2011: Best Year for Boxing Since?

With amount of pure quality fights already played out this year and bearing in mind we are not even 4 months in, could this year be one of the best for some time?

Rios v Acosta
Guerrero vs Katsidas
Martinez vs Dzinriruk
Donaire vs Montiel
Morales vs Maidana
Berto vs Ortiz
Lopez vs Salido

Some very good fights of the top of my head and over 8 months left, plus other potential or scheduled fights:

Cotto vs Marg II
Wlad vs Haye
Super 6 Final
Pac vs Mosley
Hopkins vs Pascal II
Khan vs Bradley
Degale vs Groves (for British interest and a good test for both to see where they can go)

To me this year seems jam packed with big fights.

Who said boxing was dead?!?

2010.

There have been some great fights this year and some of the tail end of last year.

It seems like every week there are a couple of greats fights to watch, yet there is still this myth around that this is a weak era and boxing is in the doldrums.

Boxing is in a golden age right now and we should all appreciate it.

I agree mate - this year has given us some cracking fights so far and like you say - some bigger ones coming up.

Viva La Boxing!! Let's just hope more fans get back into the sport.

Boxing is definately not in a Golden era. The era is thin quality wise even compared to 10 years ago.

The Mayweather v Pacquaio and Haye v Klitschko debacles havent helped it in recent years either.

The bigger concern for me is the lack of coverage its getting. Even when there are decent fights made they are hard to access or find coverage too in many cases they arent on tv at all.

the likes of Donaire and Martinez should be much bigger stars than they are but instead in many cases its hard to even find coverage of their fights.

The sport is becoming increasingly niched and harder and more expensive for the average fan to follow.

Good year so far and plenty of more good fights to come. Last year was pretty poor tbh it ended well though. I don't think this is a golden era of boxing the elite only fight once or twice a year.

Boxing used to be a mainsteam sport in Britain but that's not really the case anymore. Nonito Donaire's last fight wasn't on any British tv channel and he's top 5 P4P. It's only really boxing geeks like us lot who go online and try and find these fights to watch.

The general public or casual fans don't get to see a lot of the big fights. This isn't good for the sport and until it changes we won't see another golden era.

manos de piedra wrote:Boxing is definately not in a Golden era. The era is thin quality wise even compared to 10 years ago.

The Mayweather v Pacquaio and Haye v Klitschko debacles havent helped it in recent years either.

The bigger concern for me is the lack of coverage its getting. Even when there are decent fights made they are hard to access or find coverage too in many cases they arent on tv at all.

the likes of Donaire and Martinez should be much bigger stars than they are but instead in many cases its hard to even find coverage of their fights.

The sport is becoming increasingly niched and harder and more expensive for the average fan to follow.

Ten years ago boxing was terrible for the fans.

The likes of ODLH, Jones jr, Hopkins, etc fought almost exclusively on PPV. I considered myself a fan of boxing back then but I can't recall seeing Jones fight for about 5 years after his victory over Toney, you simply couldn't get the fights. I don't think I ever got to see ODLH, definitely live anyway, until he fought Trinidad. Those were dark days.

Now every decent fight is up on the internet within a few hours. Any fan of boxing can get hold of any fight they want to see in minutes. I honestly believe Youtube is revolutionising the sport and that we're in for good times ahead.

Jukebox Timebomb wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:Boxing is definately not in a Golden era. The era is thin quality wise even compared to 10 years ago.

The Mayweather v Pacquaio and Haye v Klitschko debacles havent helped it in recent years either.

The bigger concern for me is the lack of coverage its getting. Even when there are decent fights made they are hard to access or find coverage too in many cases they arent on tv at all.

the likes of Donaire and Martinez should be much bigger stars than they are but instead in many cases its hard to even find coverage of their fights.

The sport is becoming increasingly niched and harder and more expensive for the average fan to follow.

Ten years ago boxing was terrible for the fans.

The likes of ODLH, Jones jr, Hopkins, etc fought almost exclusively on PPV. I considered myself a fan of boxing back then but I can't recall seeing Jones fight for about 5 years after his victory over Toney, you simply couldn't get the fights. I don't think I ever got to see ODLH, definitely live anyway, until he fought Trinidad. Those were dark days.

Now every decent fight is up on the internet within a few hours. Any fan of boxing can get hold of any fight they want to see in minutes. I honestly believe Youtube is revolutionising the sport and that we're in for good times ahead.

Totally agree.

But even back then I can't remember a great run of great fights like we are having now.

D4thincarnation wrote:

Jukebox Timebomb wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:Boxing is definately not in a Golden era. The era is thin quality wise even compared to 10 years ago.

The Mayweather v Pacquaio and Haye v Klitschko debacles havent helped it in recent years either.

The bigger concern for me is the lack of coverage its getting. Even when there are decent fights made they are hard to access or find coverage too in many cases they arent on tv at all.

the likes of Donaire and Martinez should be much bigger stars than they are but instead in many cases its hard to even find coverage of their fights.

The sport is becoming increasingly niched and harder and more expensive for the average fan to follow.

Ten years ago boxing was terrible for the fans.

The likes of ODLH, Jones jr, Hopkins, etc fought almost exclusively on PPV. I considered myself a fan of boxing back then but I can't recall seeing Jones fight for about 5 years after his victory over Toney, you simply couldn't get the fights. I don't think I ever got to see ODLH, definitely live anyway, until he fought Trinidad. Those were dark days.

Now every decent fight is up on the internet within a few hours. Any fan of boxing can get hold of any fight they want to see in minutes. I honestly believe Youtube is revolutionising the sport and that we're in for good times ahead.

Totally agree.

But even back then I can't remember a great run of great fights like we are having now.

As per usual D4 you've hit the nail on the head.

People look back to the good old days of the 'fab four' and such, and think that these great fights were happening week in week out. It was simply not the case.

Well thats not really what I am saying now is it. I am saying ten years ago there were better fighters operating in general.

To call this a "golden age" is pretty ridiculous. Take a look at the top ten fighters a even decade ago and the top fighters in each division and tell me we have a golden age now.

Youtube is well and good but it doesnt mean you get to watch a fight live does it?

Half the time a fight is on some obscure network or one you have to subscribe to even if it isnt ppv.

The people that say boxing is dead are idiots,the heavyweight division may have no americans and a bit dull but theres already going to be a big fight with Haye vs Klictsko.And if a bout can be aranged for Pacquiao vs Marquez at the end of the year it would make it even better boxing isn't all about Pacquaio vs Mayweather we all know its not going to happen and theres alot of big fights that are gonna happen this year.I also reckon 2012 is going to be a big year for boxing.

i think the boxing scene in britan is also vastly improving. we've got chisora/tyson, degale/groves, we've got haye trying to unify, khan will be trying unify, rhodes fighting for the title against alvrez, cleverly fights for the title. up and coming young fighters as well such as price- and exciting fighters such as burns, munroe, brooks and froch all to look forward to i cant see much room for complaint

not to mention events such as heavyweight prizefighter

eddyfightfan wrote:i think the boxing scene in britan is also vastly improving. we've got chisora/tyson, degale/groves, we've got haye trying to unify, khan will be trying unify, rhodes fighting for the title against alvrez, cleverly fights for the title. up and coming young fighters as well such as price- and exciting fighters such as burns, munroe, brooks and froch all to look forward to i cant see much room for complaint

Matthew Macklins fighting for a world title aswell Theres also the likes of Gavin and Saunders starting to make a name of themselves.

Access to fights is far far easier now than ever before.

People who're new to boxing don't know how lucky they are with all the internet coverage. 10 years ago, and before, you simply could not watch the majority of fights. Local fighters would get decent coverage and some American stars but that was it. Usually when a fight was announced it was simply impossible to tell how good the opponent was. This is how promoters were able to get away with matching the likes of Eubank, Hamed, Calzaghe and Hatton with bums for so many years. This simply can not happen nowadays. We can all drag up the records and fight footage and judge for ourselves. I do agree that boxing isn't in a golden age at the mo, but I think things are changing.

access is easier in a sense, but i think alot of fighters are hard to find on youtube and the quality isn't always the best.

This is typical of uneducated fans thinking new fighters are the greatest that have lived.

Do a little research.

Golden era...

Lumbering_Jack wrote:This is typical of uneducated fans thinking new fighters are the greatest that have lived.

Do a little research.

Golden era...

whoever said that?

Yep I agree with the article, so much so that I wrote a similar one on here in february

https://www.606v2.com/t1834-2011-a-golden-year-for-boxing

Lots of big fights have happened and more are in the pipeline. The downside is that I have to agree with Manos that the lack of coverage is disappointing, Martinez, Montiel and other top names in the sport get zero recognition.

Been a great year, so far, and the few months we've had have been better than the whole of 2010.

Lumbering_Jack wrote:This is typical of uneducated fans thinking new fighters are the greatest that have lived.

Do a little research.

Golden era...

No ones saying the greatest that have ever lived just the potential to be very good fighters who could be in exciting fights.

liam_main4 wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:This is typical of uneducated fans thinking new fighters are the greatest that have lived.

Do a little research.

Golden era...

No ones saying the greatest that have ever lived just the potential to be very good fighters who could be in exciting fights.

We are getting high quality exciting fights week after week, a great time for boxing.

eddyfightfan wrote:access is easier in a sense, but i think alot of fighters are hard to find on youtube and the quality isn't always the best.

Tis getting better and better all the time though. Could you even imagine boxing being without internet boxing vids now.

I'm going to buy some shares in Boxing, I see a good future.

Boxing does look like it's going through a really good year. Shame about juanma losing as I thought that they could have fought at the end of the year which would be the best fight to end the fight with. You've got really good fighters in almost every division and every weight class looks in line for unification fights like donaire-Agbeko/mares, Gamboa-John, Fana-Burns, Rios-Vasquez, Khan-Bradley, Cotto-Alvarez-Trout, Pirog/sturm-Martinez, Ward/Froch-Bute, Haye-Klitschko.

Don't forget Manny vs Marquez 3 and Cotto vs Magarito

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:Boxing does look like it's going through a really good year. Shame about juanma losing as I thought that they could have fought at the end of the year which would be the best fight to end the fight with. You've got really good fighters in almost every division and every weight class looks in line for unification fights like donaire-Agbeko/mares, Gamboa-John, Fana-Burns, Rios-Vasquez, Khan-Bradley, Cotto-Alvarez-Trout, Pirog/sturm-Martinez, Ward/Froch-Bute, Haye-Klitschko.

Fana vs Burns won't happen Ol' fish eyes is being a greedy dikk.

prettyboy1304 wrote:

WHU_Champo_League_in_7Yrs wrote:Boxing does look like it's going through a really good year. Shame about juanma losing as I thought that they could have fought at the end of the year which would be the best fight to end the fight with. You've got really good fighters in almost every division and every weight class looks in line for unification fights like donaire-Agbeko/mares, Gamboa-John, Fana-Burns, Rios-Vasquez, Khan-Bradley, Cotto-Alvarez-Trout, Pirog/sturm-Martinez, Ward/Froch-Bute, Haye-Klitschko.

Fana vs Burns won't happen Ol' fish eyes is being a greedy dikk.

No surprise there now wonder Kell Brook left Brook wasn't getting anywhere because fish eyes was wanting too much money for fights.

Ridiculous he actually harmed Brooks chances by demanding to much cash and leaving him to inactive. When he was fighting it was against poor opponents so it was hard to tell if Brook was improving. But I doubt it their is only so much you can do in the gym and against fighters who are punching bags. Hopefully Matchroom will get him a couple of live opponents before the year is out and send him after World titles soon. 2011 is a big year for Kell Brook.

Hopefully after a tune up or eliminator he'll get a world title shot later on in the year.

Hope so I've always liked his style and would love to see it put to the test against good opposition. Mike Jones was being talked about before he went with Matchroom don't know if it's still a possibility. That would be a good fight but Jones might feel he was getting messed around a bit so might not be interested anymore. Matchroom might think about going a different way about it though.