By Lyle Fitzsimmons

It may not qualify as tradition, but it does seem to happen a lot in boxing.
 
When one fighting generation fades into another, an identifiable superstar from the outgoing class will oft-times engage a newcomer in what amounts a violent torch passing.
 
Many of the sport’s recognizable icons have taken part -- Joe Louis to Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali to Larry Holmes, Julio Cesar Chavez to Oscar De La Hoya, and De La Hoya to Floyd Mayweather Jr. among them – changing the guard for their respective weight classes, or for the fiefdom as a whole.
 
Boxing’s most recent undisputed superstar, Mayweather, had a chance to continue the succession line when he bid farewell in September, but chose convenience over competition by engaging a pedestrian Andre Berto rather than hungry lions surnamed Brook, Thurman, Porter and Golovkin.
 
Still, with Money’s exit, the cognoscenti had hopes with Manny Pacquiao.
 
The Filipino has long been the popularity winner in a gloved version of a Team Edward/Team Jacob debate, and he had a final chance to stick a thumb in his nemesis’ eye by making an imminent swan song -- tentatively scheduled for April 2016—as much a good fight as a goodbye.
 
Problem is, by picking Tim Bradley over Terence Crawford he’ll continue the wrong tradition.
 
Lest anyone forget, Crawford is a young, hungry 28-year-old who’s begun cracking respected top-10 lists while boosting a profile that earned him a nod as 2014’s top fighter by the Boxing Writers Association of America. He fights at a weight -- 140 pounds -- that Team Pacquiao has consistently said it prefers, and his allegiance to Bob Arum presumably makes the match no more than a conference call away.
 
Meanwhile Bradley, while an engaging guy and a quality fighter by any measure, has already had two bites at the PacMan apple while convincing no one outside of Duane Ford, C.J. Ross and maybe a marginalized cousin that he’d done anything but lose two of every three rounds.
 
It’s a testament to Arum’s aplomb that he turned the first Manny-Tim nightmare -- ranked 2012’s worst decision by Boxing Scene, ESPN and scores more -- into a pay-per-view rematch that generated better than 750,000 buys two years later. And that same skill will presumably allow for a compelling storyline that’ll send another half-million or so skittering to their order screens come springtime.
 
And while it’s hard to assail a (by then) 37-year-old boxer for choosing a two-time second banana over a potentially live wire, it’s still a letdown given both the availability of realistic alternatives and the rough-and-ready reputation Pacquiao’s been credited with for so long.
 
A match with Crawford would have given Top Rank and HBO a win-win chance to put the new kid over, either via throne-capturing victory or brave challenge of a legend. And in the aftermath, no Manny spin would have been needed either. He tames the lion and erases the taste of last May’s disappointment, or he gets devoured but hits the door knowing he, unlike Mayweather, went out in a full-pitched battle.
 
And if not Crawford, there was Brook. Or Canelo. Or Golovkin.
 
You know, all the guys Money supposedly sidestepped.
 
With Bradley, though, no chance at glory exists. For these purposes, he’s Berto 2.0.
 
And the downside with an exit-ramp stumble is far, far steeper.
 
Win and you’ve closed out the ho hum series, 3-0. Lose and the bad taste will seep retroactively back to the Mayweather fight, reshaping that narrative to the point where Pacquiao was already a spent force who used a bum shoulder to wriggle out from the reality that he was in far over his head.
 
This is boxing, though. So truth likely lies in a corner office to which few have a key.
 
Maybe Top Rank doesn’t think Crawford’s quite ready for Pacquiao. Maybe they don’t Pacquiao’s still ready for him. Or maybe Bradley 3.0 is just a well-publicized diversion intended solely to rev engines for an arena-christening, register-ringing, Internet-breaking Floyd-Manny return in September.
 
Those interested in Manny’s near-term legacy might want to go all-in while hoping for that last one.
 
Because with such attractive choices out there for an April climax at 140 or 154, just another Desert Storm date is going to feel a lot like the same old welterweight cold shower.

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This week's title-fight schedule

FRIDAY
Vacant IBF lightweight title -- Las Vegas, Nevada
Denis Shafikov (No. 1 IBF/No. 9 IWBR) vs. Rances Barthelemy (No. 3 IBF/No. 6 IWBR)
Shafikov (36-1-1, 19 KO): Second title fight (0-1); Fourth fight in United States (3-0, 2 KO)
Barthelemy (23-0, 13 KO): Fourth title fight (2-0, 1 NC); Seventh fight in Las Vegas (6-0, 2 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Barthelemy may rise to a weight class where his skills no longer compensate for the size of the men he’s in with. But that won’t happen here. He’s too good. Barthelemy by decision

Vacant IBO super flyweight title -- TBA, South Africa
Gideon Buthelezi (No. 24 IBO/No. 25 IWBR) vs. Makazole Tete (Unranked IBO/No. 23 IWBR)
Buthelezi (15-5, 4 KO): Seventh title fight (3-3); Held IBO belts at 105, 108 and 115
Tete (14-0-1, 9 KO): First title fight; Sixth fight scheduled for 12 rounds (5-0, 2 KO)
Fitzbitz says: They’re both a tier or two lower than the top, and they’ve either not faced – or not fared well – against better fighters. Toss a coin and go with the guy who’s never lost. Tete in 9

SATURDAY
WBO middleweight title -- Manchester, United Kingdom
Andy Lee (champion/No. 5 IWBR) vs. Billy Joe Saunders (No. 1 WBO/No. 12 IWBR)
Lee (34-2-1, 24 KO): First title defense; Third fight in United Kingdom (2-0, 1 KO)
Saunders (22-0, 12 KO): First title fight; Third fight in Manchester (2-0, 2 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Saunders has a couple of nice – if not exactly transcendent – victories. And Lee might not be as good as a home run ball against Matt Korobov suggests. Call it a hunch. Saunders by decision

WBO junior middleweight title -- Manchester, United Kingdom
Liam Smith (champion/No. 26 IWBR) vs. Kilrain Kelly (No. 8 WBO/No. 80 IWBR)
Smith (21-0-1, 11 KO): First title defense; Six consecutive wins by stoppage (35 total rounds)
Kelly (16-0, 7 KO): First title fight; Never fought an opponent without a loss in last three fights
Fitzbitz says: The challenger has a memorable name and a pristine record. But outside of that, he’s probably got no business in a “major” world title fight. But sure, laugh at the IBO. Smith by decision

Last week’s picks: None
2015 picks record: 85-24 (77.9 percent)
Overall picks record: 724-247 (74.5 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.