Is it just me or does boxing seem empty right now

[The Big Dunn]

Well I just think it's wrong to be jingoistic in that way period.

I get that it's easy to cheer for someone you relate to, but I think that's not really a good excuse when it comes to boxing, if all that you can relate to is being from the same country, and watching the person in the olympics.

And it is as bad as I describe it, at least here on NSB. (I know this isn't a representative sample size of the world population of fans, but we have some of the most hardcore fans here I think)

I watched the olympics. Zero interest in Andrade.

ODLH was a huge deal in the olympics but I didn't care for the olympics then, nor now, and didn't get behind him until he turned pro. And even then, his story about his mother was more powerful than what flag he was fighting for, at least to me.

I think people from smaller less developed countries have a better excuse than US citizens. Pac has a huge fanbase and with good reason, he is an icon in his country, and floyd/pac wars aside, his story is nothing short of inspirational. Remarkable. A story of hope. That doesn't work the same way in the USA, this is a melting pot of nationalities and colors and backgrounds moreso than many other places. You can experience poverty here, but rarely the kind of poverty Manny had in his childhood for example, and even if you did, you probably had influences in your life that transcended your immediate race and background.

I grew up in a poor latino neighborhood but I wasn't limited to exposure to only latinos, I saw people of all kinds at school, and around the city when I would venture out of my neighborhood.

To me, there is only one right answer: root for a fighter because you like his story, you like his style, you like his persona, and/or character.

LEAVE FLAGS AND COLOR OF SKIN OUT OF IT!

I just don't understand that way of thinking.

"I won't root for GGG or Fury because I can't relate". Or almost worse, to shat on those fighters because they aren't from the same flag, and deny how good they are.

I think it's ridiculously ******.

professional prize fighting isn't the olympics.

ffs. let me go through my list of fighters and eliminate everyone who isn't latino or isn't from the USA and see what I have left.

Maidana: well, he is latino, would I get a pass? he isn't from the USA though.
Rigo: Same as above
Marquez: same as above
Bradley: I can still root for him being from the USA, unless latino takes precedence.
Yaegashi: I'd be screwed here.
GGG: I'd be screwed here.
Kovalev: I'd be screwed here.
Margarito: safe, as long as latino > usa if both apply, like with the other latinos.
Fury: I'd be screwed here.
Lomachenko: I'd be screwed here.

Isn't that just silly?

That's like me only eating food from my cultural background. I would never enjoy stuff like pasta, sushi, chow fun.

It's just ridiculous!!

I can't imagine that kind of thought process. I really can't.

And it's sad that so many people on here are like that, and they really miss out. They really do, because you limit your own exposure to a sport you claim to love, and you only watch said sport with very biased eyes.

How anyone can acknowledge that flaw in approach, and then continue to operate that way, just flat out blows my mind.

You are taking what I said way to literally and to such a far extreme. Non team sports tend to work this way and I do not have a big problem with it.

It doesn't mean people only connect with those like them. All I was saying is in non team sports, the "flag" you root for tends to be nationalistic.

That doesn't mean you are limited in your choices.

Remember, you nor I can tell anyone how to pick who they want to support. If someone makes a choice in the way you describe-its on them.

[lefthook2daliva]

So I was thinking boxing just seems dead right now. I dont know if its cause Mayweather is gone and manny is fighting a fight no one wants to see but boxing just seems to be lifeless. Maybe its just because not much has been going on at all but it just dont seem good.

No fights are getting made nothing is happening hbo is refusing to work with certain promoters, pbc top rank and gbp dont do business together. The biggest star right now is probably canelo and ggg and now they avoiding each other. Ward is always about to fight and never does.

I dont know maybe im overthinking it but dont boxing just seem to be asleep at the wheel right now?

I don't know about dead, but the potential for awesome is nowhere near being realized, imo, due to a combination of factors you mention in your good post.

The welters in particular need to quit vying for position and get it on.

[soul_survivor]

So I was thinking boxing just seems dead right now. I dont know if its cause Mayweather is gone and manny is fighting a fight no one wants to see but boxing just seems to be lifeless. Maybe its just because not much has been going on at all but it just dont seem good.

No fights are getting made nothing is happening hbo is refusing to work with certain promoters, pbc top rank and gbp dont do business together. The biggest star right now is probably canelo and ggg and now they avoiding each other. Ward is always about to fight and never does.

I dont know maybe im overthinking it but dont boxing just seem to be asleep at the wheel right now?

This year has Manny v Bradley III, whether or not you like the fight on a personal level is irrelevant as it decides who is the best welter on the planet.

We also have a rematch between Wlad and Fury at some point, for THE heavyweight championship of the world. In the coming months, Wilder, Povetkin, Glazkov, Martin and Spilka will decide who is the leading contender in the pack.

This is just the first couple months of 2016. I can understand the deflation post May/Pac, which was nothing more than a 300 million dollar sparring session and the unusual state of Canelo v Cotto, which always threatened to burst into a fight but neither guy really excelled although I feel Cotto won. There's a big problem with American PPV following those two less than stellar "events".

Having said all that, if the fights that we want to see this year come off, i.e. Walters v Uchiyama, Khan v Brook, Garcia v someone relevant at ww, Wilder v Fury/Wlad, GGG v Canelo, Cotto v someone good, it would have been a better year than 2015.

[bojangles1987]

Unfortunately, we are not getting the fights that would excite boxing fans. They are there to be made but whether it's the continued inability of promoters to cooperate or promoters not making in-house fights that are obvious, we are not getting these fights and it sucks. Boxing is impossible to defend outside of the actual act of fighting.

Even college football finally woke up and put in a playoff to make it more certain that the best teams play to determine who the best is. Boxing seems to get worse and worse with every generation in that regard. We rarely get the best fights and everyone calls himself the champ.

[HI-TECH Boxing]

I don't think boxing is in that bad of a state.
When was the last time there was so many interesting fights from Flyweight all the way up to Heavyweight? You can look at almost every single weight division from Flyweight to Heavyweight and there are so many intriguing match-ups.

The problem is that the fights are simply not happening.

[SeekDaGreat]

maybe Kovalev-Ward, Roman-Estrada rematch, help me out here Seek...what else can 2016 offer us

Outside chance we get Canelo-Golovkin. Also, Thurman-Porter. 2016 I think Will be more of a set up year for 2017.

[sunny31]

End of a generation so there is always a bit of a transitional period...that is all.

I am really looking forward to Quigg v Frampton...that is a tremendous fight. I think the winner will finally step up to Rigo so that is a nice little situation to look forward too.

[Xi_]

At least the HW division I getting better.

[-PBP-]

Mayweather and Pacquiao carried boxing. Changed the game. It wasn't about being the best. The career path was to become a Mayweather or Pacquiao opponent to get that payday. The story line of the fight that never was, was the only time boxing hit the mainstream media. The story line dominated boxing headlines while in the meantime, none of these young fighters were getting any buzz.

Now your getting a taste of reality of what the sport really is for the other 99.99999% of fighters. The best fighters in the game can't get big fights because they are too risky. Mid-level eliminators need buildup. Promoters want to keep money in house. Prospects being micro managed.

This is the new era of boxing. Career management and slow marination.

[Real King Kong]

If it seems that way it's cuz the majority of the big fights or even competitive fights fans wanna see aren't getting made. There is plenty of good talent out there...just all the politics and bs gets in the way. I still watch any fights i can, but if you look at it objectively, the sport is bs. I'm not talking about from the perspective of someone who is a fan of 1 or 2 fighters and wants them to keep winning at all cost...i mean in the eyes of a fan of the sport as a whole, who just wants to see the top talent fight eachother. That's part of the reason lots of casual fans gravitate awy from the sport. I mean seriously, half the threads on this board are about why this fight can't get made, or why this guy shouldn't fight that guy, or making excuses for why someone fought one opponent over another. If i wasn't a hardcore fan, i would laugh at the state of boxing.