The points the op makes are quite correct. (depressingly so)But I don't agree with his conclusion. Middleweight has been depressing for some time now and Martinez and Sturm should fight each other or Pirog,GGG or Proksa. They ****ing won't though.
Wow, great. Of course there are some pretty good fights out there. But 90% of the best fights possible are not happening. Boxing used to be a business and a sport. Now it's just a business. It's as if Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea never faced each other in the Premier League. Would any British soccer fan accept that?
You sound more like a hater than an actual fan making valid points. You just claimed that Cotto Marg 2, Martinez vs Baker are fixed fights. I do not understand where your assumptions are coming from but it sounds negative and random.. They said boxing is dead when Joe Louis retired, people claimed that there will be nobody as great as him. Then along came SRR and another golden era.. They said boxing died when Ali left the game, along came the four kings (duran,srl,hagler,hearns) and even around early 2000s people said the same ****, but in the last decade we have seen incredible fights with legends such as RJJ, Morales,Barerra,Pac,Mayweather,Gatti and the list goes on And now you are making the same thread/hypothesis that every delusional "fan" makes about boxing. Think about that
Boxing is dead? Watch 2011's Wolak vs Rodriguez, Berto Vs Ortiz, Kirkland vs Angulo, Alvarado vs Prescott, Pacquiao vs Marquez III, Concepcion vs Marquez, Cotto Vs Margarito II, Showtime's Bantamweight tourn, super six just to name a few... Boxing will live forever.... and the fights will happen... eventually... they always do
Cotto, Kirkland, Pirog, and Canelo are either young or new to the division and are just warming up to fighting their biggest challenges. Kirkland just knocked out Angulo impressively in a thriller. Williams fought Martinez twice, and Martinez fought Pavlik. I consider those some of the best at or around 160 at the time they fought. A year ago Wlad, Vitali, Haye, and Adamek were the top 4 for many fans. The Klitschkos beat both of them in high-profile fights. Pacquiao-Mayweather is indeed a problem, but the sport doesn't rely on them, and picking opponents such as Marquez, Ortiz, Bradley, and Cotto isn't exactly scraping the the bottom of the barrel in terms of competition. Khan just lost to Peterson, so he's no longer "the man" in the division, and Bradley admittedly took the easy way out to fight Pac. But 140 is so loaded, that the excitement of following that division does not depend on that fight getting made at all. Marquez fought Casamayor, Diaz, and Katsidis back to back when they were at the top of the division. He moved up to fight Pacquiao, arguably beat him in an upset, and is now fighting the new man at 140, Peterson, which should be a great fight. Guerrero just got to lightweight, Brandon is about to leave, and Vasquez is left as a somewhat untested title-holder. That division needs to settle itself more in terms of whose actually going to compete at the weight before we start complaining about top fighters not fighting each other. The fact is, while certain super-fights not getting made may hurt boxing's promotion and outreach to casual fans, there is never a shortage of good competition and great fights; the sport doesn't need constant hype to survive (in fact, it's likely to hurt it if more promoters start padding records and artificially creating mega-bouts.). Hopkins just took out Pascal to make history and is rematching Dawson to clear any doubts; Donaire is moving up in weight and taking on tough challenges every time, next up being Arce; the Bantamweights just had a great and competitive tournament; Andre Ward is emerging as a new hopeful Star, and is clearly on his way to dominating any part of the division he hasn't conquered, with more names in the mix to give him great fights; I, sir, could go on all day about how great boxing is. Would I like to see better promotion, more consistent competition, single championship titles, and more fairness in decisions? Sure. But for all of its flaws, boxing is still ****ing amazing to watch.
By "fixed fight" I mean a **** fight, where one fighter is great and the other fighter is mediocre. That's what Martinez does. **** fights. His division is loaded, and he is the star. He could make any fight happen, but he would much rather milk the nuthuggers and idiot fans who will buy anything that Lou DiBella throws at them. "Boxing is dead" used to mean that there were no great talents in the sport. Now, it means that we have great talent, but they refuse to fight each other. That's much worse. When you compare me to other posters on ESB, I don't know what they wrote and I don't care. Lots of people say things for wrong reasons. Can you prove that boxing is alive? Nowadays, a great fight is when something goes "wrong" and somehow the sacrificial lamb knocks out the undefeated golden boy, like Lemieux-Rubio or Lopez-Salido. They almost never put two great fighters in the ring with each other.
Of course it's amazing. The reason I'm being such a ***** is because it's the only sport I like and assholes like Bob Arum and Freddie Roach are keeping great fighters from fighting each other. If I liked gay sports like soccer and football, I would just watch those and forget about boxing.
Kbros both chased Povetkin. He ducks them relentlessly. Khan chased Bradley. Got ducked. The problem with boxing isn't what you listed. It's the fans that pay for fights that should not be happening. Everyone that bought pac-mosley, mayweather-marquez, haye-harrison etc, they are the reason boxing is dying. Stop voting with your wallet and bam, great fights will be made.