Where is everyone???

[BrutalBodyShots]

I think a huge part of the problem is how often fighters fight these days compared to standard protocol 10-20 years ago. These days guys like Canelo, Cotto, Rigondeaux, Walters, Crawford even Gonzalez fight 2 times per year. You've got to dig back to 2009 to find a year that Ward fought 3 times. A lot of the names mentioned earlier in this thread from the past like Morales, Mosley/DLH in their prime, Barrera, even second tier guys like Vic Darchiniyan fought 3+ times per year. 3 verses 2 may not seem like a lot, but it's 50% more and it's seeing a guy in the ring every 4 months or so verses 6 months. These days with guys fighting 2 times per year half the time I can't remember who they last fought without really thinking about it. They aren't on our minds enough. I think the only current guy I can really point to that seems to consistently be in the ring 3 times per year is Golovkin, and it's no surprise that he's one of the most talked about guys. We see him more, he's fresher in our minds, he gets talked about.

Fighters need to fight. Just get in the damn ring. I have no problem with them mixing a scrub/mandatory in once a year. If that means they fight 3 times instead of 2, I'm all for it. Lay out the mandatory in a couple of rounds with a highlight reel KO. Fans like that. It gets them talking and wanting to see you again. We get to see that KO replayed in the promo clip of their next BIG fight 4 months later to build greater interest.

I guess my argument simply comes down to our current crop of top fighters simply don't fight often enough. Imagine if they all fought 50% more. We'd have 50% more to talk about and get excited about. That's how it was 10-20 years ago when literally just about every Saturday night there was a fight on.

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Off topic here, but a guy like Pacquiao doesn't even get a thread in this forum when he fights now. Granted he's not a P4P top guy like he was 5+ years ago and Vargas wasn't the best dance partner out there, but getting no thread/discussion at all is a far cry from threads with 10-15 pages in the past. Bottom line is that there simply isn't the interest now that used to be there with respect to the sport (not just Pacquiao).