In my opinion is MUCH improved from a few years ago. It seemed bleak when we thought that scrubs like Khan, and Berto were possible future "stars". Now we have guys like Crawford, and Loma, both of whom are young and very talented, very skilled techncians. Andrade MIGHT become legit, he's also young. BOTH Mikey and Danny Garcia are young, and very good. Verdejo is extremely young and looks to be a future star. Porter, and Thurman aren't legends, but both are very young, and both have ability. Same with Canelo. You have GGG and Kov. We have two MODERN greats in Ward, and Rigo. It ain't the 80's, but there's sure as Hell more talent now than there was 5-6 years ago, and I think the sport will be FINE.
It's pretty thin but I suppose if your alternatives are Khan and Berto you could be optimistic in a roundabout way. I think this is a weird way of looking at it though because during that time with Khan and Berto you had Floyd, Cotto, Mosely, Margarito and several other guys just around that weight doing their things at a high level. Now it's basically the same guys except they are dropping off or out of the sport completely. There seems to be a missing generation in the boxing timeline that the sport willl take a bit to recover from.
I believe it is getting better... The newer producers of pro talent are producing better fighters than before and while the US continues to produce fewer fighters than say 30 years ago, Floyd Mayweather has provided an outstanding technical example for potential young American boxers to study and emulate... In another 20 years I don't see any reason to think boxing won't be back to a high level across the board... It'll just look different than 1974 or whatever, more Russians, Asians, Eastern Europeans etc. but the quality will be there just as it once was... I'm more excited by some of the good young guys out there than I have been in more than ten years
Basicalky, the gulf caused by Americas major drop off in participation/production will eventually be offset by increased participation of other nations and it is starting to happen a lot
It's Not Even about Being Optimistic, it's about KNOWING Boxing History & Trends... People have Predicted Boxing's DEMISE Since Jack Dempsey Retired & for Every Generation that's Followed... Nonetheless, Joe Louis CARRIED the Sport, then Marciano, then Ali...w/Ali's Impact, Boxing was SURELY Gonna Die, After he Fell Off, Right???...Leonard, Duran, Hagler & Hearns Had Something to Say about That & When they Faded, Tyson & Holyfield Rose to Prominence... Then Came the Roy, DeLa, Tito Era... Now we're @ the Tail End of the Floyd, Pacquiao Era... Rest Assured, Somebody WILL Step Up & Boxing will Be Fine...It Always HAS Replenished Itself & Always WILL... REED:elmo:
Yeah, the ETHNIC Makeup Will Be More Diverse than Ever & Some of the Elite Level Names May Be HARDER to Pronounce, but Aside from that, the TALENT Level will Be No Less Admirable... Boxing:bravo:
It feels like the commies are starting to properly adapt to the pro game, dunnit. Which is compensating a little for the sad decline of African American boxing continuing apace. Definitely looking brighter than a few years ago.
Warranted or Not, Broner was RIGHT THERE on the Precipice of It...His Loss to Maidana was Arguably THE Biggest Boxing Story of 2013... REED:elmo:
The best is when boxing has a bunch of great talents fighting in or near the same division. For example the 90's with De La Hoya, Quartey, Trinidad, Whitaker at welter. Sometimes one weight class can carry the sport.
I know, it's scary that he was. Being an ugly little cunt and talking shit non stop evidently goes a long way towards stardom ::
Take the two best fighters from the traditional 8 divisions over the last 15 years, I would comfortably match them against the best from any era bygone. Would they always win?? No. But they would be more than competitive and would win some of them. Lewis/Vitali Jones Jr/Hopkins {just for example} GGG/Hopkins Oscar/Floyd Pac/JMM {or Floyd/Mosley} Barrera/Morales Marquez/Tim Austin {fuck the midgets I cannot think of the midgets} Donaire/Lopez {make Lopez eat something he'll be fine} I think those guys would be OK. What IS damaging is the bullshit and the politics like fighters dictating terms and money and what have you. The depth is worrying. But the overall talent is as good as before.
For Perhaps THE 1st Time EVER, agREED... Not Sooooo Much w/Every Single Name You Listed, but the Idea of The Best of the Best, From the Last 15 Years, Being Competitive (@ Worst) in ANY Era of Boxing, ANY Weight Class... REED:elmo:
prospects worth watching: oscar valdez, errol spence, julian williams, jesse magdelano, felix verdejo, naoya inoue, gary russell jr, nicholas walters,
The thing is, boxing has far less mainstream exposure and popularity in the USA than it did once upon a time. There are great talents, sure, but how many people in North America are aware of them? How many people in the US can name one active boxer aside from Floyd Mayweather Jr? Very few Americans know or care about boxing anymore. This has impacted the talent pool we see from the US, especially at the higher weights (where athletes have more incentive to compete in more popular & "easier" sports). Boxing (in the US, aside from a few places like So Cal) has nowhere near the footprint nor the profitability (aside from when a few marquee names are involved) that it once did. That's what people mean when they say "boxing is dying."
Par for the course. Will the HBO and Showtime budgets and show counts match up with this claim? I doubt it. They show a lot of boxing and pay better than other entities have in the past. I'd say boxing's popularity and profitability have been fairly steady for over 10 years. How far back are you referring to? The 50's?
80s-90s. Ever since boxing was taken off network TV, it's been gradually fading from American consciousness. 10 years back is 2004, which would be considered part of the contemporary era.
While this is true it's extremely important that America remain the mecca of boxing. Having talented fighters from Uzbekistan to Peru to Australia is great thing, but not if there isn't a centralized place for them to go once they've established themselves as world class. For now at least if you want to prove you're the best you have to fight at least at some point in the U.S. Without any kind of centralization it will become much harder to know who the elite guys are, and it will be even more frustrating trying to sign the big fights due to geography.
the day whiskey and his merry band of frenchmen conquer 'murica, Rainmaker will be lecturing M.I.T. students on astrophysics
If MIT has 'Murica physics it could be possible. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/EufYnXCZ8g0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
When a young fighter moves up three divisions in a few years something is wrong. He may have outgrown 130 but he ate his way past 135 and 140. That man had no business ever coming up to welterweight. And that's not an excuse for him because he lost to Maidana when Maidana's best weight was 140 (he even said this after the Alexander fight.)
I'm most interested in the fighters between 140 and 147 right now. There are just so many interesting matchups that can be made. Between Marquez, D. Garcia, Matthysse, Broner, Bradley, Alexander, Khan, Maidana, Mayweather, Pac, Brook, Thurman, and Porter there are some very interesting fights to be made. You can still throw in guys like Rios, Judah, Provo, the guy that beat Provo(Algeiri), Malignaggi, Peterson and Alvarado into the mix as well. IMO, you can pull any name from that list and find three more names that would be a very intriguing match up for him.
