The days of proving to yourself that you are the better fighter are gone in boxing. Now it's just winning at any cost. Will we ever see another top level fight like Haglar/Hears, Barrera/Morales, Morales/Pac? Guys thinking they are the best and putting it all on the line to prove it? Probably not at the top level.
If you're looking for fights like that, you should watch MMA. Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson are two of the best fighters who've ever lived. They're going to fight in a few weeks. I grew up watching boxing. I eventually gravitated more to MMA because of the quality of the matchups. The best fight the best in MMA, generally speaking. There is usually no doubt as to who's the best fighter in their weight class.
I wonder what people were really expecting from a Mayweather fight. He always fights like that, he's a defensive genius. The few times he's opened up were fights that he knew he had major advantages over his opponent. If he had traded with Manny or tried to KO him, he would've lost, period.
What do you mean??? Last nite Floyd proved he was the better fighter. What do you expect him to do?? Disregard his defense and go trade punch for punch with Pacquiao?? That's not boxing...Floyd is too smart for that...
Yes FIGHT...just because you, like 99%(me included) of the people on these boxing forums are disappointed because we waited 5 years for Pacquiao to rip Floyd's head off his shoulder...n at the end he couldn't DO NOTHING with Floyd....doesn't mean it wasn't a MASTERFUL performance by FLOYD.
I was thinking about that last night too. Bottom line is it is SO HARD to get into a position of economic strength in this game that once there, guys are terrified of losing it.
That's exactly right. A loss has become more significant than it used to, and the trend for a good few years now has been elite fighters fighting "not to lose" rather than fighting to win.