign as champion of any heavyweight boxer in history.
  Louis is widely regarded as the first person of African-American descent to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during World War II. He was instrumental in integrating the game of golf, breaking the sport's color barrier in America by appearing under a sponsor's exemption in a PGA event in 1952.
  In the 1960s and 1970s, Muhammad Ali became an iconic figure, transformed the role and image of the African American athlete in America by his embrace of racial pride, and transcended the sport by refusing to serve in the Vietnam War.
  In the 1980s Mike Tyson emerged as a serious contender. Nicknamed "Iron Mike", Tyson won the heavyweight unification series to become world heavyweight champion at the age of 20 and the first undisputed champion in a decade. Tyson soon became the most widely known boxer since Ali due to an aura of unrestrained ferocity, such as that exuded by Jack Dempsey or Sonny Liston. His career culminated in Evander Holyfield vs. Mike Tyson II where he famously bit off a piece of Holyfield's ear.
  Since the late 1990s boxing has declined in popularity for a myriad of factors such as more sports entertainment options and combat alternatives such as MMA's UFC amongst a younger demographic. Lack of mainstream coverage in newspapers and access on major television networks. Also the lack of a US Heavyweight world champion. 
  It was hoped in 2015 that the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight would re-invigorate interest in the sport in the United States but because the fight was disappointing it was perceived as doing further harm to the image of the sport in the United States.
caption: Oscar De La Hoya won ten world titles in six different weight classes, including the lineal championship in three weight classes and winning a gold medal in the lightweight division.
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