Is Boxing Headed for a Crisis When Floyd Mayweather Retires?

Gentlemen (and ladies), start your panic.

Run back the press conference footage that followed Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s 47th consecutive professional victory on Saturday night/Sunday morning and see just how weary the pound-for-pound kingpin looked addressing the post-fight media for the fourth time in the last 16 months.

Steal a glance at the calendar and realize that the 37-year-old “Pretty Boy” turned “Money” man has crept past the line that renders him closer to AARP membership at age 50 than to his hell-raising days of age 25.

Then, if you’re so inclined, say a little prayer for the sport of boxing as we know it. Because while there's no shortage of quality fighters who'll produce compelling fights, the pickings for superstars are a tad slimmer.

Regardless of how he bombastically sliced it during the fight-week run-up to a surely difficult—but decisively earned—rematch decision over Marcos Maidana, there was little to suggest after 12 more rounds with the rugged Argentine that Mayweather was a slam dunk to get past two more fights without a blemish, let alone to stretch the career envelope’s limits in pursuit of a 50th win and beyond.

What that means in plain English is that by this time next year—Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015, if he sticks to scheduling habits—the boxing world will be enduring a first full day without its undisputed superstar.

It’s a doomsday scenario that raises the question: What in the world will become of the sport?

Make no mistake, it’s hardly the first time that modern boxing has bid farewell to its gold standard. But it’s one of the rare times in recent years in which a predictable heir apparent hasn’t already shown himself.

The biggest star of the last 50 years, Muhammad Ali, began a long, painful decline in the back half of the 1970s at precisely the same moment that Sugar Ray Leonard was emerging from the 1976 Summer Olympics with the smile, skill set and backstory that would all but eliminate any transitional headaches.

When Leonard reached his career apex with a stirring defeat of Marvin Hagler in 1987, it was nothing if not a nice coincidence that the next generational phenom—one Mike Tyson—was five months and one title defense into a heavyweight reign that still leaves people breathless nine years after his last paid punch.

Tyson ultimately ceded the throne to Oscar De La Hoya, who then vacated it to Mayweather by virtue of the upstart’s 2007 win in the most-purchased pay-per-view boxing show of all time.

But now that Mayweather’s in the homestretch, there’s no guaranteed baton-receiver loosening up.

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The five-division champion’s only real contemporary in terms of title-belt acquisition and proven PPV cache is Manny Pacquiao, but the Filipino is still just two wins off a devastating KO loss and has shown no evidence lately that his run atop the sport will outlast Mayweather’s by even a day or two.

Take those two off the table, and it’s a jarring drop before the next level is reached.

Canelo Alvarez rode shotgun to Mayweather on history’s most lucrative show last September, and after the bout, Floyd gave his opponent a ringing endorsement, saying via Bob Velin of USA Today, “I've only got 24 months left, then (Canelo) is the man."

Alvarez has since headlined two shows of his own, but his popularity—while significant—reeks far more of devoted ethnic partisanship than the across-the-board “pay to see him lose” passion that Mayweather has inspired.

He’s still in his early 20s and has ample time to grow into the Oscar-level attraction claims that some have already suggested. But Alvarez is competing not only with the fervor De La Hoya generated in Spanish-speaking fans across his native Southern California, but also the John and Jane Whitebread demographic that the “Golden Boy” seized thanks to a gold-medal win for the U.S. in the 1992 Summer Games.

A homeland needle-mover? Yes.

But a reliable sport savior? Not so much.

The problem is, the cupboard outside of him is even less stocked.

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Gigantic (6'6", 243 lbs), talented heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has trouble getting his fights on domestic TV, let alone getting anyone to watch them. The consensus top American fighter not named Mayweather—Andre Ward—is both a gold medalist and sublime darling of the all-knowing cognoscenti but lacks either the blood-and-guts style or compelling persona that demands people pay attention.

And perhaps the most compelling of anyone active in 2014, Bernard Hopkins, turns 50 in January.

It’s no wonder then, that some might hope Mayweather draws out the farewell tour by a year or two.

The most fan-friendly fighter in his prime these days is middleweight shareholder Gennady Golovkin, who’s inspired a Tyson-like titillation thanks to a KO streak that now stretches more than six years and has been augmented lately with increasingly more recognizable names.

But he’s also an Eastern European with little mastery of the language, so, unless he’s matched with the right marquee commodity on the domestic side, it’s hard to conceive him selling much beyond the hardcore set.

It doesn’t help, either, that the “man who beat the man” in his division isn’t him, but Miguel Cotto.

Going further forward and scanning the horizon for a long-term payoff is risky business given the perpetually high flameout rate. But any list of prospects to be aware of should include Terence Crawford, a 26-year-old American lightweight who’s climbed to the top of his weight class, displaying both a skill set and ambition to add title jewelry while engaging the highest-profile names to get it.

And, because boxing remains a top-heavy proposition when it comes to bringing in the casual fan, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that the folks at the premium cable networks are wishing for a super successful step up in class for 6'7" slugger Deontay Wilder, who’s displayed both charisma and concussive tendencies while KO’ing 32 straight opponents since winning bronze at the 2008 Olympics.

He’s articulate, violent and hungry for more—three characteristics that represent a holy trinity when it comes to reviving a sport desperately in need of a shot in its long-term relevance arm.

And five years from now, he may very well be the guy leading the charge into the 2020s.

But there's a lot of ground to cover between now and then, and until he gains a title-belt beachhead to mount the next-decade offensive, it's still a far less locked-in proposition than Mayweather has always been.  

Whaddya say, Floyd…maybe just one more multifight contract?