If Manny and Floyd Actually Did Retire Tommorow Would Boxing Be in Trouble?

The other thread with a similar title to this got me thinking...

We would lose our two main stars, the two main fighters that bring in the most casual fans around the world. Now I'm not saying it would spell the end for boxing, but there aren't a LOT of other fights out there that would draw 1 Million Plus PPV draws, and it could slump Boxing closer to the UFC in terms of PPV Draws.

I'm talking about this purely from a financial aspect and a publicity aspect.

We have two fighters that generate the most buzz when there is a fight on, even if you can accuse them of fighting past it legends. Would Boxing fade away even more from the major spotlight or would there be enough big fights to keep up the type of PPV draws that these two make?

Good article, would miss Manny more to be honest, Mayweather doesn't interest me, he never takes risks and talks too much, it's usually rattled rants he says and is bad for the sport outside the ropes in my eyes, he's undoubtedly a great fighter but doesn't have great fights.

Young_Towzer wrote: he's undoubtedly a great fighter but doesn't have great fights.

What?!

Nope

Why?

Because Floyd doesn't hasn't fought more than what, 2 times since 07? And Manny isn't exactly doing DLH numbers.

There is a massive, massive amount of talent coming through the new crop. We've got Gamboa, Donaire, Ortiz, Berto, Guerrero, Canelo, Rigendeaux, Bradley, Khan... The list could go on and on.

Out of those the likes of Donaire and Canelo will carry the baton, trust me about that.

And why?

Because these guys won't get backed by the networks like your two titled fighters if they fight meaningless oppo. These kids will be forced to face the best there is and not get a free pass "once they've made it", and that my friends is an economic fact. HBO and co will not be shelling out for meaningless fights, sure they'll have Pac vs JMM on PPV but that carries the end of a trilogy no matter how badly the latter will get beaten up. Gone are the days of RJJ vs Mr Random challenger, these kids will be up against it and mark my words we're going to have a very special 10 years or so with them.

Starting with Antillon vs Rios, slugfest ahoy and as long as it's not a one sided blow out i can see it making top 5 foty easily. If it fails to live up to the hype i'll be massively disappointed.

Coxy is right...Great sports have exciting times and they have lulls.....

Boxing has a great heritage...

be exciting times around the corner...

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Coxy is right...Great sports have exciting times and they have lulls.....

Boxing has a great heritage...

be exciting times around the corner...

You're agreeing with me?! Can i screenshot it and put it up in the 606 HoF moments

And yup you're right, everything in life goes in swings and roundabouts, boxing included. For me we're not even in a golden era at present as there's not a huge amount of megastars, christ we had 4 in the same weight class (you know who i mean Truss) back in the 80s, there's only 2 guys who'd do over 750k buys on PPV now (as a yard stick) and they're not gonna be around forever.

The future looks good though, providing the promotional companies come together a bit more i think we're in for a real treat. Sure it won't happen overnight, probably not even by the end of this year but beyond that we've got some pretty big nights to look forwards to.

FreekShow wrote:

Young_Towzer wrote: he's undoubtedly a great fighter but doesn't have great fights.

What?!

I don't think a fight against a fat lightweight, and then Mosley are great fights, end of story.

But Towzer are fights with Clottey, Margarito and Mosley great fights?

Young_Towzer wrote:

FreekShow wrote:

Young_Towzer wrote: he's undoubtedly a great fighter but doesn't have great fights.

What?!

I don't think a fight against a fat lightweight, and then Mosley are great fights, end of story.

That's two of 41 fights. Surely great fighters are involved in great fights otherwise how do you determine they are 'great fighters'? Unless I have misunderstood the meaning of a contradiction? By the way 'end of story' is a Chav terminology where I come from.

Boxing will be fine with or without those two.

And YT you can't have a 'great' fight everytime you put gloves on, it's rare, almost by definition. Without a doubt Mayweather has had great fights, to deny that is lunacy.

In some ways I think it might actually benefit boxing.

That two potential top twenty ATGs are eligible to fight each other in a mega fight, only to leave the fans bitterly disappointed that it can't be engineered, is a sad indictment of boxing today.

Clean slate, fresh start, and a promoter with vision and imagination, a la Don King, would see boxing booming again, in my opinion.

coxy0001 wrote:
Starting with Antillon vs Rios, slugfest ahoy and as long as it's not a one sided blow out i can see it making top 5 foty easily. If it fails to live up to the hype i'll be massively disappointed.

Looking forward to this one. Antillon a bit big at 9/2? Gave a great account of himself against Soto.

Imperial Ghosty wrote:But Towzer are fights with Clottey, Margarito and Mosley great fights?

I think you will find i've slated Roach for wanting Manny to fight them 3, after he destroyed Diaz he wanted Morales again!. Great trainer, not a great matchmaker, you won't get no bias from me.

paperbag_puncher wrote:

coxy0001 wrote:
Starting with Antillon vs Rios, slugfest ahoy and as long as it's not a one sided blow out i can see it making top 5 foty easily. If it fails to live up to the hype i'll be massively disappointed.

Looking forward to this one. Antillon a bit big at 9/2? Gave a great account of himself against Soto.

That's the worry though, i don;t think Soto is very good, nothing at all special, I agree he's big at 9/2, but expect Rios to stop him around the 10th.

All of a sudden, lightweight lacks depth as a division, and there is a chance for someone to stamp their authority there, particularly as there appears no conceivable threat from anyone at 130 coming up and causing trouble. I suspect that Rios may be the best equipped to be that dominant force at 135, but it may be that the next really great lightweight is a year or two away from maturity. Whatever, the case, Antillon has appeared fairly ordinary to me, and I would certainly hope that Rios has enough about him to win comfortably, possibly even by Round 8.

Should be fairly straight forward for Rios who i'd like to see in against Soto sometime soon although get the impression the mexican is going to go for a tilt at a title at 140lbs, one of the more under rated champions around at the moment is Humberto. Had an average start to his career but once at the top level has only really lost to Joan Guzman who many will agree is a massive waste of talent, one of the more active fighters around too, surprised he's not been p4p ranked yet.