A long transition

glittermonkey · Post by **glittermonkey** » 17 May 2004, 05:26

As ever, the weekends big fight has got me thinking.

Is boxing going through one of the most critical times in its long history? To me it seems as if all the big names are getting old at once. Over a two to three year period, starting last summer with the retirement of Lewis, we're going to lose big names in almost all the divisions.

Look down the boxrec rankings for each division and you'll see what i'm talking about. There are so many of the best fighters that have come to, or are coming to the end. By the end of next year most of these fighters will either have retired or left us wishing they'd retired.

Roy Jones - Thinking about retirement before the weekend, now who knows.
Kostya Tszyu - If he comes back from injury, it'll only be for one or two fights.
De la Hoya - Has said the Hopkins fight will be his last, win or lose.
Hopkins - How much longer can he go on for. One big payday longer i think.
Mosley - Is he shot? The rematch with Winky will tell us. He certainly isn't the fighter he was.
Barrera - I really don't want to write him off but he's 30 now and has had so many hard fights. The end is in sight.

That's really just the tip of the iceberg. Over the time period i've mentioned i'm expecting guys like Gatti, Mitchell, Forrest, Casamayor to go aswell, and that's without listing the fighters that are near the end above lightmiddle (look at the rankings and pick them out for yourself, it's worrying).

I know it's the way of the world, people get old etc etc. It's just that i really can't see the fighters that will replace these guys. I guess my real point is, will we end up with several divisions echoing what's currently the situation at heavy? What do you guys think?

scottishboxing · Post by **scottishboxing** » 17 May 2004, 06:00

Funnily enough I'm in Spain too at the mo.

I think a big part of this problem is that politics, TV, etc., means that more than ever "world champions" can go their entire career without meeting a genuine contender. And so we are left with a number of mediocre to good boxers who we are consistently told are far better than they really are or ever will be.

And when the current true greats go, some of those left in their wake just don't match up. I think what's happening in the heavyweigts will be the future of professional boxing until big changes are made.

George

Eric the Viking · Post by **Eric the Viking** » 17 May 2004, 11:26

Yeah - definitely a major changing of the guard underway in the sport. That's all well and good - it happens - but I find it troubling that outside of a few divisions, there just doesn't seem to be any young talent of such stellar nature that it comes close to earning the title of "the next ...". Cotto@140 is about the best I see in that regard. Moving up in weight (sorry, I just have never been as interested in the lighter divisions, although clearly that's where some of the deepest talent is), at welter no one comes close to reminding one of Ray Leonard or Tommy Hearns, at jr. middle we have exciting guys like Ouma and Winky but no future McCallums or Jacksons, at middle Taylor is fun to watch but is clearly no Hagler or Monzon, 168 has been a vast wasteland ever since Toney and Jones moved up, at 175 Tarver has just shocked the world but I honestly think that may just have been his finest moment - the result of a career-long obsession he'll never be able to duplicate, 190 is so-so but Braithwaite and Mormeck are no Holyfield or Qawi, and heavyweight just flat-out sucks balls. *sigh*

But, let's wait and see - some guys don't ever really shine until they step out from the shadows of the greats that went before them.

Eric the Viking · Post by **Eric the Viking** » 17 May 2004, 11:29

Forgot to mention - I also have my doubts at to whether we'll ever see the Toney of last year again. Hope I'm wrong about that, but that kind of injury is difficult to come back from when you're young and don't have a problem staying in shape in between fights - neither of those applies to JT.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 17 May 2004, 11:53

Eric the Viking wrote:Forgot to mention - I also have my doubts at to whether we'll ever see the Toney of last year again. Hope I'm wrong about that, but that kind of injury is difficult to come back from when you're young and don't have a problem staying in shape in between fights - neither of those applies to JT.

Maybe but Toney wasn't the type of fighter to be up on his toes all night in the ring, like you said as long as he can recover enough to do plenty of road work/cyceling he might be ok.

uptconnect · Post by **uptconnect** » 18 May 2004, 11:33

James Toney, aside from his recovering achilles, is in the best shape of his life- Smaller doesn't mean healthier for everyone.
His lifestyle is one of a dedicated fighter now, and he has no trouble doing the work that needs to be done to get into fighting shape at this point in his career.
A newfound focus is not all that unusal for fighters who near the end of an up and down career in boxing.

I think everyone will be surprised at the effectiveness and focus of JT in his next fight.

We'll see though, right?

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 18 May 2004, 11:57

Unless the injury fails to heal correctly, I agree. Toney is more motivated now than ever, because he realises this is his last shot at hall of fame credentials, and a chance to finally step out of the shadow of RJ.

I think it is a shame he doesn't move back to cruiser though, because I really don't see anyone beating him there for a couple of years, he's just too cute and too savvy to be beaten by any of the young guns.

At heavy although I give him an outside chance of beating anyone, there are going to be certain fighters who he just cannot beat. Any fast handed heavyweight with a bang is going to be difficult for him to beat.

Weird as it sounds, I give him a good chance to beat Vitali, Vitali looked panicked against Corrie and times, and Toney loves to work the body, something big guys almost always hate.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 19 May 2004, 03:49

I am hoping for Jones Jnr-Toney II at Heavyweight of course it will be now, it could happen and it was the natural fight for me after Toney-Holyfield and Jones Jnr-Ruiz.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 19 May 2004, 12:31

steve689 wrote:I am hoping for Jones Jnr-Toney II at Heavyweight of course it will be now, it could happen and it was the natural fight for me after Toney-Holyfield and Jones Jnr-Ruiz.

The fight would make some sense as it would give Jones Jr a chance to redeem himself somewhat, and give Toney a chance of revenge.

It would be popular with the fans as well I would imagine.