Feelings about the current state of boxing?

In shambles of the thought of it.

 

Ive been thinking about this recently. Of the current crop of fighters who will talked about in 50-60 years?

 

It’s improved dramatically in a short amount time.

 

It pretty good

 

Inoue, Usyk, Lomachenko maybe

 

The sport has been flawed my entire life and has been plagued by major issues for most of that time. That said, I would have to say that since coming out of COVID I feel the sport has been the healthiest it has been in over a decade. We have been getting big fights every year now, champions are unifying more, the heavyweight division is interesting, there are some outstanding talents competing with some big fights in the near future. There are of course many things that need to be fixed but I am happy with the state of the sport and am optimistic

 

The sport is upstaging MMA (UFC) right now. I feel we're in a good place, not sure how many more great matches are left but if the stubborn fighters and promotors keep signing the dotted line then we are moving forward.

 

It's been a in a bad place for a few years now, but the last year or two has been great. Lot's of great unification fights finally happening!

 

I think it will be difficult not to talk about Fury and Joshua (and Wilder and Ruiz Jr. by extension) from this period:

Klitschko v Fury - dethroning
Klitschko v Joshua - fight of the year
Fury v Wilder (trilogy) - some incredible moments across the three fights
Joshua v Ruiz Jr. - massive underdog, massive event, first ever Mexican heavyweight champion

Then of course Usyk came up and cleared up who was the best

Joshua v Usyk
Usyk v Joshua II
Usyk v Fury


We didn't always get the fights we wanted, but there were some good if not great ones along the way.

 

The masvidal- Diaz card last night was good for boxing. Curmel Moton was exposed to the viewing public, what a "big deal" prospect he is at only 18. The Vargas brothers are starting to carve out a dynasty in boxing following after their dad. The sky's the limit for those guys! And we got Pettis vs the other MMA dude in a boxing match which was equal to watching paint dry. This goes to show boxers are better strikers than MMA ers in the squared circle. Shane Mosley Jr is a chip off the old board game, not quite as good as his father. And finally the main event was entertaining: the volume puncher vs the orthodox fighter pitted in the southpaw stance. The two of those guys threw over 1400 punches together in ten rounds. It was really nice seeing the boxing community share the building with MMA fans, I in particular enjoyed the telecast with Sean o Malley, Shawn Porter and Mauro renello. It was equally nice to see those other MMA commentators at the upstairs desk! I heard the Shakur fight was a stinker on another channel, but last night's ppv only had 2 bad fights out of 5. That means 60% of the card was exciting. With a +/- record in the pluses.

Look forward to curmel Moton, Vargas family, Shane goes back down to middleweight... Boxing showing off it's true colors to the MMA audience.

 

I feel like throughout my life if I compare any time to what it SHOULD be, it's going to be crummy for different reasons. But I am more negative and disinterested NOW because my life is different, I'm older and more cynical, and seeing how MMA compares at delivering the fights that OUGHT TO happen and gives more relevancy to its champions as a result, makes me just care less about boxing's offerings for PPV which I always was against, as it made us more niche. But with regard to MMA, it's like if a woman has a husband who is usually a barely decent sort, who similarly matches to all her friends' husbands, and then her sister marries Prince Charming. Her own husband didn't get any worse, and he's still not so bad, for all his faults, but seeing him next to this new guy in the family all the time makes you much more sour on him. Now you're paying exclusive attention to how he has no jawline, and no ambition and can't stop getting grease on the couch, and overlooking good qualities like smells nice and hasn't lost his hair yet or has a nice girth, etc. ...I'm taking this analogy too far.

When I was last looking at who I thought had a good shot at being relevant all-time names, I realize most of those names just didn't get the fights and as far as who deserves blame for it and my remaining lack of interest, I think it's too multifactorial to lay on any one group. I think a fighter is essentially as game now as he would've been a quarter of a century ago, when there were still promoters trying to keep things in-house, as well as channels. What's the difference now? Being game, as in wanting to fight someone at the top, is one thing, being motivated to make a match that's hard to negotiate, because the system is indifferent to it happening, and egos are involved, when you've got six dozen gimmes in between that you could make and take without a problem, that's very different. Options may be the difference. Options and establishment indifference to anything they can't likely charge extra for? I don't know, man.

 

The sport will be very different in a year or two. The Saudis along with Warren, Hearn and other promoters are investing in a new $5bn for profit enterprise which will amount to a UFC style boxing organisation. With their own titles and rankings. Invitation only and limited to just 200 fighters (15 fighters in 12 weight classes). Closed off to the rest of the sport. A full withdrawal from participation of the sanctioning body belts.

A full privatization of the sport. Ran and controlled by the most greedy, money grubbing people in the sport. The promoters. They'll be the new Godfathers of the sport. And they'll have full reign to control rankings and manage titles, with no independence or accountability. Making sporting decisions based on what's best for business.