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Heading into the new year, several potential match-ups loom ahead such as Golovkin-Canelo, Thurman-Porter, Garcia-Guerrero and Wilder-Povetkin to name a few.
A decade ago, Wladimir had just beaten Samuel Peter and was headed toward a rematch with Chris Byrd. Trinidad had just lost to Winky Wright. Hopkins had lost a pair of fights to Taylor who was the man at middleweight at the time. Kostya Tszyu's great run had been ended by Ricky Hatton. Pacman was gearing up for his rematch with Morales. De La Hoya hadn't fought since Hopkins and was looking at a fight with Mayorga.
I think the last ten years has not been the best for boxing. I can't say the sport was in great shape heading into 2006, but I think it was better than it is now. The network TV fights coming back has been decent, but there are more titles now along with too many divas getting their way and a lot more catch weight fights than back then. All of those fights took place at the actual weight class they were sold as.
Then if we go back to 1996, well, there were many more name heavyweights along with only three recognized champions per division(the WBO hadn't taken off yet) and there were quite a few network fights still around. We also had plenty of guys willing to fight one another and fewer divas. Barrera had fallen off with the Jones loss, but Morales was on his way up. Lots of potential stars were in the making like De La Hoya and Trinidad and Roy Jones and James Toney and Bernard Hopkins.
I don't think the end of the sport is near by a long shot, but it sure could use some help. Because if I go back to 1986, well, comparing that with today is too depressing.
A decade ago, Wladimir had just beaten Samuel Peter and was headed toward a rematch with Chris Byrd. Trinidad had just lost to Winky Wright. Hopkins had lost a pair of fights to Taylor who was the man at middleweight at the time. Kostya Tszyu's great run had been ended by Ricky Hatton. Pacman was gearing up for his rematch with Morales. De La Hoya hadn't fought since Hopkins and was looking at a fight with Mayorga.
I think the last ten years has not been the best for boxing. I can't say the sport was in great shape heading into 2006, but I think it was better than it is now. The network TV fights coming back has been decent, but there are more titles now along with too many divas getting their way and a lot more catch weight fights than back then. All of those fights took place at the actual weight class they were sold as.
Then if we go back to 1996, well, there were many more name heavyweights along with only three recognized champions per division(the WBO hadn't taken off yet) and there were quite a few network fights still around. We also had plenty of guys willing to fight one another and fewer divas. Barrera had fallen off with the Jones loss, but Morales was on his way up. Lots of potential stars were in the making like De La Hoya and Trinidad and Roy Jones and James Toney and Bernard Hopkins.
I don't think the end of the sport is near by a long shot, but it sure could use some help. Because if I go back to 1986, well, comparing that with today is too depressing.
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