Over the last 5 years, since Showtimes standout 2013, we have had nothing but lacklustre main events in American boxing. Sure there have been good fights, Thurman vs Garcia, Canelo vs Golovkin, but nothing that could be seen as a truly great fight. Is the problem the fighters? Their hearts? A bad run of style matchups? The many "cold wars" between promotions? Maybe. Maybe a bit of each. In the time since 2013 the UK and mainly Eddie Hearns matchroom sport has managed to takeover boxing due to having great success with gaining exposure for his fighters in first the UK and now globally. A reason for his success I believe is his matchmaking ability and his willingness to make the risky fights. When I think of the best cards I've seen over the last 5 years, most of them are Matchroom cards, the best card I've seen this year was easily Farmer vs Carroll. It's those nights that stand out for us boxing fans, and those nights that American boxing has missed in recent memory. A glimmer of hope occurred in Fury vs Wilder, although not a great fight, it had excitement and most importantly happened on a big stage. This garnered a lot of attention in popular media in the US and should have been a wake up call for those promoters & "advisers" that historically refuse to work with each other. Hopefully, with the amount of $ on the table now, these promoters decide to forget their own egos and put the fans and the sport first and maybe we get a few more of these; This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Do you live in a vacuum? There was one five days ago. Did you miss Jarrett Hurd-Julian Williams for the IBF and WBA Super Welterweight titles? It was the Fight of the Year so far. And more than two million people in the U.S. watched it live. This is a boxing site, right? How exactly did you miss that?
I saw it, it was a good fight no doubt albeit one-sided. I'd compare it to Thurman vs Porter in terms of excitement, good but not great as mentioned in the OP. And 2million is decent numbers no doubt but has it garnered the amount of attention that Joshua vs Klitschko did? Or that Wilder vs Fury did? Nope, not close.
Yes, 2 million in one country is a decent number, no doubt. (Christ) So, after one post, you've gone from asking where are the great fights ... to how much media attention did it get? You should probably delete this thread.
It was mentioned in the original post, have you actually read it? Or did you just read the title and get offended somehow
These types of sentiments are expressed way too often. There are always good fighters and good fights, peaks and valleys. But of the issues that you raise I think we can all agree the biggest obstacle in boxing today is stables unwilling to fight outside of their stable or promoting group. This is wrong. It should have zero impact on who a fighter can fight. All fighters should have equal access to another fighter if it is the right fight. Too much control with the Haymans, DLHs, Arums, etc.
Yes I agree this is probably the main issue. What we have with something like Wilder vs Joshua is the same thing we missed with the likes of Kovalev vs Stevenson, and why we had to wait 7 years for Mayweather vs Pacquiao, potentially great fights not happening because of promoters ego's.
not just the promoters' egos. blame needs to be placed on the fighters as well. fighters who wait for their biggest threat to age just enough so that they will not be that dangerous. i can think of two fighters right now who have mastered this. miss the times when fighters went out there to PROVE who was the best by fighting the BEST at their BEST! imagine how ali's legacy would have been tarnished had he and his manger waited for frazier, or foreman, etc..... to age and slow down?
