Nowaways, champions fight people past their prime or that can't beat them at their prime. They do not risk to fight someone that can beat them at any given day. Boxing is getting less and less popular, yes PPV plays a role in that, but also the fights aren't as exciting. I mean you can look on paper and judge if a fight is worth watching or not. If boxers aren't allowed to avoid each other, the best will always fight the best and anything can happen, which brings the excitment on a whole nother level.
The best example of this is Floyd Mayweather. He is looking for the easiest route to win a fight and make money. He is not risking.
NO, floyd isn't the only one out there, but since he is so well known (today he's probably one of the only active boxers that the averaje joe knows) he's my example, because he represents what I'm trying to say.
Why do you guys think about this?
Unlike football or tennis where all teams must play each other or all tennis players must play whoever's name comes up to win a tournament nobody can make a fighter fight another fighter if they don't want to fight him. They can strip him of his title but they can't make him fight a guy he does not want to fight. That's the way it always has been and always will be. For instance Marquez does not want to fight Pacquiao again. It would be by far his biggest money fight and promoters in Mexico and the US are begging him to fight Pacquiao but Marquez says no and that's that.
True, but you can't get away from the fact that boxing, like most sports nowadays - has become a business. Promoters need fighters like Mayweather with undefeated records, fighters with padded records of heavyweight 100% ratios etc etc. Builds the hype which makes the money but in the long run disappoints the fans, hurting boxing as a whole...yeah, it's always frustrating when the best don't always (or rarely) fight the best, but it's just something that must be accepted... :boxing: