This era.

[VG_Addict]

Some people have said that this era of boxing is weak, and that boxing will die when Floyd and Manny retire. How strong or weak would you say it is? I think this era overall is very strong, with great fighters like:

Floyd
Manny
Bradley
Marquez
Ward
Cotto
Froch
Wlad
Hopkins
Roman Gonzalez

And fighters who could go on to be great:

Thurman
Brook
Canelo
Andrade
Spence
Kovalev
Danny Garcia
Joshua
Crawford
Lomachenko


I think boxing will be just fine when Floyd and Manny retire.

[tiny_acres]

I think we hear this all the time about boxing is dead.I remember when Ali retired.
Leonard,Hagler and Duran.But we got a new crop of stars.
The sport will be just fine.
And yes there are some all time greats that are currently fighting and we
have several more that will come through soon enough,that will continue the legacy.

[VG_Addict]

I think we hear this all the time about boxing is dead.I remember when Ali retired.
Leonard,Hagler and Duran.But we got a new crop of stars.
The sport will be just fine.
And yes there are some all time greats that are currently fighting and we
have several more that will come through soon enough,that will continue the legacy.

I doubt we'll have huge draws like Floyd and Manny in the near future, but one will eventually come along. They always do.

[ReggieDiggs]

Everything is better in the past is the most bs sentiment most people hold about most things. There is definitely incredible guys today & their will be incredible guys tomorrow & there is even more ability for anyone on the planet to have the ability to see these incredible guys today & tomorrow @ any point in history so even if they were better eras you couldn't see those incredible mfers unless you were in Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

[ReggieDiggs]

I think we hear this all the time about boxing is dead.I remember when Ali retired.
Leonard,Hagler and Duran.But we got a new crop of stars.
The sport will be just fine.
And yes there are some all time greats that are currently fighting and we
have several more that will come through soon enough,that will continue the legacy.

I doubt we'll have huge draws like Floyd and Manny in the near future, but one will eventually come along. They always do.

Don't underestimate these guys today. There was a time Floyd & Manny weren't PPV guys who sold out arenas. As a longtime Floyd fan I remember a time when people would laugh @ the idea of Floyd even doing a PPV fight let alone being the #1 PPV guy. There are guys around right now who you might not be able to envision today as being able to sell 1M PPV's but I guarantee you he's there.

I think right now Saul, Danny & Keith might be the best options for N. America PPV, but I think we got guys coming up who could make an impact to in a couple more years.

[VG_Addict]

I think we hear this all the time about boxing is dead.I remember when Ali retired.
Leonard,Hagler and Duran.But we got a new crop of stars.
The sport will be just fine.
And yes there are some all time greats that are currently fighting and we
have several more that will come through soon enough,that will continue the legacy.

I doubt we'll have huge draws like Floyd and Manny in the near future, but one will eventually come along. They always do.

Don't underestimate these guys today. There was a time Floyd & Manny weren't PPV guys who sold out arenas. As a longtime Floyd fan I remember a time when people would laugh @ the idea of Floyd even doing a PPV fight let alone being the #1 PPV guy. There are guys around right now who you might not be able to envision today as being able to sell 1M PPV's but I guarantee you he's there.

I think right now Saul, Danny & Keith might be the best options for N. America PPV, but I think we got guys coming up who could make an impact to in a couple more years.

I think Floyd-Danny could still do good PPV numbers.

[IKSRTFO]

I think we hear this all the time about boxing is dead.I remember when Ali retired.
Leonard,Hagler and Duran.But we got a new crop of stars.
The sport will be just fine.
And yes there are some all time greats that are currently fighting and we
have several more that will come through soon enough,that will continue the legacy.

I doubt we'll have huge draws like Floyd and Manny in the near future, but one will eventually come along. They always do.

Don't underestimate these guys today. There was a time Floyd & Manny weren't PPV guys who sold out arenas. As a longtime Floyd fan I remember a time when people would laugh @ the idea of Floyd even doing a PPV fight let alone being the #1 PPV guy. There are guys around right now who you might not be able to envision today as being able to sell 1M PPV's but I guarantee you he's there.

I think right now Saul, Danny & Keith might be the best options for N. America PPV, but I think we got guys coming up who could make an impact to in a couple more years.

The problem is everyone is looking for the next "Floyd" or next "Pacquiao" There is none. You have to let fighters develop on their own and become superstars on their own which there are always those. Neither DLH nor even Tyson had to be as animated as Floyd to sell tickets. Floyd himself tried to do the Oscar/Leonard approach earlier in is career and couldn't catch on.

[ponch]

Going back a little further we had Barrera, Morales, Hopkins, Floyd, Pac, all active at the same time.

Oh, and three of the above guys fought each other. Repeatedly!

Surely you don't have to be a cynic to say we don't seem to be heading into boxings strongest era.

Maybe GGG, Loma and a few others will surprise me.

ps. not talking about star power or PPV sales

[ReggieDiggs]

The problem is everyone is looking for the next "Floyd" or next "Pacquiao" There is none. You have to let fighters develop on their own and become superstars on their own which there are always those. Neither DLH nor even Tyson had to be as animated as Floyd to sell tickets. Floyd himself tried to do the Oscar/Leonard approach earlier in is career and couldn't catch on.

Solid point. The next guy will be whoever he is not some copy of some past guy.

[IKSRTFO]

The problem is everyone is looking for the next "Floyd" or next "Pacquiao" There is none. You have to let fighters develop on their own and become superstars on their own which there are always those. Neither DLH nor even Tyson had to be as animated as Floyd to sell tickets. Floyd himself tried to do the Oscar/Leonard approach earlier in is career and couldn't catch on.

Solid point. The next guy will be whoever he is not some copy of some past guy.

Broner didn't get the memo.

Funny thing with him is that trying to emulate Floyd sells tickets now but will work against him in the long run as he racks up a few losses because he's being compared to Floyd. Being he's kind of entertaining in the ring to watch, his longevity being a seller could be lengthened by taking on a "warrior" persona.

[Yes We Can]

Quite frankly id be happy with a solid era, without these bullshit "ppv stars" and "ppv worthy" cards.

[ReggieDiggs]

The problem is everyone is looking for the next "Floyd" or next "Pacquiao" There is none. You have to let fighters develop on their own and become superstars on their own which there are always those. Neither DLH nor even Tyson had to be as animated as Floyd to sell tickets. Floyd himself tried to do the Oscar/Leonard approach earlier in is career and couldn't catch on.

Solid point. The next guy will be whoever he is not some copy of some past guy.

Broner didn't get the memo.

Funny thing with him is that trying to emulate Floyd sells tickets now but will work against him in the long run as he racks up a few losses because he's being compared to Floyd. Being he's kind of entertaining in the ring to watch, his longevity being a seller could be lengthened by taking on a "warrior" persona.

Well I agree with the point you made, but there is a kinda a cardboard cutout of good guy & bad guy persona's that can work so maybe I shoulda said an "exact copy". Ali copied Gorgeous George & made millions. He added his angle to it sure, but he still hijacked a persona. I think Floyd is basically doing that early Ali sh!t with his own angle sprinkled on it. Adrien is sprinkling his angle on Floyd's hijacking of Ali's hijacking of Gorgeous George's thing that Gorgeous George probably hijacked from someone else. There is that good guy Ray Leonard/Oscar De La Hoya persona that has been often copied with personal alterations too, I'm just not so sure the background of that history.

I will say one of the most awkward things I see is Adrien in his About Billions gear when he's only had a couple fights for a million dollars & he usually ain't looking that good in those fights. Floyd was making 6 figures & looking unbeatable. Ali was making 5 figures back in the day & looking like a prophet with his calling of rounds on opponents. Adrien gots a LONG way to go to get to the status he aspires to.

[scallum]

Its really ,really hard trying to pick the next superstars of Tomorrow. Nobody in thier right minds would've predicted the type of success for Manny or Floyd 20 years ago. This next Era has a bunch good prospectof Guys 18-30, 140 -154 should be Most interesting.

[tiny_acres]

Some of these new stars could be huge if pushed right.GGG is the first that comes to mind.

[Cent0089]

this era is solid, except heavyweights. Welterweight and Super Middleweight have golden era IMO, too bad that Floyd-Pac megafight dont happen in 2009-2011. sorry for english

[tiny_acres]

this era is solid, except heavyweights. Welterweight and Super Middleweight have golden era IMO, too bad that Floyd-Pac megafight dont happen in 2009-2011. sorry for english

I think the heavyweights future is lookng very bright.Several good prospects
are coming into their own now.Wlad will be gone soon also.So these new heavies will
be fighting each other in the near future.

[Boxing Prospect]

I think I must be the most positive boxing fan out there. The next generation looks poor for US boxing. A lot of American fighters coming through strike me as athletes who turned to boxing and lack a boxing brain, however there are some exciting Americans coming through, not a lot.

What this means is that the US networks will have to bring a more cosmopolitan feel to the sport. We've started to see this with Golovkin, Kovalev and Lomachenko and I suspect it will continue with more fighters coming from Eastern Europe. Just 20 years years ago no one would have expected this rise, heck 20 years ago Klitschko hadn't won his Olympic gold medal.

We also appear to be on the start of a new era in TV. No longer are the BEST fights on HBO/Showtime. This year BeIN Sports Espanol has been fantastic (Takayama/Rodriguez Jr, Mendoza/Hirales-Garcia and Terdsak/Saldio), Fox Sports has delivered some solid contests as well and NBCSN seem like they are willing to put on good B level match ups. If BeIN pump in the money that their pockets have we could see another major player and a chance for the little guys to get a lot of attention.

In Japan they appear to be on the verge of a golden age with the Inoue's, Kosei Tanaka, Murata et al, Chinese boxing appears ready to take off (nice to see Jun making his US debut soon) and finally fans are starting to be won over by Roman "The real G" Gonzalez.

The biggest problem isn't boxing, it's the fans who have been willing to play the same old game with HBO/Showtime. As soon as fans wake up to the fact that world boxing is much, much, much bigger than what is shown in the US/UK then boxing will start to be enjoyed by fans again.

[Badhusker]

Personally I cannot stand all the PPV bullcrap. If you want boxing to become more popular, get the fights back on the regular networks so you can get more exposure world-wide. The smartest thing an up and comer can do is get on regular tv to let average people see what they can do. You shouldn't have to be rich to enjoy seeing a boxing match.

Before our time people from all walks of life enjoyed at least hearing the fights on the radio, but now you can't even do that. Not that it breaks the bank for most folks now to watch it, but you would be surprised how many don't watch it because of the high price. I have paid PPV prices about 4 or 5 times, and half of those times regretted it. Money drives everything as we all know, and boxing is no different.

[man]

if you let people rate their current era on a scale of
1 to 10, you will find the results highly correlate with
their own age. always been like that, always will be.

longing for the past equates longing for … youth.

[danamba7]

if you let people rate their current era on a scale of
1 to 10, you will find the results highly correlate with
their own age. always been like that, always will be.

longing for the past equates longing for … youth.

Depressing but true.

[giacomino]

BeIn Sport Español has not had a bad show since it starting running Saturday night boxing. For those of us who often times aren't interested in HBO/Showtime nonsense, that, international fight streaming and great fights at the lower weights have made this year tolerable.

Main problem remains too many belts. 4 to 7 belts per division means everybody's a "champion" searching for an "opponent." A lot of the guys who were contenders 30 years ago are now "champions" looking for cupcake defenses to make easy money. A guy I really always liked, Arthur Abraham, may be a classic example of the era: he lost badly to the two best in the division but has been a second-level "champion" off and on in the same division for a while, fighting leftovers for good money before home crowds who want to see a "world champion."

It's kind of like the criticism of current parenting/education in the US right now: in the seemingly endless effort to build self-esteem of children, everybody gets a trophy or award at school, even if it's just for showing up. (Participation awards, no less)

There is a big difference between a division's top 10 being composed of one or two beltholders and 8 contenders and one in which six or seven guys have an alphabet belt and three or four of them are contenders. It's not that there isn't talent, it's just that it often goes untested in "title defenses" that 30 years ago would have been considered stay busy, 10-round non-title fights against fringe opponents

[Ezzard]

Some people have said that this era of boxing is weak, and that boxing will die when Floyd and Manny retire. How strong or weak would you say it is? I think this era overall is very strong, with great fighters like:

Floyd
Manny
Bradley
Marquez
Ward
Cotto
Froch
Wlad
Hopkins
Roman Gonzalez

And fighters who could go on to be great:

Thurman
Brook
Canelo
Andrade
Spence
Kovalev
Danny Garcia
Joshua
Crawford
Lomachenko


I think boxing will be just fine when Floyd and Manny retire.

Just for fun I went back 30 years to see what it looked like...

1984

Marvin Hagler
Thomas Hearns
Eusebio Pedroza
Mike Spinks
Larry Holmes
Wilfredo Gomez
Dwight Qawi
Aaron Pryor
Don Curry
Santos Laciar

Bubbling under

Julio Cesar Chavez
Azumah Nelson
Jeff Fenech
Barry McGuigan
Khaosai Galaxy
Marcos Villasana
Hector Camacho
Julian Jackson
Mike McCallum
Sot Chitilada
Jiro Watanabe
Miquel Lora
Marlon Starling

[dempseyfire]

Some people have said that this era of boxing is weak, and that boxing will die when Floyd and Manny retire. How strong or weak would you say it is? I think this era overall is very strong, with great fighters like:

Floyd
Manny
Bradley
Marquez
Ward
Cotto
Froch
Wlad
Hopkins
Roman Gonzalez

And fighters who could go on to be great:

Thurman
Brook
Canelo
Andrade
Spence
Kovalev
Danny Garcia
Joshua
Crawford
Lomachenko


I think boxing will be just fine when Floyd and Manny retire.

Everyone on the first list is in their mid-late 30s or older (Marquez and Hop in their 40s) except Bradley, Gonzales, and Ward.

Boxing's going to be in bad shape post-Floyd and Manny. Those two only became household names after fighting De la Hoya, a fighter who first got national acclaim from coverage on NETWORK TV in the 1990s (with his Olympic Gold and also his early pro fights). The entire framework which enabled Oscar to become a household name doesn't exist anymore. And when Pac was beat by Marquez . . did he become a household name? If Maidana had beaten Floyd . . would he have gone on the Tonight Show? Become an idol to high school kids?

Some are in denial or simply don't understand what's transpired the last 25 years. Showtime just cancelled ShoBox. In 30 years I'll be shocked if Showtime and HBO even still have regular boxing anymore.

[Impractical Poster]

I actually think it will help boxing once Floyd is out of the picture. However, he won't truly be out of the picture as long as he is promoting. Hopefully that falls by the wayside.

[uptconnect]

However, he won't truly be out of the picture as long as he is promoting.

As a promoter alone, his power will be minimal. The promoter's leverage power lies in the success of fighters they hold.
As of this moment, his power and pull in boxing is 100% related to his own physical performances, and brilliant self management (Al).
It's much, much different when another guy has to win in order for you to be successful in boxing.
Floyd's roster has always been mostly filled with flash over substance guys, Ishe Smith being the exception.
He makes a fight ugly. No flash in Ishe. And I'm not knocking Ishe, I simply think he's a high quality technical fighter with a style that's totally un-promotable.
But the bottom line is, if you're a promoter and Ishe's the most accomplished and consistant fighter you have, you're not going to be much of a promoter.
I'm curious to see if Floyd just invests totally into whatever plan that Al has, thereby inheriting Al's roster.
That would probably be wise, if he wants to stay at the forefront of boxing, once he retires.
Al's power and influence is only going to continue to grow, and most of the other, greater powers are old and almost dead already.