Apart from Mayweather & PacMan boxing has no superstars

[Hulk]

Would anybody disagree.

Bad for the sport.

Disagree.

Sergio Martinez is quite a super star.
Amir Khan, Carl Froch, Klitschko brothers are all quite famous.

The average American has no idea who any of those people are, I assure you. *Maybe* the Klitchkos would ring a bell if you gave enough context. The others, no way. I like all of those fighters (particularly Martinez) but none of them can even headline a PPV fight.

Does the average American have a clue of who Floyd Mayweather is, or better still, Manny Pacquiao?

Yes, actually. Plenty of people I work with who have not seen a fight in the last 20 years know who Mayweather is and know that he is considered the best today. They would have absolutely no idea who any of the people you mentioned is -- except possibly the Klitchkos. Look, Mayweather is the consensus best fighter in the sport. He was on Dancing with the Stars and was in Wrestle Mania. He got coverage for spouting off about Jeremy Lin. He got coverage for going to jail. He had f'ing Justin Beiber as part of his entourage for the Cotto fight. He's a mainstream figure. People who know nothing about the sport know the name.

Manny is slightly less recognizable but he is on Nike and Hennessy commercials shown on TV in the states. He makes appearances with candidates running for American political offices (as absurd as that is). He's mainstream.

YES !

Most everyone knows who Floyd and Manny are.

[Master]

Boxing being off the mainstream channel hurts boxing even with cable tv more popular. Having various titles and promoters not engaging their fighters like Manny v Floyd does not help either. I also think the quality is not as good but as Spicoli says that could be due to the cycle and some talent and competition will come in good time. Still having mass global appeal to non-boxing fans is still very rare.

[Beanz]

In the UK I am not so sure that most non boxing fans would know who Mayweather and Pacquiao are, when Hatton fought them and they were on the sports news maybe , but now more Brits know who Khan is. Non boxing fans in the UK would have known Henry Cooper, John Conteh, Frank Bruno etc in the past because if their crossover appeal, but they would have also recognised Ali,SRL and Duran because they were characters and huge sporting superstars in an era when there was no premiership and fewer sports people with sponsorship deals and a TV presence. I don't think it will ever be the same again. The world has changed and it ain't going back.

[Master]

In the UK I am not so sure that most non boxing fans would know who Mayweather and Pacquiao are, when Hatton fought them and they were on the sports news maybe , but now more Brits know who Khan is. Non boxing fans in the UK would have known Henry Cooper, John Conteh, Frank Bruno etc in the past because if their crossover appeal, but they would have also recognised Ali,SRL and Duran because they were characters and huge sporting superstars in an era when there was no premiership and fewer sports people with sponsorship deals and a TV presence. I don't think it will ever be the same again. The world has changed and it ain't going back.

No coincidence that Bruno, McGuigan, Benn/Eubanks/Watson were superstars because of mainstream TV exposure.