End of an era?

2007 and 2008 were awesome years for boxing. It would have been the biggest fight, but would it have been competitive? What if the whole world would have watched a guy get clearly outboxed in a quiet fight? Imagine the disappointment. That easily could have happened. I'm not even sure it would have been a great fight, but at the very least, we would have known who was better without a doubt. Oh well, they chose that to be apart of their legacy.

There are so many great young fighters out there...Broner, Gamboa and Donaire(not that young), Gary Russel Jr, Canelo, Trout (I told ya'll Trout was way for real years ago). Boxing is just fine. The Puerto Rican people will always love boxing and back their guys so losing Cotto is no big deal. The Americans always have many fighters to back as does Mexico. While it may be the end of an era in that we are seeing the twilight years of some of the last decade's top fighters, boxing will go on. It is only the end of an era in regards to online boxing forums, and that end couldn't come soon enough.

Totally disagree that Mayweather wasn't impressive agaisnt Cotto. He had the best opponent in front of him in years, took far more risks than usual, and still put out a very decisecive, clear victory. IMO it was his most impressive win in years. I don't see how cotto gave Mayweather the toughest fight of his career... outside the bloody nose, Mayweather straight dominated him from start to finish

Totally disagree that Mayweather wasn't impressive agaisnt Cotto. He had the best opponent in front of him in years, took far more risks than usual, and still put out a very decisecive, clear victory. IMO it was his most impressive win in years. On-topic: Yes, it does seem that the guard is changing. We must appreciate these guys that we have grown up with and this time because it won't last for much longer.

It's definitely apparent that the last era is definitely on it's last legs. The new breed and storming in and kicking down the doors. i still can't believe marquez one punched pacquiao it has yet to sink in.

It's definitely apparent that the last era is definitely on it's last legs. The new breed and storming in and kicking down the doors.

ive been saying this out with the old in with the knew same thing every era in boxing floyd pac b hop cotto marg mosley hatton klitschkos martinez jmm (steroid permitting ) future dont look so bad not as many greatys as last gen but we got WARD ,BRONER,ALVERZ,JCC JR,GGG! ,GAMBOA,DONAIR!,BRADLEY ,TROUT,GARCIA IM EXCITED

2007 and 2008 were awesome years for boxing. It would have been the biggest fight, but would it have been competitive? What if the whole world would have watched a guy get clearly outboxed in a quiet fight? Imagine the disappointment. The disappointment of it not happening is worse

It will never be the same again. It's a very different era we are living in. It's the age of wireless phones, ipads, e-readers, twitting, facebooking... I don't see a lot of young people watching sports anymore. Anything can distract them. They can't focus on one single thing. Boxing is one the last sports they would spend time watching. Especially when they see fights that are more focused on defense rather than offense. I really think this only applies to America and the developed nations. The vast majority of kids living in poor countries like Mexico don't have all those distractions. They don't even have a pot to piss in let alone a iPad. Boxing is bigger than ever worldwide, it's only lost its popularity in the US.

But even if it was a disappointing at least it would have happened and we wouldn't be saying 'if' and speculating all the time though no? Ah well, don't think it'll ever happen now...But I'll still hope =)

I miss 2008-2009 2007 and 2008 were awesome years for boxing. I feel we were cheated out of the biggest fight of this era by the two greatest fighters, Pac and May. It would have been the biggest fight, but would it have been competitive? What if the whole world would have watched a guy get clearly outboxed in a quiet fight? Imagine the disappointment.

Maybe in the next "era", Ward may get his dues. I can't think of any unbeatable yet unexciting (to most, not me) fighters, so I dont know how itll play out. If its the likes of Broner taking over, with the same personality he has now, ill have heavy boxing nostalgia yearning for the good old days. I have nothing against his boxing abilities, but I really dont want him representing the face of boxing. I didn't mention Wlad, but hes getting on too. Not sure how long Wlad himself actually has left either.

I'm starting to feel like this era is coming to an end Martinez is in the later years of his prime. I'm not sure how long he may have left, especially with his style of boxing We also saw Cotto lose to Trout, a newcomer onto the top scene. Many calls for him to retire. He seems to want to focus more on his kids. Vitali's reign seems closer to an end. We've seen our k2 duo since 2008, weird to think how one may retire. Mayweather may not be fighting much longer, we have yet to see how his jail time has affected him. His outing against Cotto wasn't impressive We obviously saw Pacquaio knocked out, with calls before the fight that he was fading already. Along with this, we have Marquez who's probably on the edge of retirement, as he admitted yesterday How could I forget, the great Bernard Hopkins. He broke records, but its impossible to keep going like that without turning into an Ali/Jones, and fighting we past their primes (Thanks to JmH Reborn) Obviously this isn't everyone, but that's a few top fighters in boxing today. Perhaps we start a new era very soon? Your thoughts? This is exactly how it winds down. All are getting to the age that it will be soon they start getting beat by fighters that never would have beat them in their prime. I'm glad its winding down. I feel we were cheated out of the biggest fight of this era by the two greatest fighters, Pac and May. Neither did what they had to do to make that fight happen. I hope Manny retires and I hope someone beats the socks off Mayweather soon. We are already seeing what the future looks like with Broner, Canelo and a few others. I look forward to seeing what this new crop of fighters can do in boxing.

I miss 2008-2009

It is indeed. In the coming years the sport will lose the likes of Mayweather, Marquez, Hopkins, Pacquiao, Martinez, Cotto, Vitali....even guys like Carl Froch who are still at their best are up there in age as far as boxing goes. It'll be sad when those guys are gone, even more so when there aren't too many of the newer/younger guys that capture the imagination like they did, at least not for me.

New players entering the scene. Give a couple of years, it'll all be about Ward, Broner, Donaire, etc.

i dont think so at all. i see both floyd and manny fighting on for a couple more years. once your name is worth ppv money, fighters find it very hard to walk away. floyd and manny will be the same since they are the most successful ppv fighters in history.

It will never be the same again. It's a very different era we are living in. It's the age of wireless phones, ipads, e-readers, twitting, facebooking... I don't see a lot of young people watching sports anymore. Anything can distract them. They can't focus on one single thing. Boxing is one the last sports they would spend time watching. Especially when they see fights that are more focused on defense rather than offense.

These fighters have giving us a lot of great fights the end is coming. I hope they do retire when the time is right.

It definitely feels like a changing of the guard. I have a feeling Floyd will hang around for 3-4 more fights though.