First off, i'm not one of those people who ever thought boxing was dying. It obviously went through a dark patch for a couple of years and it's no coincidence that it's darkest time in recent memory was the 2 years Mayweather was retired.
While he was on hiatus, that gave the UFC room to gain some traction because boxing didnt have any stars capable of filling his shoes. It created this myth that the UFC was taking boxings spot which was swiftly shot down when Mayweather made his return against Marquez. Top Rank and HBO deserve some credit too for using their hype machine to convince people who don't know a lot about the sport that Pacquiao is as good as they claim he is, but clearly Mayweather was the driving force behind boxing making it's comeback.
The timeline of when boxing started "dying" then made it's return fits Mayweathers retirement schedule to a tee. Being the great sportsman that he is, Floyd has never brought it up but the guy deserves credit for almost single handedly putting the spark back into the sport.
While he was on hiatus, that gave the UFC room to gain some traction because boxing didnt have any stars capable of filling his shoes. It created this myth that the UFC was taking boxings spot which was swiftly shot down when Mayweather made his return against Marquez. Top Rank and HBO deserve some credit too for using their hype machine to convince people who don't know a lot about the sport that Pacquiao is as good as they claim he is, but clearly Mayweather was the driving force behind boxing making it's comeback.
The timeline of when boxing started "dying" then made it's return fits Mayweathers retirement schedule to a tee. Being the great sportsman that he is, Floyd has never brought it up but the guy deserves credit for almost single handedly putting the spark back into the sport.
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