Pacquiao vs Marquez: Lack of Interest in Pacquiao Proves Boxing Is Doomed

What the hell happened? Boxing used to infuse this country with passion and debate. Instead, we are treating an epic showdown featuring the best boxer in the world as a niche event that only a specific sort of fan would enjoy. 

There is hardly a bigger name in boxing than Manny Pacquiao. Yet, an upcoming clash against Juan Manuel Marquez is taking a backseat to far less interesting sports stories. 

It has become so bad that far more people wonder if Tim Tebow will beat the Detroit Lions this weekend than if Pacquiao will retire after a stirring win.

Yes, I used Tim Tebow in a boxing article, and half of you will appreciate it. You will be reminded and think to yourself, "Oh, yeah. I forgot to look up some Tebow news today."

We are an NFL nation. We love to sit back on a summer day and have baseball in the background. The NBA? It just enjoyed a banner year and will continue to have fans flock to its arenas when the lockout ends. 

On November 12th, we will see the third installment of what has been a great boxing rivalry. This sport used to thrive on the stuff. 

Pacquiao vs. Marquez should have one half of the country completely against the other. A civil war of sorts should be taking place. Instead, HBO execs are trembling that a rash of lackluster bouts will have fans ignoring one of the bigger fights this year. 

After a horrible Bernard Hopkins bout, HBO's Mark Taffett was asked if there was cause for concern over future Pay-per-View subscriptions. 

"

Boxing fans are very savvy and very sophisticated. They look at each fight individually. And they evaluate it based on its own merits and every boxing fan knows that when you look at Cotto and Margarito, it doesn’t matter what came before it. It doesn’t matter what comes after it. On that night you want to watch, you want to tune in. And we expect it to be a very fulfilling night for boxing fans.

"

That's a whole lot of words that equates to, "please watch our fight, I promise it won't suck." And it won't. There has hardly been a boxer that could take Pacquiao to the distance and have his legacy live to tell about it. 

Marquez has a real chance of shocking the world, but we won't hear about it. Instead, we are hit over the head time and again with Tim Tebow, Terrell Owens or other small subplots from the NFL. 

The fact that we care more about these much smaller tales speaks volumes of where our heads and hearts are at as a sports-loving nation. 

Boxing is, in fact, doomed.