2011 - A Golden Year For Boxing?

Boxing often gets criticised for the best not fighting the best. But already in 2011 we've seen the two top light welters Bradley and Alexander face off. Then two top ten p4pers Donaire and Montiel faced off. 

Now the heavyweight unification fight between haye and wladimir klitschko has been signed. Other fights that will almost certainly happen include a 140lb unification between Bradley and Amir khan, a super middleweight unification between Andre ward and Carl froch, a bantamweight unification between donaire and Anselmo Moreno and a domestic match between groves and degale. 

Could this be a golden year for boxing with big fights happening in so many divisions? And which other fights do you think will be made or would you like to see made? There's any number of fights youd want to see at 126 between juanma, gamboa, John, cabbellero and hasegawa and I think rios vs katsidas at 135 could be a cracker. Others?

What a nice change from the constant moaning about titles etc.

Even one like Martinez vs Dzinziruk looks good, Sergio seems happy to fight anyone now.

So many of the titlists are facing off at the moment: BW, LWW, SMW, HW, all the divisions seem to have guys who want to prove themselves.

I'd agree that it's certainly a step in the right direction, though there is still room for improvement. Something tells me that at least one of the mooted Haye-Klitschko, Khan-Bradley or Ward-Froch bouts won't materialize, and as for Lopez-Gamboa, you can totally forget it I'm afraid. Pacquiao has taken Arum to a position of near enough total authority, and he'll be keeping his prized assets away from anything that could turn his current flow of cash in to a reduced trickle.

Looks much more promising than last year.

Hopefully the current trend for best fighting the best will continue throughout the year. Let's have more Donaire-Montiel type fight and less shiiiiite like Alvarez-Hatton.

I think the Groves vs DeGale fight had to happen this year.

With two previous money spinners getting spanked in previous years (Khan & Mitchell) before they had actually generated any serious revenue, it is important that this fight gets made as the winner will be propelled into the limelight and get a serious head start at the bigger levels.

Lopez and Gamboa im not to excited about as Bob Arum is a cuuuuunt and wants to drag these two on seperatley.

I still cant get my hopes up about Haye and K2 for the simple fact they have let us down so many times its hard to trust them actually getting to June 25 - 2nd July without another bit of drama beforehand. Hope Im wrong though.

But agree, its a great start to the year compared to the last couple.

Still a bit of braindead fans kind of matches i:e Manny vs Mosley. This fight is a joke FULL STOP. Maybe promoters and fighters should take note of Alexander, Bradley, Donaire & Montiel so far and follow suit. God knows the sport needs a good year.

A Golden year for boxing? I would say almost certainly not if we are to compare it to other golden years and eras.

It should, and almost certainly will exceed last year which was disappointing overall.

I think the quality tends to increase the further down the weights you go, but unfortunately the opposite is true for the coverage they get.

Im sure Haye v Klitschko (if it does happen) will gather plenty of attention. To be honest I see it as applying a defibultor to a long dead corpse but hopefully the fight can bring some much needed attention back to the sport and wont be another damaging letdown. My interest in the division regardlesss of who wins will remain limited though.

For me, the resons to be optimistic are some potentially good clashes amongst the smaller men and I have much more time and interest in fighters like Donaire, Lopez, Gamboa, Wongjankem, John, Cabellero et all. Its a pity that boxing is so reluctant to really focus on these guys when the likes of Haye, Pacquaio, Mayweather and the Klitschkos have been doing little to warrant such a stage in recent years.

Colonial Lion: A Golden year for boxing? I would say almost certainly not if we are to compare it to other golden years and eras.
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I meant in terms of the modern era - stop living in the past colonial!

Definitely need fighters like Martinez at the top, especially in a respected in a division like MW. He seems to appreciate the time he has at the top and is intent on proving himself as a top quality fighter instead of crudely monopolising the division.

tyson vs chisora would be interesting fight