By CalixBoixing (YouTube Channel)

Don’t ask too much of these fighters. 44 weeks of PTO is the new norm for the modern boxer and asking them to cut that down to 36 weeks would be anti-fighter. Fighters are entitled to long honeymoons and entitled to a comeback fight from the wear and tear of being newly married. Don’t even suggest that an indestructible freight train like the “Mexican Monster” maybe fight another somewhat tough fight while waiting for Canelo Alvarez, to fight guys like John Ryder and Dmitry Bivol. That would be barbaric and unfair to suggest. You may as well be showing up to the coliseum to watch Roman gladiators get their heads ripped off by starved Bengal tigers.

The top 10 P4P fighters in the world according to Ring Magazine fought a combined 14 times in the calendar year of 2022. The first sighting of a P4P fighter in the calendar year 2023 will be on May 6 when Canelo fights his homecoming fight in Mexico. At that rate of activity doesn’t climb much as you go further down the ratings. This is the new norm, and don’t you dare suggest we change it or you’ll be met by a legion of boxing-power-broker-talking-point-parrots who disguise themselves as boxing fans but are now more aligned with boxing managers. 

Some boxing fans have become volatile and confusing, willing to campaign against their own interests as boxing fans in favor of the better interests of their favorite network exec/promoter/manager/adviser. They are winning in their battle against boxing fans who just want to see the best fighters face each other at a decent rate.

NBA stars sit out the second night of back-to-backs, which they have leveraged. Once they shorten the season, which will happen, they’ll still sit out the same percentage of games while being paid more per minute. It is what it is. You can’t stop it, you can only hope to contain it. Fortunately for the NBA, close to 1 BILLION fans follow the NBA in Asian countries, let alone U.S.-based fans.

Boxing doesn’t have that luxury, but that hasn’t stopped those in charge of putting on fights to be equally dismissive as their basketball counterparts in refusing to read the room and reach back out to the disinterested U.S. market.

Boxing’s version of load management is the new normal and there seem to be no realistic/executable solutions to this problem. Especially considering that the people who it negatively impacts the most, boxing fans, are siding at a higher rate with boxing’s power brokers who have successfully propagandized some in the remaining U.S. market into believing this is healthy for the fighters and the sport at large. We’ve been compromised. As the number of fans has decreased so has the blowback on major promoters.

One thing I can appreciate about the new-age of boxing fan is his/her optimism. Although misdirected and naïve, they are fans. Although I have no real solutions to our problems and I believe the long-term outlook is bleak, I’ll offer some optimism myself.  If you’re still here, just enjoy the diminishing number of great moments we have. Embrace and defend the actions of the diminishing number of fighters behaving like fighters on a consistent basis. It is still good out there, you just have to search longer and harder for it.

-CaliXBoxing