It's been 16 days since the supposed disappointment or let down of the fight of the century. I say supposed because while the fight surely did not live up to the massive hype, I also didn't expect anything less. However, the backlash the sport of boxing has taken since is totally unjust. More importantly though, those who claim boxing is dead are not just mistaken, they couldn't be more wrong.
Truth is right now boxing is better than it has been in quite sometime and as a hardcore fan, I haven't been this excited about boxing in a very long time. The reason is because for a while now it's been Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao that have kept the sport afloat. Thus, the question has been, where are the new stars that will keep this sport alive when they are done?
Well it took awhile, but the new stars are here and casual fans better recognize, there are more than a few out there; you just have to give them a chance. In the last two weeks since the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight, there have been some exciting, even extraordinary bouts that have taken place; and if you missed them solely because you felt disappointed two weeks ago, you have done yourself a disservice.
At the top of the list of rising new stars of the sport stands the man pictured above, world middleweight (160 lbs.) champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (33-0, 30 KO's). A magnificent combination of boxer and puncher, this native of Kazakhstan appears ready to take the mantle from Mayweather as the sports "Pound for Pound" King. Not only in the ring either as he's moved to the United States, learned the language and as this past weekend's performance in Southern California showed. has endeared himself to the U.S. fan base.
So much so, that when he was asked about a potential fight against rising Mexican star Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KO's) the partisan Mexican crowd did not boo Golovkin, but instead cheered. Alvarez, ranked number one in the world at 154 lbs., is another young beast ready to break out to the casual fan base. Already known to hard core fans, if you missed the three round war a week ago Saturday he had with James Kirkland, you missed an all-time classic. I am not overstating it when I say it was eerily similar to the 'Three rounds of Fury' fight between Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns 30 years ago in April '85.
While Golovkin and Alvarez top the list, there are other talented young champions out there that are about to become household names. Champions such as last years recognized 'Fighter of the Year', WBO Super lightweight (140 lbs.) champion Terence Crawford (26-0, 18 KO's), world flyweight (112 lbs.) champion Roman Gonzalez (43-0, 37 KO's), light-heavyweight champion (175 lbs.) Sergey 'Krusher' Kovalev (27-0, 24 KO's) and Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KO's), the first American heavyweight champion in nearly 10 years. Other names include Andre Ward, Nicholas Walters and Mikey Garcia; all undefeated and all champions in their respective weight classes.
This of course does not even include the established stars in the sport that are still fighting at a championship level such as Miguel Cotto, Vladimir Klitschko, Timothy Bradley along with the aforementioned Mayweather and Pacquiao. Boxing is alive and thriving and one underachieving mega fight or what is being spewed from the uneducated masses should not be your barometer. Watch the fights and don't be misled, because boxing is far from dead.
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