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Can the Welterweight Division Return to Greatness?

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PicsArt_03-22-03.23.08By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña
Photos by Cynthia “Cindy Lou” Saldaña

In the 70’s the Welterweight division had champions such as, Wilfred Benitez, Carlos Palomino, Pipino Cuevas, and Jose Napoles to name just a few. Follow that up with the next two decades with fighters such as Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Donald Curry, Pernell Whitaker, Ike Quartey, Meldrick Taylor, Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad. With the names mentioned it’s hard for anyone to argue that the welterweight division has always been a spotlight of the sweet science. For boxing fans that have just started following the sport, the division also has recently seen names such as Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Zab Judah, Antonio Margarito and Sugar Shane Mosley all hold some part of the title before the division was taken over by Manny Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather. JR.

With Mayweather retired, and Manny possibly fighting his last fight in April, the Welterweight throne is up for grabs. With young fighters such as the PicsArt_03-22-03.21.11WBA regular Champion Keith “One Time” Thurman, Shawn Porter, WBO Champ Jessie Vargas, Errol Spence and WBC Champion Danny Garcia, in the division with names such IBF Champion Kell Brook, Timothy Bradley, and Amir Khan this division has every opportunity to shine and bring all out wars, great match-ups and instant classics back to fans.

Now with all that being said, how long will these fighters and their promotional companies keep disappointing fans? PBC and Al Haymon took a big step to bring a quality fight to fans, but due to a recent car accident the much anticipated fight between Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman has been postponed until June. Amir Khan has moved on to bigger things literally as he faces Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in May. Kell Brook looked in another direction when he was passed over by Khan and will now be facing Kevin Bizier, an opponent that barely cracks the top 20 in the Welterweight rankings.

At long last the rematch of the 2011 fight of the year between Victor Ortiz who is trying to revamp his career and Andre Berto will take place April 30th at the Stubhub Center in Carson that will be sure to give fans an all action bout. Then next month the former US Olympian Errol “The Truth” Spence will put his undefeated record on the line as he takes on Chris Algieri. With this division only getting better and stronger and likelihood of Terence Crawford, Frankie Gomez and Adrien Broner eventually moving up fans should look for the Welterweight division to be one of the best for years to come.

Will the Welterweight division ever get the status it once held in the 80’s and 90’s? I doubt it. I honestly doubt any division will ever go back to the Golden Age of the sport. I do know that true fans understand that boxing has transitioned from what it once was to a business, and sometimes it can be upsetting when certain fights aren’t made, but true fans are patient and don’t bitch and complain with such an abundance of negativity, that one might need to question their motives. Between complaining about matchups on Facebook and other social forms to tearing down fighters, the constant ridicule can become quite distasteful. At the end of the day I love boxing and although it’s not as popular as it once was in the U.S., boxing is as big as ever overseas.

If the sport can make a few adjustments, it could really be back in the limelight.

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