Wanted: Golden Days not Golden Boys

I think we may look back on 2007 as a brief golden era for boxing. There were some really good match-ups: Mayeather v De La Hoya, Hopkins v Wright, Taylor v Pavlik, Pacquiao v Barrera, Diaz v Diaz, Cotto v Mosley, Calzaghe v Kessler, Hatton v Mayweather. Sadly, from the looks of it, 2008 has reverted to the norm – either good fighters matched against vastly inferior ones (e.g. De La Hoya v Forbes, Hatton v Lazcano, Forrest v Mora, etc.) or fights featuring boxers who are past it. In January we had Jones v Trinidad, a fight which took place at least 5 years too late. We’re also seeing Joe Calzaghe choose to fight guys who are way past their peak (first Hopkins and next, by all accounts, Jones). But, without doubt, the biggest tragedy is that Floyd Mayweather, the undisputed pound for pound champion is ducking legitimate contenders, most notably Miguel Cotto. Instead, he’s going to fight ‘Golden Boy’ Oscar De La Hoya – who he already beat convincingly last year (the judge who scored it for De La Hoya was an idiot) - and then, I kid you not, have a rematch with Ricky Hatton! Yes, that’s the same Ricky Hatton he pummelled for 10 rounds before knocking him out. And of course, the heavyweight division still remains a complete joke. Unfortunately, it appears that the new dawn of quality fighters matched up in quality fights, which 2007 seemed to herald, was just an illusion.