Young fighters need to step up to the plate?

[FeFist]

I couldn't agree any less with this post bro. Bradley absolutely deserves his shot & luckily he's getting it. However look at Pacman's last 4-5 fights. The only fighter that he fought that deserved to fight him was Marquez. Who had to give in to every demand that Pacman wanted & was still robbed. Clottey, Margarito & Mosley did not deserve to be Pacman's dance partner, but they were chosen. No young fighter can be blamed for that.

At least Floyd went to the Berto-Ortiz bout to scout a young guy to fight. Ortiz put on a great show & in my eyes at least earned himself a fight with Floyd. Too bad he squandered it with the help of Cortez.

List the young fighters who should have been given an opportunity.

[Bushbaby]

List the young fighters who should have been given an opportunity.

For Pacman?? The Punisher & Berto imediately come to mind. Before the likes of Clottey, Margarito & Mosley. Won't you agree??

[Brother Jay]

Let us start off by understanding that a champion must be treated with consideration as he has EARNED that right ... meaning that we must respect his right not to have to chase, but merely defend.

However that consideration does not extend to legacy, and one who would be concerned with such matters should understand that only by going above and beyond the levels of the current vanguard can a fighter, and more importantly his deeds, be perceived to be truly "timeless" ... or what we have come to know as an ALL TIME GREAT.

Some fighters are content to sit on their laurels and maintain what they have accomplished to date. BHOP was one such fighter UNTIL he fought Tarver. Kostya Tszyu was yet another. Winky Wright was another. As was Joe Calzaghe. There are more, but the point is made.

My friend Fefist makes an excellent observation when pointing out that the Top 10 are indeed in the twilight of their prime. This much cannot be denied.

Still, it is important to remember that boxers used to have to EARN a shot at the title. Whereas today securing a title shot seems to have become more of a matter of popularity, which is usually measured in two criteria:

1 - What kind of dominant performance you put on

2 - How much hype your promoter throws behind you to build a name and a public following of your media perception.

Today, fighters who have beaten virtually NOBODY can simply say in interviews that "So and so is ducking me" and because of that statement they INSTANTLY become a viable candidate for a title shot.

WTF????

It used to be that challengers had to fight their way up to becoming the #1 contender and if they did, they got their title shot .. or rather they TOOK their shot by being the last man standing at the champion's doorstep.

Currently, you don't even have to beat the man anymore to be considered the man! You can simply win some portion of a belt against an opponent that was never championship caliber in the first place to make your claim as the best in any given division! Its utter bull****, and it is nothing more than too many cooks[champions] spoiling the broth[sport].

Get rid of the ABC belts. Let a boxer fight his way up to being a #1 contender. Do not let champions get away with using "step aside" money. And most importantly .. DO NOT SUPPORT ANY PPV FIGHTS!

Its only a matter of time before boxing revamps the system anyway. The greedy investors bankrolling these boxing events are NOT happy with Floyd getting the millions upon millions that he's getting. I think Pacquiao has recently wised up as to how much he's been getting slaved under the table, but Arum has such a tight grip on his financial nuts that Manny is powerless to make a maneuver away from Top Rank. Arum unfortunately OWNS Manny Pacquiao.

Soon, rising prospects will be required to sign contracts binding them to certain networks and/or promotion companies that will ensure that they get what they get and THAT'S IT. The money will be decided by the executives .. not by the athletes.

Floyd has successfully navigated his way through a snake pit and made a fortune doing so. Its too bad he and Pacquiao didn't become friends earlier so that Floyd could have warned him.

These young guys like Adrien Broner and Gary Russell jr better be careful. Roy Jones tried to do something similar to what Floyd did and he was only moderately successful. Jones wasn't making anywhere NEAR what Floyd makes today. Its so easy to get caught up when guys like Arum and Koncz are whispering in your ear about how rich they will make you.

I personally don't think the current sorry state of the top 10 P4P has anything to do with heart or risk. It has ALL to do with money and who is marketable. Its commonly known that Mexicans are HUGE boxing fans, & not just in the USA, but ALL of North America. Do you guys honestly think that May 5th was some random day that Floyd picked to perform?? Its money in the bank.

The real reason that aren't more younger fighters in the Top 10 is because they want to move ahead to fast. They aren't ready, but they have such overwhelming confidence until they get into trouble. Look at Amir Khan! Look at Andre Berto! Look at Victor Ortiz! These guys want to be the Mayweathers and Pacquiaos of boxing but don't want to build up their resume fighting the available best. And when they skip over guys that are at their level and jump forward to guys who might be more than handle, they get exposed in their matches.

Of those three guys, Luis Collazo gives them all hell@WW! Then people ask "Who the hell is Luis Collazo"!

Exactly my point.

[TOBYLEE1]

Good point, I think it's because of the way the game is structured for example; people don't really care about a fighter unless he has a good record. That's the first thing we look at before we even begin to care who they are. So promoters who invest money into a young fighter try to keep these young guys away from real challenges, until they build up the fighter to seem like the real deal. Look at Canelo and Chavez jr; both have like 40 fights, championship belts and still have yet to face top opposition. Promoters know that them fighting serious competition now means cashing out too soon (meaning they might lose and people will know they were never really good to begin with)!! Just the way the game is IMO.

This here basically sums it up

[FeFist]

For Pacman?? The Punisher & Berto imediately come to mind. Before the likes of Clottey, Margarito & Mosley. Won't you agree??

Berto wasn't deprived of an opportunity, if he beat Ortiz he would have earned a shot with Floyd. He failed to step up to the plate, Ortiz took his place and failed miserably on the big stage.

I find your fetish with Paul Williams disturbing. He is not a young fighter, he is in his 30s. He is in a higher weight division that Pacquiao, comparing their heights he is about 9 inches taller than him, a victory over Pacquiao wouldn't say much it would just make him look like a big bully and again he is not a fighter who was deprived of opportunities as competition exist in his own weight division and North of his.

[TOBYLEE1]

The other problem which is a massive one is that the title organizations don't enforce their ranking on its champions with mandatory fighters and a fighter that is deserving of their top ranking either they are popular or not dont get a shot.

That goes coupled with these networks jumping in with the finance and influencing more than they should to promoters and sanctioning organizations

Tired of hearing a #1 ranked contender not getting a shot cause he is not popular

[4Corners]

I couldn't agree any less with this post bro. Bradley absolutely deserves his shot & luckily he's getting it. However look at Pacman's last 4-5 fights. The only fighter that he fought that deserved to fight him was Marquez. Who had to give in to every demand that Pacman wanted & was still robbed. Clottey, Margarito & Mosley did not deserve to be Pacman's dance partner, but they were chosen. No young fighter can be blamed for that.

At least Floyd went to the Berto-Ortiz bout to scout a young guy to fight. Ortiz put on a great show & in my eyes at least earned himself a fight with Floyd. Too bad he squandered it with the help of Cortez.

That's why I laugh at the Floyd haters who say Victor Ortiz was a cherry pick. No, Ortiz earned his shot.

But that's what just gets under my skin with a lot of young fighters, even the guys I am fans of.

Robert Guerrero, shut up and stop calling out Floyd Mayweather. You won't get a fight with him until you have some good or big wins. Fight the Malignaggi for a tune up and than take on the Berto-Ortiz II winner, Alexander-Maidana winner, etc.

Austin Trout, Demetrius Andrade, Saul Alvarez, Vanes Martirosyan, they should all fight within each other to get respect. Vanes turned down fighting Angulo and Kirkland seized the day in that fight, and got mad repsect for knocking Angulo out. That's how you do it. Now, Kirkland is fighting Molina, another good fighter. You can't be like Vanes or Trout, fighting no names, and expect to get a big fight. Instead, they should be looking to fight Delvin Rodriguez, Gabriel Rosado, or how about......each other???

Vernon Paris has the right attitude finally. He's fighting Zab Judah, who is past his prime but it's still a step up for him. After that, go for fights with Danny Garcia and other top 140 lb guys.

Kell Brook, you won't get a Khan fight. Instead, try fighting Mike Jones, Senchenko, or even Aydin to start building your name at 147.

What the young guys don't seem to udnerstand is that if they fight each other and put on good fights, they get more respect and ultimately start building legacies eventually. Can you imagine if Leonard, Duran, and Hearns skipped fighting each other????? Or if Floyd and Corrales never fought each other, or if Pacquiao never fought Marquez, and the list goes on and on. Even Bradley fighting Peterson, when both were young and unbeaten. It elevated Bradley, and thats what's young fighters need to do.

But I do agree that Manny's run of Clottey, Margarito, Mosley, and even Marquez at 144 was about as bad as it gets. He should have fought Berto, and he also opted to fight JMM at 144 when Ortiz beat Berto and said he wanted to fight to Manny.

[Bushbaby]

Berto wasn't deprived of an opportunity, if he beat Ortiz he would have earned a shot with Floyd. He failed to step up to the plate, Ortiz took his place and failed miserably on the big stage.

I find your fetish with Paul Williams disturbing. He is not a young fighter, he is in his 30s. He is in a higher weight division that Pacquiao, comparing their heights he is about 9 inches taller than him, a victory over Pacquiao wouldn't say much it would just make him look like a big bully and again he is not a fighter who was deprived of opportunities as competition exist in his own weight division and North of his.

We're talking timelines correct?? Ortiz happend last year. Margarito & Clottey both fought Pacman when Berto was an undifeated champ. Further more if Pacman cleaned out 147 while Floyd vacationed, Berto would have been on the hitlist.

The Punisher campained heavily at welterweight trying to get a fight with either guys. He beat a prime Margarito, remember that. His height matters not, there are weight classes, not hieght classes. However it would have been a far greater victory for Pacman, than Clottey, Margarito & Mosley combined if he fought the guy.

So again, those were 2 fighters off the top of my head that deserved to fight Pacman, but his team chose the old men, timelines not last year remember?

[tredh]

Its not all the young guys fault it is mixture of a lot things IMO. The promoter and networks love to show off fighters with undefeated records. So in turn promoters, managers and some fighters like to pad their records with a bunch of soft touch opponents. Which in turn keeps them undefeated but they don't develop like they should because the competition is not good enough for them to develop. Too many young fighters go along with those plans when its really not in their best interest. It shows when they get the big fight cause they fold under the lights because they have not been brought along properly from a fighting stand point.

Young fighters need to get that I am no longer "the man" if I am not undefeated attitude out of here. You can be knocked off your horse but you have to get back on that horse and get where you planned on going.

A lot of older fighters do duck the real threatening younger fighters. IMO B-Hop should have been fought Chad Dawson. Promoters mess things up as well because fights can only boil but for so long before a fighter gets upset and now the fight that was being saved for so called big money now has lost its shine Gamboa vs Juanma and PBF vs Manny are prime examples of that.

But young fighters need to stop letting so many things be dictated to them that they may not agree with.

[4Corners]

Its not all the young guys fault it is mixture of a lot things IMO. The promoter and networks love to show off fighters with undefeated records. So in turn promoters, managers and some fighters like to pad their records with a bunch of soft touch opponents. Which in turn keeps them undefeated but they don't develop like they should because the competition is not good enough for them to develop. Too many young fighters go along with those plans when its really not in their best interest. It shows when they get the big fight cause they fold under the lights because they have not been brought along properly from a fighting stand point.

Young fighters need to get that I am no longer "the man" if I am not undefeated attitude out of here. You can be knocked off your horse but you have to get back on that horse and get where you planned on going.

A lot of older fighters do duck the real threatening younger fighters. IMO B-Hop should have been fought Chad Dawson. Promoters mess things up as well because fights can only boil but for so long before a fighter gets upset and now the fight that was being saved for so called big money now has lost its shine Gamboa vs Juanma and PBF vs Manny are prime examples of that.

But young fighters need to stop letting so many things be dictated to them that they may not agree with.

You said it best......Gamboa-Lopez. That blew up right in Bob's face. That was considered a Featherweight mega fight, but now, even if Lopez beats Salido in the rematch, that fight will probably never happen.