I think I might have Alzheimers. I don't know any of the fighters any more. The cards in the U.S. all involve something like an IBO youth-intercontinental-mini-fly title with a co main of the IBF interim-minimum-straw- jockey championship. None of the boxers weigh more than my 8 year old grandson. Not only don't I know who any the boxers are, I don't care about the titles or follow the results of the fights. I have been a serious fan since watching Emile Griffith vs Dick Tiger in the 60's and have attended dozens of boxing events live including those involving Hearns, Holmes, Tyson, Hagler, Palomino, Roy Jones, DeLaHoya, both Leon and Michael Spinks etc., etc., etc. Most of those were also on network television. At least boxing is thriving in Europe. (But I still don't know any of those fighters either).
Mate dont feel bad, the title belts are impossible to keep up with, and the orgs themselves dont have a guidline of what warrants a shot at a youth title, or a FECARBOX (id luv for somebody to tell me what this means!!) title. As for the lil guys, alot of harcore boxing nuts have lil boxing knowledge of what going on down below bantam. Probably due to the lack of coverage that egt on tv and the press.
It's not going to get any better, big names like Roy Jones, B-Hop, Oscar Trinidad, Vargas, Winky, Mosley, Tarver are all at the end of their careers and Floyd doesn't really want to fight if he can help it. With less boxing coverage on TV and every fight on PPV it's hard for people to get to know fighters like Pavlik,Cotto, calzaghe etc.. In my city boxing is almost nill, this is the only place I can come and talk about boxing. I'm more of an mma fan but I also enjoy watching boxing but it doesn't look too good in the near future.
if i tried to learn everything then i would be stuck learning new things all the time. i forcus on LW up to CW. id rather know a lot about something than a little about everything
It looks like Europe, particularly Germany, is the new mecca of boxing. There they show fights on regular channels and the masses of sports fans get a chance to see new talent develop for free. Also a lot of the good, big men who are dominating and will continue to dominate their respective divisions are coming out of Eastern Europe and former republics of the old Soviet Union. Their amateur programs are highly regarded and produce terrific results in international competitions. Boxing, except for the littler guys seems to be dying in the U.S. A combination of incredible greed on the part of promoters and an increasingly upscale lifestyle and standard of living do not make for a good boxing environment. Get used to following more and more foreign born fighters with names that are difficult to pronounce.
I hear what you're saying. It's hard watching all of the big names fade into the sunset, and the number of PPVs is ridiculous. But the beauty of the Internet is that learning about the next generation of fighters, heck, finding and watching a ton of their fights, is easier than ever. And let's give HBO some credit, they gave a ton of exposure last night to three names that we will definitely be hearing for the next five years. There's still life in boxing after the 90s.
