I think it's more interesting to pose this question to you guys instead of say the general forum for a multitude of reasons, but based on your knowledge of the sport itself,what do you think will happen to the sport in the next 20 years? Give me your opinions, your reasoning, future prospects and possible administrative changes....
Eventually the gloves will enlarged to comical proportions to the point that compensate for the overabundance of padding they coat the gloves in battery acid to as burn the eyes of the opponent. Boxers will be given rocket boots that only have enough fuel for 3 minutes of flight. Winners will be rewarded with ostrich egg quesadillas.
I think the future of boxing is an international mix of champions, most of which are technical and proficient. I also think we will see taller champions. It seems like 5'10" is almost too short to be a middle these days. The old Mexican style of the lower weights appears to disappeared.
The worst case scenario I can see which is unfortunately possible, is the division being flooded with fighters over 6"5 and 240lbs, nearly all sporting safety first styles. :--( There is & may continue to be for some time, a complete lack of quality short guys, but the "bigger is better" crew will claim that beating short grade C fodder like Chagaev & Chambers proves their giants can beat greats like Frazier, Tyson & Liston who are "too small to win!". atsch
Boxing has almost never in its history shown an ability to police itself. Without that the alphabet soup will only grow and thicken. The causal fan hasn't been able to keep up with 19 weight classes and 5-6-10 different champs in each division for a long time. So in times past they gravitated to something they could understand like Wrestling (soap Opera for men). However - now there is a 'real' combat art called MMA that has only a couple of major players. It seems easy to understand - No Rules! (but of course there are rules - tons of them - more than in boxing in fact!) So MMA is growing at the direct expense of boxing. Has been for a while and will continue to unless several things change. Boxing is heading to 3rd world status in the sports world unless it gets its act together and forms an umbrella org that can actually make major fights happen and give some structure and legitimacy to championships. I have long argued for a proposal that I call "the end of BULL**** in Boxing" Return to the original 8 weight classes with possibly cruiser added for 9. One and only one world champion per division. Mandatory defenses against the #1 challenger. Strict drug testing and LIFETIME bans if caught cheating. Weigh in 10 minutes before the fight - no doping or drying out games where you come into a welterweight fight at FKN 162 after a "weigh in" more than 3 days before the fight! Certified judges and refs who go through peer review evaluations to maintain their certifications. There is more but no one wants to hear it I suppose... In fact Boxing's best hope is that MMA gets as gnarly and hosed up as Boxing and that it happens to MMA fast! My prediction is that the big sleazy boxing promoters will "invade" MMA in the near future with exactly the same crap we suffer with now. The only reason they are not flooding in already is that they are just waiting to see enough $$$ to make it worth it to jump - as MMA grows that becomes ever more likely. In boxing as in most things in life - if you want the truth FOLLOW THE MONEY.
