Franchise Thoughts: Mayweather-Pacquiao Fatigue, Jones-Hopkins II and the Return (Sort of) of Televised Boxing

A while back, when I thought Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao were going to fight each other (silly, I know), I dreaded how much analysis there was going to be leading up to March 13. Everyone, and I mean everyone with even the slightest interest in the bout and access to a keyboard was sounding off on how it would go down.

That was back in December, by the way.

Now I've discovered something even worse. Floyd and Manny aren't fighting and we're still hearing about them, seemingly all the time, from all corners.

Look, I'm as upset as anyone that the fight fell apart. I've thrown my two cents in when I felt like I had something relevant to say, so I'm as guilty as anyone else.

But I'm just worn out by all of the coverage now. At this point, I don't care about who was more responsible for the fight disintegrating, how it's a big blow to the sport, or anything of that nature.

We, the boxing fans of the world, need to move on. Mayweather and Pacquiao may be the two best boxers on the planet, but they aren't the be-all and end-all of the sport.

I promise not to write any more about the fight that wasn't after today (though I will write about their replacement fights), and I vow to focus on all of the other great boxers who will be in action soon. I invite everyone out there on the internets to do the same.

This may not be the world's best segue, but Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. have decided to go ahead with their rematch, Jones' recent KO loss be damned. Guess we'll just forget that Danny Green fight ever happened, eh Roy?

I really have no problem with this, as neither man looked to be in the running for a big money fight against anyone under 40. I hope cooler heads prevail and the fight won't be shown on pay-per-view, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's kind of amusing to see early fan reaction fairly split on who will win. B-Hop has done much better against tougher competition over the past few years, so in my mind he's a heavy favorite going in.

Hopkins' style has also aged better with time because it depends so much on fundamentals (including the dirtier type that aren't in the proverbial boxing textbook) than Roy's, built as it is/was around his superior quickness and athleticism. I'm not saying RJJ can't win, but I will consider it a fairly big upset if he does.

Finally, it occurred to me that I'd feel better about all of the above if people would start throwing punches at each other on live TV. We're still a week away from an HBO card, but Friday Night Fights and Top Rank's new Fox Sports Net show both get going this weekend.

Demetrius Andrade, Juan Carlos Burgos and Kassim Ouma might not be enough to make me forget about boxing's winter of discontent altogether, but they sure will help. Let the fights begin!

Posted by The Franchise