A New Era in American Boxing?

After Naoya Inoue beat Ramon Cardenas, I posted a tweet that stuck with me.

I wrote that Inoue is a generational talent who could win unanimous decisions for the rest of his career without ever touching the canvas again. He chooses not to. I also wrote that in a sport poisoned by the ‘protect the zero mindset’, we should be celebrating fighters who prioritize giving fans what they want over protecting an undefeated record.

At first, I thought it was just a tweet about Inoue.

Then something started to happen as the boxing schedule unfolded and certain names kept finding their way into the conversation.

I realized you could apply that same tweet to a growing list of fighters helping shape boxing right now, particularly in the American fight scene.

You could say it about Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. You could say it about Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez. You could say it about the ‘Mexican Monster’, David Benavidez. You could say it about Vergil Ortiz Jr (somebody give this man a nick-name).

None of those fighters are perfect. That is part of the point. Bam has touched the canvas. Benavidez has touched the canvas. Vergil has touched the canvas. Boots is the exception in that group, but even Boots has faced adversity. We just watched him get buzzed in the third round against Xander Zayas and answer every question that came with it.

These guys are not spending their careers trying to avoid those moments. They are willing to accept the risks that come with fighting aggressively. They are willing to exchange. They are willing to chase stoppages. They are willing to leave openings if it means putting pressure on an opponent and giving fans the kind of fight they tuned in to see.

And it does not stop with the established names.

Even the rising stars, guys like Abdullah Mason and Floyd Schofield, seem to be carrying that same mindset. Both have touched the canvas. Both have heard the criticism that comes with it. Neither one has responded by becoming boring or cautious.

Mason’s recent performance against Albert Bell was a perfect example. Believing he could be behind on the scorecards, he did not spend the championship rounds protecting what he had. He pushed for the finish and found it in the twelfth round. Whether you agreed with the scorecards or hated the stoppage, his mindset was clear. He was not interested in leaving the outcome in somebody else’s hands.

That is the thread connecting all of this.

To be clear, this is not an attack on defensive boxing. There was room for Pernell Whitaker. There was room for Floyd Mayweather. There is room for Shakur Stevenson today. The sport has always needed fighters like that.

Where boxing starts to hurt is when everybody tries to become those guys.

Whitaker was a master. Floyd was a master. Shakur is a master. They made elite fighters look ordinary. The problem is that style is not easy to duplicate. Most fighters are not built to fight that way, yet for years it felt like boxing became obsessed with finding the next version of those guys.

Somewhere along the way, protecting the zero became more important than entertaining the fans. Winning Compubox debates became more important than winning fights. Avoiding mistakes became more important than creating moments, and fans noticed.

You can see it in the way certain fighters struggle to connect with casual audiences. You can see it in the way some ‘super-fights’ are literally forgotten the moment they are over. You can see it every time a real fight breaks out and suddenly everybody is talking about boxing again.

People want action. They want drama. They want uncertainty. They want to feel like something can happen every second the fight is taking place.

That is why this current group feels different.

When Boots Ennis fights, people expect something to happen. When Bam Rodriguez fights, people expect something to happen. When David Benavidez fights, people expect something to happen. When Vergil Ortiz fights, people expect something to happen.

They are not stepping into the ring looking to score a few points and coast to a decision. They are looking to impose themselves on the opponent standing across from them. They are looking to end the night.

That is what made the Boots and Xander weekend feel so good for the sport. The building had real energy. The crowd was invested. Xander had his moments. Boots had to deal with some adversity. Then the fight kept building, round by round, until it gave fans the kind of night people still wanted to talk about the next day.

That is what boxing is supposed to feel like.

Maybe it is too early to call this a golden era. History will decide that years from now. What I do know is that when I see the names leading the charge and the names coming up behind them, I see the sport moving in a direction fans have been asking for, for years!

I see fighters who are offense first. I see fighters who believe in their ability to finish fights. I see fighters who understand that getting touched is part of the fight game.

Most importantly, I see fighters who are giving fans a reason to tune in every time they step into the ring.

As fans, we have a responsibility too.

We have gotten into a bad habit of waiting for great fighters to lose so we can celebrate being right. We spend hours talking about flaws and seconds talking about everything these fighters do well. The moment somebody gets dropped, loses a fight, or looks human, half the conversation becomes an opportunity for victory laps.

That is backwards.

Every one of these fighters gives a piece of himself to the sport every time he steps through those ropes. They are taking risks. They are entertaining us. They are giving us the kind of fights we claim we want.

We should appreciate that while it is happening, now, in the moment. Not when these guys are struggling to put sentences together after they’ve given us the entirety of their prime years.

Too many fans spend their time waiting for these fighters to fail. Waiting for them to get dropped. Waiting for them to lose. Waiting for the moment they can say they were right.

I’d rather enjoy the fights.

And right now, boxing is giving us plenty to enjoy.