For years, the television ratings would show a sad story for boxing. Even when the audience size was high, the demographic was the exact opposite of what advertisers were looking for.

The bulk of the audience was primarily men 55 years of age and older.

But in the last nearly two years, that has made a dramatic shift. As boxing promoters made what some perceive as a last-ditch effort to kickstart the sport, they did so by making an effort to attract a younger audience.

The UFC went from more than $40 million in the hole to being sold for more than $4 billion in a decade primarily because it attracted the 18-to-34-year-old males who were so highly coveted by advertisers.

“Any sport that has an audience of 55-plus is in a terrible, terrible position, to be honest with you,” boxing promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport said in a video call with Yahoo Sports. “What we’ve done in the U.K. is to completely change the demographic of the sport of boxing. There’s a much younger, more fresher, more vibrant audience now and that makes a big difference to ticket sales, to pay-per-view numbers, to subscription numbers because these are people who have disposable income and are willing to spend.”

View photos Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn answer questions during a news conference promoting Joshua's June 1 fight vs. Jarrell Miller. (Getty Images) More

Up until recently, two main problems were plaguing boxing: The atmosphere at the live events was more like a funeral than a party and there were long dead periods with nothing happening, and the best fights weren’t being consistently made.

Progress is being made in both areas, though there remains huge issues in getting the best to fight the best in a timely manner. The heavyweight division has become something of a mess for that very reason, even though there is building excitement among the audience with the potential matches.

The fight nearly everyone wants to see, a unification bout between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and IBF-WBA-WBO champion Anthony Joshua has yet to come close to being made. DAZN, the streaming service for which Hearn provides content, offered Wilder a lucrative deal worth more than $100 million that would have made back-to-back fights between Wilder and Joshua in the U.S. after each took one fight first.

Wilder, though, rejected that.

Tyson Fury, who bravely and dramatically got up from the canvas in the 12th round of his Dec. 1 title fight in Los Angeles with Wilder, had been negotiating a rematch with Wilder that was of high interest to the public.

But Fury in February signed with Top Rank and within a few days, Top Rank said an immediate rematch was off the table. On Friday, news broke that Fury is fighting little-known Tom Schwarz on June 15 in Las Vegas in a bout that has virtual no interest among anything other than the hardest of the hardcore fan base.

Hearn is doing great work on making boxing exciting. He’s arguably the sport’s most accessible promoter and he’s making his shows must-see events with music and pyrotechnics and a nightclub feel.

The stereotypical view of a boxing crowd in the U.S. is an older and staid group with little noise in the arena between fights. Top Rank’s Todd duBoef has been trying to improve the in-arena experience because he recognizes the need to attract a younger demographic.

The atmosphere at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for Vegas Golden Knights’ games was recently voted best in the NHL by a more than 2-to-1 margin in a recent poll conducted by players. That’s because the Knights spare no expense in game presentation and it’s like going to a party and seeing a hockey game break out.

It’s what boxing desperately needs, and it’s not just blaring music over the loudspeakers. Hearn has done yeoman’s work in the U.K. in that regard, though he hasn’t broken through yet in the U.S.

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