by Christian Ramos: I applaud the man who chooses to follow the sport I love. I don’t have a choice. The seed has been planted ever since I first stepped foot into a boxing gym in Newark, NJ. No matter how much passion I feel for boxing, it saddens me to accept its current state.

It’s easy to box, promote, manage, referee, and even judge from a couch. It’s obviously a different monster when taking part in it. Therefore, the boxing public should keep in mind the difficulties involved in this dangerous, beautiful, and violent science. These professionals deserve our respect, for they are the providers of our entertainment. Unfortunately, I too am a fan. I too am unhappy.

As the sport continues to gravitate through the quick sand, there have been too few quality match-ups that boxing fans truly desire. Roy Jones Jr. vs. Hopkins II was pushed back to the point where they provided grandpa performances, and in no way did these grandpas execute like Bret Farve. Trinidad vs. De La Hoya II went with the wind as did Lennox Lewis vs. Wladimir Klitschko. Amazingly, we did get to witness Trinidad vs. Roy Jones at 170 and De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao at 147, fights that should have never taken place.

I have no clue if it’s the die-hard-fan in me who plays match-maker or just an average, logical viewer. Is it hard to tell that the boxing public would rather pay dollars to see Cotto vs. Margarito II instead of Cotto vs. Foreman or Margarito vs. Pacquiao? Obviously, if these fights didn’t happen, it would mean Top Rank loses out on both 154 titles Bob Arum so desperately needs to maintain leverage. Cotto would have never won the 154 title from Foreman, and Pacquiao would have been ideally matched-up against Floyd, Williams, or Bradley. He clearly would have never fought a true 154 in Martinez, because he can’t win that fight, and Arum is not going to take the huge risk for the minimal reward. Foreman would have eventually lost the title to Martinez or some other average contender that was not a 170 pound Daniel Santos, unless Arum shockingly builds another Top Rank fighter to hand down the title to.

Undoubtedly, there remains huge disappointed in the horrific fights that are matched and the ones we wants to see that don’t get made. What boxing needs it to have an imitation tournament of ShowTime’s Super 6, the 140 Classic. It doesn’t have to be a long series. There should be single-elimination fights with Bradley vs. Alexander, Maidana vs. Zab Judah, Mike Jones vs. Berto, and Amir Khan vs. Juan Manuel Marquez. The winner would then get a shot at facing the winner of Cotto vs. Margarito II at 147. The ultimate prize would be a shot at the winner of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. Wow, what a dream!

Obviously, none of that is going to happen. Floyd and Manny are 1 or 2 fights away from retirement. Bob Arum astonishingly matched Margarito against Pacquiao. For those who don’t see the long-term effect, think about this. Margarito is going to lose. In no way is Pacquiao going to lose to anybody not named Mayweather. Arum is not going to blow the biggest fight in history. Unfortunately, that means a Cotto vs. Margarito rematch would be nowhere as interesting as if it were matched before any of those 2 guys takes another loss.

Cotto might get another shot at Pacquiao, and that’s a lose/lose situation for the sport. Cotto’s not going to win. Even if he did, that means the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather super-fight is out the window. When Cotto loses, intriguing fights against Angulo, Berto, Williams, and Martinez all become insignificant.

The up-side to this year in boxing is definitely JuanMa vs. Marquez. Who knows, we might even get Gamboa vs. Caballero to decide who’s going to get the winner. Sadly, there is still no boxing schedule that includes: Vitali vs. Solis, Wladimir vs. Haye, Dawson vs. Bute, Abraham vs. Ward, Williams vs. Martinez II, Cotto vs. Margarito II, Alexander vs. Bradley, Berto vs. Khan, and JuanMa vs. Gamboa. Oh, and I forgot to mention Pacquiao vs. Mayweather. Interestingly enough, I just went through most of the weight-classes mentioning fights that did not take place. There are many fighters and interesting fights that I did not mention, and even though exists so much potential, current boxing fans have been rewarded with fewer and fewer quality fights. Therefore, you have the liberty to choose. Do you remain eager because of the potential boxing has, or do you finally give up hope on the sport that continues to not live up to its potential? I would definitely love to have an option.