It’s Transition Time Again
Out with the old and in with the new. It’s harsh but it’s reality. Call it a generational shift; call it evolution; call it the natural order of things. Whatever it is, it’s a change in the landscape and it’s good for boxing.
Outgoing
How many more fights does Manny Pacquiao have left in him? Is Juan Manuel Marquez retiring on will he continue on? As Joel Casamayor makes his long overdue exist, Rocky Juarez, James Toney, Zab Judah, and hopefully Roy Jones, Israel Vazquez, Evander Holyfield might join him. Glen Johnson has had a great run but it’s probably over and Michael Katsidis has seen his best days as well. Both Allan Green and Danny Green show signs of fading and Edison Miranda and Jermain Taylor seem to get knocked out whenever they step up. Kelly Pavlik and Kermit Cintron (and maybe even David Lemieux) arguably have one more chance. Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito may do enough harm to one another in December to ensure their departure—assuming that fight even takes place, and Erik Morales’ next big payday will likely be his last big payday.
The very chillable Enzo Maccarinelli will come back and then leave as soon as he gets chilled. Terribly mismatched and waxable Jean-Marc Mormeck will depart after he is waxed by Wlad. And the no-longer hot Paul Williams may be an icing waiting to happen. Rafael Marquez is now teetering. Even the great Vitali Klitschko is starting to sound like he wants to smell the roses soon, but Samuel Peter, Lamon Brewster, Fres Oquendo, David Tua, Shannon Briggs (and a bunch of other heavyweights) have no choice in the matter. It also appears that Sultan Ibragimov, Ruslan Chagaev, and Nicolay Valuev have said Nyet. However, Bernard Hopkins remains an anomaly and so does Antonio Tarver.
Each of the above has given us thrills and chills, but as we bid them adieu, we need to welcome and embrace the new guys on the block. They come from all over the world and they mean business (in more ways than one).
Incoming
I’m talking about Pier-Olivier Côté, Brandon Rios, James Kirkland, Alfredo Angulo, Hernan Marquez, Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo, Takashi Uchiyama, Takahiro Ao, Dmitry Pirog, Kazuto Ioka, Lucas Matthysse, Mike Alvarado, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Roman Gonzalez, Ramon Hirales, Adrien Broner, Kell Brook, Mike Jones, Rico Ramos, George Groves, Robert Helenius, Tyson Fury, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Erislandy Lara, Antonio DeMarco, Ricky Burns, Austin Trout, Vanes Martirosyan, Daiki Kameda, Darley Perez, Jose Benavidez, Miguel Vazquez, Billy Dib, Nathan Cleverly, James DeGale, Robert Guerrero, Paulus Moses, Nkosinathi Joyi, and Ismayl Sillakh to name just a few. I’m betting that they will be monopolizing the headlines in the not-too-distant future.
I don’t know about you but the prospect of Povetkin vs. Fury or Helenius vs. Chisora or Rio vs. anyone has my rapt attention.
In-Between
Of course, in-between the outgoing and the incoming are the more established men—the champions, the Kahns, Bertos, Ortizes, Maidanas, the “Super Six” fighters, Floyd Mayweather, and tough hombres like Sergio Martinez, Marco Huck, Jhonney Gonzalez, Abner Mares, Juan Manuel Lopez, Vic Darchinyan, Chris Arreola, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Giovanni Segura, Chad Dawson, Jean Pascal, Wlad Klitschko, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Timothy Bradley, Omar Narvaez, Koki Kameda, Toshiaki Nishioka, Chris John, Takashi Uchiyama, Tavoris Cloud and others too numerous to list.
And when the “in-betweens” fight the “incoming,” we the fans are the real winners.
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