By Robert “Big Moe” Elmore: As boxing business continues to grow and reach out to new audiences, they will always use something that will immediately grab the casual fans attention. So they will market a fighter that excites, stands toe to toe, and basically knocks out every opponent that is put in front of him. That’s what sells tickets.

That’s what brings the fans back. It’s really only the hardcore fans of boxing that truly loves the defensive minded fighters, who exercises the phrase “hit and not get hit” style, has enough offense to an opponent honest, and has great footwork (which is often called running) to get out of the way of punches. And it doesn’t matter what opponent they beat, they somehow never get the accolades that the exciting fighter is going to get. The only way to get attention is to grab the boxing world by the throat and force them to pay attention like Floyd Mayweather and Wladimir and Vatali Klitschko did. I will touch on them later.

As great as Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker was in the ring, boxing was not ready for his style to sit on top. He had accomplished a great deal as a lightweight before working his way to welterweight where he met Mexican great Julio Cesar Chavez. Chavez was the exciting one; stalked his opponents until they dropped; and most important had a record of 87 and 0 going into his fight with Whitaker. Whitaker gave Chavez a thorough boxing lesson. Chavez was not able to find the target like he had done against Meldrick Taylor two years prior. But the judges called the bout a draw. Just imagine if Whitaker had won. The world would really have been forced to take notice of Sweat Peas style. But then again, HBO probably would have found a way to drown him like they are doing with super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeuaux (A.K.A Rigo). Rigo has been dismissed by HBO. His demise began after he embarrassed Nonito Donaire whom Top Rank was trying to build as the next big thing. Soon after, Donaire was back on HBO against Nicolas Walters. Which takes me to Floyd Mayweather and the K2 Brothers most noticeably Wladimir.

These two have grabbed boxing by the throat and forced everyone to take notice. Even with HBO (who has broadcast his fights) not showing him any love for the majority of his career, the boxing world knows exactly who he is. Even if the casual fan does not know who he is, the record books will certainly know him. He’s dominated the division for seven and half years, has 18 consecutive title defenses (23 with his status), has beaten fighters from around the globe, and made tons of cash doing it. Most important, fighters had to come to the Klitschko’s territory to get a fight. Mayweather has revolutionized the game totally. He had already proved to the world that he was the number pound for pound fighter in the world, but he just didn’t have the fame that Oscar De La Hoya had. And as “boring” as Floyd and Wladimir claimed to be, they were never short on opponents. Boxing will always market the exciting fighter and the slick boxer will have to steal the spotlight.