Pacquiao vs. Bradley: Underwhelming Bout Indicative of Boxing's Faded Relevance

Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Timothy Bradley is not the bout that fans want to see, and there is no way for boxing to benefit from the result.

If Pacquiao wins, as he is expected to, then more rumors of a matchup with Floyd Mayweather will start. But if the past says anything about the future, negotiations will devolve into an unnecessary blame-game, and the fight will never happen.

If Bradley upsets the current World Boxing Organization welterweight champion, then there is no chance of a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao event.

Bradley is a good fighter, but he lacks the star power to help bring boxing back into the spotlight.

Heavyweight boxing matches used to be some of the biggest sporting events in the world, but now, no one is watching. This forced HBO to stop showing heavyweight fights two years ago.

The lower weight classes have been able to garner more interest, with stars like Pacquiao, Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya. But De La Hoya is retired, and the two biggest names left refuse to go against each other. If Pacquiao and Mayweather never fight, boxing will continue to fade into a niche sport.

The fact that Pacquaio and Mayweather have not fought yet shows a serious flaw in how the sport is run. 

From a common sense standpoint, there is absolutely no reason that the two best fighters in a given weight class should not fight each other. But the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps have conclusively proven that they are not fit to negotiate the terms of a fight.

If this bout does not happen, the whole sport suffers. Identifying the problem with how boxing is run and fixing it will be extremely difficult. Accomplishing this task will take a lot of time and effort.

Without any effective governing body, the personal rivalries between promoters get out of hand. If a single office could mediate negotiations, fans likely would see more fights that they are interested in.

The sport has failed to produce the product that the fans want to see for several years now, and it is time for change. If reform does not happen, and happen soon, the sport will continue to fade into irrelevancy.