ESPN: Young Guns Need to Step Up in 2021 for The Good of The Sport

[Best Coast]

Established stars like Crawford, Spence, Fury & Joshua need to fight each other as well.

https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/ ... etter-2021

When Teofimo Lopez stepped into the ring to face Vasiliy Lomachenko in a lightweight title unification fight, the stakes seemed simple enough.

If Lopez upset one of the sport's top pound-for-pound fighters, he would immediately position himself as one of the best in the 135-pound division, and one of boxing's biggest attractions. When Lopez won via unanimous decision, it caused a ripple effect that could alter the future of boxing.

Instead of protecting his undefeated record, a marketing chip coveted by many fighters in recent years, the 23-year-old Lopez opted for a serious challenge in Lomachenko. He showed that taking the risk was the right move, and now other young lightweights, such as Ryan Garcia (22), Devin Haney (22) and Gervonta Davis (26), seem to have a similar mindset.

Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) and his peers could be at the forefront of a trend that would be great for the sport -- fighters eager to face top opposition earlier in their careers, records and politics be damned.

[gilgamesh]

There are definitely some guys that are as ready as they'll ever be for the biggest possible matchups.

Aside from the 3 mentioned there in that article I'd say guys like Jaron Ennis are ready too.

[Best Coast]

Agreed...with 27 pro bouts under his belt Boots is clearly ready for a major step up like a legit top 10 contender.

[Enlightened-One]

The author of the article is either ignorantly or dishonestly pretending that Teofimo Lopez is a brave young lion eager to face top-tier opposition, regardless the circumstances, but this is clearly not the case.

He’s a “PRIZE fighter” and by his own admission, he is unwilling to share the ring with any of his big-name peers unless he is getting paid his financial worth, hence his persistent refusal to face Lomachenko until his purse demands were met (with Vasiliy ultimately having to take a pay cut to make the fight happen).

And we also know for certain that Teofimo Lopez has already told his rivals not to overprice themselves, as he’s the A-side. They’re going to have to accept pay cuts/smaller splits to gain the opportunity to face him.

And the same approach will inevitably apply to all of the other top-dogs in the 135lbs division, such as , Vasiliy Lomachenko, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis and Miguel Berchelt. They’ll all want to get paid handsomely too in order to face their peers.

So we’re not going to see any elite level fighters accept small paydays to face their big-name rivals.

For sure, there’ll inevitably be few exceptions, but the first half of 2021 will play out like 2020, whereby 50% of today’s world-rated talent will remain inactive, with the remainder (prospects and world champs) engaging in stay-busy bouts or mismatches against journeymen or over-matched anonymous foes.

It’s a phenomonally exciting prospect to hopefully witness bouts between the likes of Teofimo Lopez, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis and Miguel Berchelt at 135lbs in the near future.

However, I suspect we’ll have to be patient, by waiting until there’s sufficient gate receipt revenue can be generated to partially fund these bouts, because the various promoters and broadcasters aren’t charities. They won't stage loss-making events, especially if there's a serious risk it could devalue one of their most prized assets.

And the fighters won't fight, unless they're being paid their financial self-worth.

[martybales]

I agree with Enlightened that the current state of boxing has promoters/boxers prioritizing the "undefeated" moniker over accepting the best matchups.

Hopefully the current top fighters (Lopez, Crawford, Spencer etc.) will realize that there is substantially more money to be made producing highly anticipated fights then there is being an "undefeated" boxer that nobody in the mainstream cares about.

I think Garcia and his team have a long-term mindset w/ the SM aspect of their marketing and look forward to him creating top notch, mainstream-oriented matchups. I think his floor at this point is a new-age Shawn Porter or Vinny P. Not necessarily an all-time great but always puts on a great show and willing to take on anyone. The sport needs more of that imo