BEWARE: SENSIBLE THREAD. 2010: A big disappointment OR a period of transition?

I think it's just starting to turn

With the likes of Juanma, Gamboa and Donaire looking like they are finally going to step it up.

Juanma vs Marquez should be good
Hopefully Donaire vs Montiel (one of the best fights to be made)
Gamboa unifying against Rojas (I think thats a done deal?)
Bradley vs Alexander (possibley)

On top of that we have a great match up with Dawson and Pascal.

And the middleweights are looking good, starting with Jacobs vs Pirog on Marquez vs Diaz undercard.


It's just a shame Pac vs Floyd and Haye vs Klit (either one) hasn't been made.

 

I would say a lot of boxing is in transition, but you still have a stacked welter and light welter division, both of which are the pillars in our sport in global terms right now. I think the main issue is that fights like PBF and pac are not getting set in stone, which turns off the man in the street when they hear about mma and ufc, and their top boys fighting each other all the time.
Again it all comes down to promotions and money, and not delivering value for the fans. I know these things do not go hand in hand, and probably never will, so i have a feeling that a lot of us in some respects will always feel short changed where marquee fights are concerned.

 

I think it is a period of transition, and it's something I have enjoyed or at least am looking forward to seeing the results of. I'm tired of all the bull**** between Haye/Klitsckos and Pacquiao/PBF to the point where I don't give a **** anymore. If the fights happen then great, but if not there are plenty of other top boxers who are deserving of our attention and are willing to fight each other.

While the year so far hasn't been that good, the amount of tremendous fights that are possible now and that are occuring is great. We have the Super Six going on now. And in other weight classes there are many great fights to make and boxers who are seemingly willing to fight each other. The lower weight classes are looking especially tasty; Light-Welter, Feather and Bantam are the stand outs.

From a personal stand point I'm most looking forward to the apparent resurgence of the Middleweight division as it is a favourite of mine that has fallen on hard times recently. With all the talented boxers coming through as well as the emergence of a new champ in Martinez, I can't wait for it to heat up. And it already appears to be doing so as Jacobs and Pirog face off soon. I think the Middleweight division will be one to watch in the near future.

Excellent thread btw.

 

This is a great thread! I'm fed up of hearing about Haye/Klitschko and PBF/Pac now but thankfully like you say there are plenty of other brilliant fights out there. I'm particulrly excited from 140 down as the main players in them weights tend to be young, very exciting prospects. And with them maturing, they may move up or down in weight and create even more great matchups. Your list rightly mentions the main weights which are seeing improvement and I'd add Vasquez jr and Martinez to it cos they look like they may rule their respective divisions. Even cruiserweight looks more appealing now:good

 

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The year has been slow, but by the end of it I think we will be looking back at it as a good year for boxing, even if the two 'big fights' aren't made.

 

The theory that fights need to be built up is a good one.....but only in certain cases.

I can understand the case for George Groves vs James DeGale not happening yet. There not at world leve.

But why is there a need to build up a fight between Tim Braldey and Devon Alexander. Are fights with Abregu and Kotelnik really going to build there profile. If they were going to be fighting this weekend it would be on regular HBO WCB, infront of a 5,000 crowd. If they fight in January 2011 it will still be on regular HBO WBC infront of a max 5,000 crowd. Surley the goal for these to would be to build a big enough name that there a viable option for Mayweather or Pacquiao. To me a a fight between the lineal 140lbs and 147lbs champion is a sellable fight.

The same could be said about Gamboa vs Lopez. If they were building these guys up to be PPV fighters they would have them in with Caballero and Chris John and then fight eachother. For me this fight has trilogy written all over it. Barerra and Morales were not superstars until they faced eachother.

 

Couldnt agree more with this!!

There are circumstances were fighters need to be built up. For example, Price v Fury makes more commercial sense down the line.

But at the level you're talking about, just get it on already. Fame and fortune would follow.

 

This is a great thread.I have been loosing interest this year but i think this is a period of transition.There is great potential with the british prospects ie Groves Bellew Gavin etc who within a couple of years could be huge stars,if all goes well.

As other people have said allot of the old names have retired or are near the end and the new guys should start to get more attention.I am optimistic the next couple of years could be realy great.

 

ever since i started doing the ESB rankings, it made me realise how poor the level of opposition the top guys face. Only 1/5 fights does a guy in the top 15 take on another guy in the top 15. Thats just crazy.

 

I think it's been a big dissapointment so far. Pac v Floyd hasn't happened yet and the "will they won't they" thing has gone on too long and it's boring now. Just so I won't be dissapointed I've stopped expecting the fight to happen.

Haye v Klit bro hasn't happened either and doesn't seem likely to happen this year. Again big dissapointment as it's the heavyweight fight we all wanna see.

Khan fought Malignaggi and that was decent on paper but one-sided in reality. We thought we might see him against Katsidis this month but it won't happen now. We thought he might face one of the big boys at 140 in December but now they're talking about the winner of Marquez/Diaz.

Bradley v Alexander doesn't look like happening anytime soon. Who is ducking who?, **** knows, don't ask me.

Mosley v Mayweather was again a good fight on paper but one-sided in reality. Great performance though.

Pac v Clottey was one-sided.

P-dub v Cintron-the dude flew out the ring and couldn't fight on. Just when things were heating up.

Jones v Hopkins? Please.

Domestically, Frank Warrens boys don't fight very frequently anyway so we haven't seen much of them. We haven't seen much of Fury because of injury. Brook v Jennins has been postponed so many times. Martin Rogan has been taking a break.

Not much going on man. Check out the general forum. Those mutha****as are still talkin bout peds and people ducking each other and that kind of ****. They're idiots but I guess you can't blame them too much since there's not much going on boxing wise. Even in the Brit forum, we're talking bout contracts, negotiations, who the best promoter is, why Matthew Hatton is such a twat, which boxing books are good to read, imaginary fights that we'd like to see (But deep down know we probably won't get to see them), which venue should be used for Froch/Abaham but we're not talking much about fights. I'm talking bout fights that happened last week or fights that are happening next week or in a couple of weeks. Froch v Abraham is a long way away, we don't even have a venue yet but that's what we're talking about because we aint got **** all else to talk about. That's sad man. Really sad. Too many snakes in this business.

The super six is awesome though. Damn I love that competition. Best thing to happen to boxing in a long time.

 

Top thread Losfer:

Imo this year has been disappointing to a degree but we are in a period of transition. But if you look at July 31 up until Oct(ish) there are some competitive, delicious fights for us to get our teeth into.
I like to think, hope, dream, believe that promoters have recognised that May v Pac isn't happening any time soon so they've recognised this and jumped on it to give us some intriguing and potentially enthralling bouts. And I'm on the verge of having an avatar bet regarding Pascal v Dawson, not one-sided not by a long shot. Save that till nearer the time
Warren, GBP< Top Rank, Sauerland etc know that boxing will suffer in a devastating way if they do not put up some fights that we can lick our lips at. The prospect of a Super Six Cruiserweight event is salivatingly delightful to be honest.
There is plenty of depth in boxing without Pac, Floyd, Haye and the Klits and it's something we should all embrace.

 

This is what worries me a bit:

Ring Magazine Top 10 P-4-P (2000)

1 - Shane Mosley
2 - Felix Trinidad
3 - Roy Jones Junior
4 - Oscar De La Hoya
5 - Diego Corrales
6 - Naseem Hamed
7 - Floyd Mayweather
8 - Lennox Lewis
9 - Erik Morales
10 - Bernard Hopkins


Ring Magazine Top 10 P-4-P (2005)

1 - Floyd Mayweather Junior
2 - Winky Wright
3 - Marco Antonio Barrera
4 - Ricky Hatton
5 - Manny Pacquiao
6 - Erik Morales
7 - Juan Manuel Marquez
8 - Rafael Marquez
9 - Jose Luis Castillo
10 - Zab Judah


Ring Magazine Top 10 P-4-P (Current)

1 - Manny Pacquiao
2 - Floyd Mayweather Junior
3 - Juan Manuel Marquez
4 - Nonito Donaire
5 - Shane Mosley
6 - Chad Dawson
7 - Paul Williams
8 - Sergio Martinez
9 - Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
10 - Celestino Caballero



Anyone else think there has been a marked deterioration in the last ten years in regards to the elite boxers at the top of the sport. Don't get me wrong, Pac and Floyd are two of the best to have ever laced a pair on, and also not everyone would necessarily agree with Ring's ranking, but the fact of the matter is that four of the top five are nearer to the end of their careers than to the start of them, and what comes after isn't that "great". Sure there are a few diamonds coming through, like Juan Manuel Lopez, Donaire, Gamboa and others, but I don't think there's enough raw talent coming through, not enough to get our hopes up for the immediate future anyway. Of course I'm not saying this is irreversible, but I do think we may be in for a bit of a lean spell over the next few years in regards to bouts between high class operators. Doesn't mean to say we still won't get great fights anyway, but the calibre of the fighter may not be of the class of 2000 standard.

 

Until amateur ''boxing'' starts to resemble boxing again then it's only going to get worse.

Plus, a fighter has a job unifying an organisation within a division never mind clearing out the whole thing and making himself a star..... and the TV companies aren't really playing a proper role either.

 

the tv companies are not to blame. if even HBO the highest pay boxing broadcaster in america cannot make the big fights, what hope do ITV and BBC have.