All right, so that's over and it made the sport look bad and was depressing. The good news is that there's more to the sport and a lot of good stuff can happen in the near future. ******************************************************** PART I: History in the Making Rocky Marciano's Record for Retiring Undefeated (49-0): Mayweather will tie this record in September and you'd be crazy to think he won't go for 50-0. He could pocket an easy 20-30 million fighting literally anybody, plus the record. He'll do it. Joe Louis's Title Defense Record (25): Look for Wlad to break Joe Louis's record over the next few years, unify all 4 belts, and retire on top to usher in a "great" era of heavyweight action fights. He needs 8 more defenses to hit 26, and he is on pace to do this in 4 years...however, he would need 15 to break the record for LINEAL defenses. This would take him til 2024 at his current pace. He'd be 48 years old. The Next Heavyweight Champ: Wlad almost certainly won't lose, but there are a ton of solid heavyweights out there, along with even more solid cruiserweights. Nobody looks like the clear #2, and everybody looks like they can be beaten. The next heavyweight era could be extremely exciting. The Light Heavyweight Division Might Have Great Fighters... Stevenson, Kovalev, Pascal, and Beterbiev will sort out the division. Look for Ward to move up and take over. Who knows how far up Ward might go? And if Kovalev or Beterbiev beats Ward, maybe they could go all the way to heavyweight...However it goes, there will be some great fights in the division in the upcoming years. Ward and GGG are Two Future ATGs on a Collision Course Ward is going to clean out 168. GGG is going to clean out 160. They will fight, and it will be good. The Middleweight Division is a PPV Goldmine Mayweather will almost definitely fight Cotto for the belt in September. He will probably vacate and 'retire.' Alvarez will fight Cotto for the belt. Floyd will come out of retirement next year and take the belt from Alvarez, then retire again. GGG will beat Alvarez for the belt before moving up. Alvarez will win the vacant title and being tearing up the division. Andrade Has a Ton of Potential The guy was an amateur world champ, and he's American. He looks good. His division is kind of weak. He could go a long way at 154 and eventually move up to challenge Alvarez at middleweight and become a star. Floyd and Manny Are Retiring So Now the Other Guys Will Fight Each Other! Brook vs Khan! Thurman vs Everybody! Garcia vs Bigger Fighters Who Will Finally Beat Him! Crawford might move up! Maidana! Bradley! Crawford Has a Ton of Potential He's got the opportunity to fight guys like Matthysse and Provodnikov. Bob might feed Pacquiao to him. Bradley would be a great fight...He has the frame to move to 147...And we might get to see him beat up Broner one day. Mikey Garcia Might Be the Next JMM Once he "gets his sh*t together (Rios, 2015)" he'll be back and good as ever. Below him we have Lomachenko, Walters, Mares, and LSC. In his weight class we have Uchiyama. At 135 we have a wide open division with no standout fighters. Garcia might put together a hell of a run. He's got the skills and he's Mexican... Lomachenko is Special He has a unique style and he's in a division surrounded by good fighters (Rigo, Garcia, Walters, Russell, Mares, LSC, Frampton, Quigg). He's going to be fun to watch. Rigondeaux is God Sure everybody's refusing to fight him, but he's still really damn fun to watch, even if it's at 3am in Japan. He's also roughly the same weight as Yamanaka and Inoue...Maybe building him in Japan isn't such a bad idea after all...And hey, one day maybe Frampton and Quigg's ***** will drop! Maybe Roman Gonzalez will put on a few pounds! Maybe Rigo will say f*ck it and go to 126! Inoue is a Monster He's got Yamanaka, Chocolatito, and Rigondeaux all within range. And he's still skinny enough to move up in weight. Who knows what havoc he'll bring upon the boxing world. Floyd Mayweather's Retiring Undefeated Record (50-0) Roman Gonzalez is 42-0. He'll be 43-0 in 2 weeks. He'll fight twice more this year and end up 45-0. He'll fight 4 times next year. Now, there are a lot of good fighters to go through to get there...but 50-0 is very realistic for the near future. And it's not like his career is winding down either. This guy is on an ATG path.
PART II P4P 1. Floyd -Next up: ...Cotto II, Alvarez II, Khan? 2. Ward -Next up: Paul Smith...Groves, Degale, Jack, GGG? 3. Chocolatito -Next up: Sosa ...Estrada, Inoue? 4. Wlad -Next up: Fury ...Briggs, Wilder? 5. Inoue -Next up: (Sidelined by injury) ...Chocolatito, Yamanaka, Rigondeaux? 6. GGG -Next up: Willie Monroe Jr. ...Alvarez, Cotto, Ward? 7. Crawford -Next up: Pacquiao, Matthysse, Provodnikov? 8. Rigo -Next up: Yamanaka, Frampton, Quigg, LSC, Mares, Lomachenko? 9. Pacquiao -Next up: JMM V, Crawford, Matthysse, Khan? 10. Lomachenko -Next up: Walters, Russell II, Mares/LSC, Rigo, Frampton, Quigg, M. Garcia? Potential P4P -Bradley -Lara -Walters -Kovalev -Beterbiev -Kudryashov -Usyk -Mikey Garcia -Thurman -Andrade Say Goodbye To... Bernard Hopkins...the last true old-school ATG. Carl Froch...a fighter's fighter. Miguel Cotto...a fan favorite. Floyd Mayweather...50-0 ATG. Manny Pacquiao...a fan favorite and ATG. Juan Manuel Marquez...greatest Mexican fighter of the era and ATG. Say 'Hello' To... Chocolatito Inoue Rigondeaux Lomachenko Walters Russell Jr. Mikey Garcia Crawford Thurman Brook Alvarez GGG Ward Kovalev Fury Wilder Watch out for... Estrada Ruenruong Ioka Yamanaka Uchiyama Algieri Matthysse Maidana Bradley Andrade Groves Degale Beterbiev Kudryashov Drozd Usyk Joshua Jennings Say 'Meh' About... Frampton Quigg LSC Mares Benavidez Vargas Broner Cherry Garcia Khan Jermell Charlo Jermall Charlo Lara Quillin Andre Dirrell Anthony Dirrell Jack Chavez Jr. Stevenson
PART III Future Divisional Champs HWT...Wlad 200...Usyk/Kudryashev/Beterbiev/Kovalev 175...Ward 168...GGG 160...Alvarez 154...Andrade/Lara/Thurman 147...Thurman/Bradley/Brook/Crawford 140...Crawford 135...Mikey 130...Lomachenko 126...Walters 122...Rigondeaux 118...Inoue 116...Chocolatito 112...Estrada Potential Crossover Stars -Fury/Wilder -Kovalev -Ward -GGG -Alvarez -Andrade -Thurman -Crawford -Garcia -Lomachenko Determining Fights HWT: Wlad vs Fury/Wilder/Joshua 200: n/a (Craziness...too many good fighters, plus 175ers moving up after losing to Ward.) 175: Ward vs Stevenson/Pascal/Kovalev/Beterbiev 168: GGG vs Ward/Degale/Groves 160: Alvarez vs Cotto/GGG 154: Andrade vs Lara/Thurman 147: Thurman vs Bradley/Brook/Crawford 140: Crawford vs Pacquiao/Matthysse/Broner/Peterson 135: n/a (Garcia takes over easily) 130: Garcia vs Uchiyama/Lomachenko/Walters 126: Rigondeaux vs Lomachenko/Walters 122: Rigondeaux vs Quigg/Frampton 118: Rigondeaux vs Yamanaka/Chocolatito/Inoue 116: Inoue vs Chocolatito 112: Chocolatito vs Estrada II Super Fights HWT: Wlad vs Wilder 175: Stevenson vs Kovalev...Ward vs Winner 168: Ward vs GGG 160: Cotto vs Mayweather II...GGG vs Alvarez...Cotto vs Alvarez 147: Pacquiao vs JMM V...Brook vs Khan 140: Crawford vs Pacquiao 130: Lomachenko vs Garcia 126: Lomachenko vs Rigondeaux
Good thread. Plenty of good fighters. Plenty of good fights to be made. Boxing will continue past Pacquiao and Mayweather.
