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Some people have said that this era of boxing is weak, and that boxing will die when Floyd and Manny retire. How strong or weak would you say it is? I think this era overall is very strong, with great fighters like:
Floyd
Manny
Bradley
Marquez
Ward
Cotto
Froch
Wlad
Hopkins
Roman Gonzalez
And fighters who could go on to be great:
Thurman
Brook
Canelo
Andrade
Spence
Kovalev
Danny Garcia
Joshua
Crawford
Lomachenko
I think boxing will be just fine when Floyd and Manny retire.
I agree and actually think boxing will get better after the prima's are gone. The other added benefit is the beginning of the end to this long overdue gimmick known as PPV. Probably 5 years of it still though as all the parties scramble to cash out. I'm hoping boxing once again becomes a normal part of our cable bill because str3ams are going to put them out of business once the two holy grails are gone.
Btw most of those people in the first list will be gone in about 2 years save Gonzalez and maybe Bradley.
Boxing is going to have to reinvent itself and shy away from putting all of their eggs in one or two baskets and thats going to be good for the fans. With any luck, a few competing stations. Oh I'm sure ppv will exist in some fashion but the 69.99 pimp fees are going the way of the dodo bird. A new system would also start to erode the frauds. No more "its does not pay enough". Maybe even the end of 7 figures.
The LHW division is going to be VERY interesting in the next few years, with all the hard-punching prospects there, such as Beterbiev and Mekhontsev.
I think this is a decent era, although I do feel like it is inferior to what we had in the 90's and before. There aren't as many true pro fighters anymore. I like Canelo, but a guy that one dimensional never reached the level he is at during the 90's or before. Winky Wright was an unknown during the 90's and that guy could fight! Same with Buddy McGirt, Terry Norris, Simon Brown, Maurice Blocker...etc. I would be so bold as to say that Oba Carr was never a titlist and would beat guys like Canelo, Porter...etc. We just don't have the depth that we used to in the sport. I'm sure boxing will go on, but as our culture changes and old school trainers die or retire, we will lose what made the sport so fascinating. The world in general is becoming more advanced/cerebral and as that happens, the styles tend to shift to a more cerebral style. Look at Lewis, Klitschkos, Floyd...etc. Those guys are technicians and very cerebral in the ring, which doesn't translate to the excitement that passionate fighters like Tyson, Holyfield, Julian Jackson, Gerald McLellan, Gatti, James Toney, Marvin Hagler...etc., brought. I hope I'm wrong...
Boxing is in for a rough road ahead because when Floyd and Manny are gone, you're going to see a HUGE drop in revenue, and that means promotional companies won't have the same overhead to put on great cards.
It'll also be interesting to see how much steam MMA is taking away from boxing as the UFC becomes more and more popular globally. This means a lot of kids who would have walked into a boxing gym 10 years ago are now flocking to their local MMA gym.
As far as the era goes, I have a theory that a lot of people will disagree with, but I truly believe that if you could actually quantify boxing talent into something we could actually measure, there wouldn't be such a crazy disparity between eras as people think.
I think a lot of the difference between eras is perception, in that the perceived quality of an era is directly correlated with how "mainstream" boxing is at the time, ie how bright the spotlight is shone on it. We often judge a fighter's merit on name value, and the ability to generate a great name value differs from era to era. For example, in Muhammad Ali's day, it was much easier to become a "big name" because Ali's presence in boxing drew a lot of eyes to the sport.
For example, I think a prime Reggie Johnson was a superior fighter to a lot of guys in the HOF.
This is the era of the ego from fighters, promoters and managers getting in the way of huge fights.
Yes no longer the best fight the best, this is now a rarity it's a pity, but when HBO or Showtime pullQuote:
Originally Posted by Master
the string's there fighters are very much like puppets.
Money rules no one gives ground, the big players in boxing don't want there cash cows, to loose
there titles, that's how it goes.