If you were brand new to the sport, would you find it appealing?

[Derranged_]

I came into this thread with the idea: "Look, Anorak and Diego are discussing boxing together!" ****** little me.

It's like watching Ali and Frasier go at it on an internet message board, but not quite.

[-Antonio-]

I thought both the Lacy/Blow fight and the Winky/Taylor, Hop/Taylor fights were important matchups as well. Anytime you put the top two fighters in a division against eachother its good to see.

Id say if I was brand new to the sport, the welterweight division would catch my eye. Its probably the deepest division out there, and theres a lot of exciting fighters there.

I also really like the feathers/super feathers. Pacman, Barerra, Guzman, JMM, Soto, Juarez, etc. A lot of great fighters there too.

[DiegoFuego]

As long as we have a guy competing who could potentially finish in the top 5 ever I will never get tired of boxing. People will look back in 10 years and regret not being a Mayweather fan. Kinda like if you were anti Michael Jordan when he played the Jazz for his last two titles. My brother always looks back on that and wonders why he didn't cheer for Jordan.

[DiegoFuego]

Oh and while I'm at it, why do you care how Mayweather conducts himself outside the ring? Are you watching his life or his career? I don't like reality television so I don't care what any celebrity does in his free time. What matters is how well he does his job. It is very girly to despise Mayweather for his character outside the ring.

[Derranged_]

As long as we have a guy competing who could potentially finish in the top 5 ever I will never get tired of boxing. People will look back in 10 years and regret not being a Mayweather fan. Kinda like if you were anti Michael Jordan when he played the Jazz for his last two titles. My brother always looks back on that and wonders why he didn't cheer for Jordan.

In his fight against Baldomir, instead of finishing an outclassed opponent like Carlos and giving the fans something to cheer about, Mayweather choosed the 'easy way' and cruised to victory via UD. Stuff like that is why I don't particullary care for Mayweather and always root against him like Larry Merchant allegdly does.

[kayjay]

As long as we have a guy competing who could potentially finish in the top 5 ever I will never get tired of boxing. People will look back in 10 years and regret not being a Mayweather fan. Kinda like if you were anti Michael Jordan when he played the Jazz for his last two titles. My brother always looks back on that and wonders why he didn't cheer for Jordan.

I don't regret supporting the Jazz in those years. It could be argued that, apart from the clearly biased referring, the Jazz were the better team in '98.

[AllEyesOpen]

I think a lot of us are hangers on to the good times, hoping it will get better. But there are just a handful of boxers I really like at present (Pacquaio, Barrera, The Blow...) and for the most part I'm sticking with it having watched the sport on and off for over 20 years.

But if you were just getting into boxing now, what would attract you to the sport? Politics is strangling it, from world level all the way down to domestic. Answer me this - how many times since this forum has been in operation has an important boxing match taken place? Two come to mind... The Paler vs. the linear 140 champ, Costa Zoo and Floyd vs. Baldomir, the welterweight champ. (which is a bit of joke anyway, given that Baldy was a limited pro who'd outpointed an overrated Zab Judah. Come on, anyone who's most famous for doing a teapot dance is overrated.) I'm sure there are more, but none come to mind. Lennox Lewis retired four years ago now and there hasn't been ONE unification bout since. Not ONE.

I'm often accused on here of not liking US boxers, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I just haven't liked many (Toney excepted) since I've been posted on here. You look at someone like Taylor and he would have been ****d by truly great US middleweights of the past. And the No.1 P4P exponent (and how seriously is P4P being taken these days anyway??) is a charmless ****.


But it's really the match ups that never happen that make it so tedious. FOUR YEARS without a single heavyweight match-up. And this forum has been debating The Paler vs. Floyd for God knows how many months/years now, and it still hasn't got any nearer to taking place.

Unification aside, I'd say there are some real great fighters & some great fights to watch out there right now(if you now where to look), but I'd have to agree that there aren't really that many top rank fighter in most divisions, fighters that give 110% constantly & try to be the best, partly because most strong athletes are going into sports with much better pay-offs & not as many danger. This ends up making divisions now seem water-downed compared to the old school, you see fighters fighting hard, but they just dont have that much to give & alot of guys dont seem to put in as much to the whole progress as in the days of old. I'm a huge Mayweather fans, & he has stepped up & fought hard when tested by equally skilled and/or determined opponent, but only a few times, & it's not his fault the opposition isn't there, I mean the man beat the WW Champion without breaking a sweat(whom won his title from a boxer who'd be almost legendary in his own right if he cared as much about the sport as he does about his bling bling).

So as for your question, I really couldn't say, I love the sport & the art of boxing, but if it wasn't for the guys who made it into an art, I just dont know.

[DiegoFuego]

The state of boxing is defined by the best boxer. Mayweather has the potential to be one of the greatest ever, something nobody in the 80's or 90's brought to the table. Boxing is perfectly fine and there is good reason to watch. You will regret it if you miss these years.

And about the Jazz, you might have rooted for them, but you also recognized Jordan's greatness. There is no way you got angry when Jordan hit the jumper to end his career (we thought). That's one of those moments everyone will always remember.

[Guest]

Waaaaah waaaaah the old days were better. Mayweather couldn't hold a candle to the guys of old! Waaaah. Always the same crybaby bull**** with you. Watch a different sport.

Have you ever considering RESPONDING IN AN ADULT AND INTELLIGENT FASHION TO POSTS RATHER THAN FLAMING AND NAME-CALLING ALL THE TIME?


Seriously?

[DiegoFuego]

So do you see how it is related yet, Anorak, or are you still wiping away the tears of your thread being "hijacked" as people like to say? Just because you don't like the best boxer in the world doesn't mean this isn't the time to be watching.