By Hector Gonzalez: It goes with out saying that boxing is in a downfall. There are many factors contributing, I’d thought I’d compile a list of some of the things that boxing could do in order to improve the sport.
1.) Mayweather vs Pacquiao-
The underlining issue here is really PRINCIPLE. For starters, we’re in an age of boxing where a fighter could become ultra rich without giving great fights, perhaps talented and gifted but not a deserving warrior such as the likes of Ali, Robinson, Duran, Frazier, or Julio Cesar Chavez. Part of the legacy behind the fighters listed not only is that they were great fighters, but that they never made excuses. In the case of Mayweather vs Pacquiao there are too many excuses. In a fight where both fighters could walk away with 100million dollars, and the fight is still not happening then the only real conclusion is to assume that someone doesn’t want to fight. For the sake of the sport, this fights needs to be made mandatory!
2.) Promotion-
The topic of promotion; what boxers get promoted and by whom are they promoted by is actually one of the main issues with boxing. It makes a lot of promoters rich, but it hurts the sports. To put in bluntly, Golden Boy and Top Rank are hurting the sport of boxing. They are not only preventing their fighters from fighting one another, but they are also promoting fighters that don’t deserve it to begin with, and hurts boxing by keeping boxers who really deserve it down. Here are some examples.
· Nonito Donaire- I’m actually a fan of Nonito, but we have to be honest with ourselves. Nonito Donaire is catering to a Filipino/American market, a big market in boxing today because of Pacquiao, and is being sold to the public as one of the top 5 pound for pound fighters. Many analyst including Harold Lederman would differ. Much of the criticism behind Nonito is that he has been fighting at 118 but walking in the ring over 130 pounds. This means that he could very comfortably be fighting at 126 and 130, two divisions that are heavily stacked with talent. Now Lets compare him to Abner Mares for example, Abner Mares is a strong and seasoned fighter. Many people including myself believe that Mares could in fact beat Donaire. Abner is just as much a deserving champion with a very good chin and good tactical skill, yet Mares doesn’t have nearly as much fame as Donaire.
· Amir Khan- I could already imagine what the plan with Amir Khan is… I bet it looks something like this— One day, Golden Boy hopes to have one of the biggest mega fights in the history of the sport of boxing. The fight will take place somewhere in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and it will be one of the biggest money making fights in boxing. I’m all on board, with the exception of one detail. Amir Khan is not the guy. The casual fan may not know this, but Khan has only one KO on his entire record against Zab Judah. A lot of the TKO’s are just that, TKO’s not KO’s. Also, the casual boxing fan may not know this, but Amir Khan has only fought 1 Mexican fighter and that was an aged Marco Antonio Barrera. That’s an important note because most fighters specially in those division, fight many Mexican fighters—Mexican fighters are known for having really good chins, always walking forward and throwing hard accurate combinations specially to the body… All of the ingredients to beat Amir Khan. All a long while Golden Boy has been focused on catering to Khan, many fighters have gone under the radar. Robert ‘the ghost’ Guerrero is considered one of the most underrated boxers of today- very exciting fighter with devastating power and accuracy…. If the public got more of Guerrero, boxing would be in a better place. Guerrero has been fighting in all the weight divisions that Khan has been fightin in including 135, campaigning at 140 and now will be fighting at 147. Yet he’s been under the radar all along, and yes Guerrero who called out Khan, would beat him.
· Other fighters that are being promoted well but haven’t yet proven themselves are Adrien Broner who was given a gift decision over Ponce De Leon, I could see the future of Broner already. The next Floyd Mayweather. That’s good and all, with the exemption that boxing is being hurt by gift decision and by not giving the BEST fights for the sake of promoting a fighter. If Broner struggled against Ponce, I’m sure we would also struggle against Salido, Lopez, and Gamboa.
· Brandon Rios really has not business being at the stage that he’s currently in. The gift decision he got against Abril was an embarrassment to boxing. I’m not even sure what Bob Arum seems in him, but Rios is a prime example of how promotion is hurting the sport of boxing.
3.) Give us the fights that we really want to see. Winning or losing is not as important as giving a great fight. Here are fights that boxing needs to put together.
· Mayweather vs Pacquiao
· Khan vs Ortiz
· Mares vs Donaire
· Gamboa vs Broner
· Cotto vs Canelo
· Guerrero vs Ortiz/ Khan/ Berto
· Rigondeux vs Mikey Garcia
· Marquez vs Bradley
· Khan vs Alexander
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