Monday 25 July 2016 17:21, UK
It's been another spectacular few days on either side of the Atlantic, with stars shining brightly, fights finally made and established stars sadly calling it a day.
Terence Crawford surely proved he is the best in the world at 140lbs, but what comes next? Nathan Cleverly and Juergen Braehmer will fight after five years of debate and of course, Jim Watt has retired.
There is plenty to look at what went on in and outside the ring and the chance to cast your vote on some of the topics of debate...
Terrence Crawford's display against Viktor Postol saw him add another super-lightweight world title and confirm himself as the finest we've got at 140lbs. But it will also stir up the pound-for-pound debate. And as always, even if their conveyor belt of stars is trundling slower these days, it just goes to show that America still has boxing talent.
Crawford has class and skill but there is one thing that, for now at least, could put him above his compatriots and that is changing weights. Andre Ward has always been there or thereabouts and was deemed the super-middleweight supremo, but until he takes on Sergey Kovalev up at light-heavyweight, we can't be sure of S.O.G's status.
Gary Russell Jr has been plagued by injuries but is finally back to prove his frightening combination of speed and power will put him among the pound-for-pound best sooner rather than later. Yet he has still only been involved in two world title fights at featherweight. Crawford is more active than both and in beating Yuriorkis Gamboa at lightweight and then a fellow undefeated world champion in Postol at 140lbs, he has taken on the toughest tests at two weights and dealt with them both, in some style.
But Danny Garcia is America's other stellar two-weight world champion and if you want a list of names he has beaten to give him the edge, then Amir Khan, Zab Judah, Lucas Matthyse, Lamont Peterson, Paulie Malignaggi and Robert Guerrero, do just that. The Matthyse win saw him do what Crawford has just done and win a unification but perhaps Garcia is following in Floyd Mayweather's footsteps is not just winning the coveted WBC welterweight belt, but also fighting names past their best.
Now a Crawford-Garcia showdown would settle any arguments when it comes to the country's number one. Will it happen? The American Dream is back...
Will Terence Crawford be Manny Pacquiao's next opponent? Well if he is, surely it will be time for Freddie Roach to lay another big bet and it is hard not to see him ripping up his slip in defeat again. Crawford has to be the favourite.
We know the multi-weight world titlist has at least one more fight in him, but with Crawford on the rise, there are problems ahead for Pacquiao if this fight takes place.
Age is the obvious issue. Pacquiao is nine years older and while he has bundles more experience, we have just seen Crawford has speed and slickness in abundance. Circling around Postol perhaps showed the Ukrainian's shortcomings and if there was one thing Pacquiao did better than most, it was to cut down the ring, reduce the room to manoeuvre out of trouble and then attack.
But the word 'was' is the key. No fight fan should have a bad word to say about the Filipino phenomenon but his last few fights - disregarding the expected Fight of the Century defeat - have shown we sadly no longer get the Manny of old.
Being a southpaw often brings an advantage to the ring, but who knows which way Crawford would choose? Officially an orthodox fighter, he switched to a lefty inside the first minute of the Postol fight and who is to say he couldn't switch back and forth to frustrate the life out of Pacquiao? Mayweather did that in a different way but we we still saw him gobble up Pac-Man. Crawford could well do the same.
They say it's all about the timing, especially when it's taken five years to finally get Juergen Braehmer and Nathan Cleverly in the same ring. Now it is finally on, it has almost gone full cycle but will the delays make a different proposition all together?
The pair were first meant to fight in 2011, when Cleverly was the emerging WBO world light-heavyweight champion while his German counterpart was just entering the top echelon, so perhaps it was too soon to see them meet. That Braehmer withdrew and saw Tony Bellew enter the scene with his infamous '****ing rat' outburst as he was trying to step in and challenge Cleverly, played a major part in the Welshman's career.
Of course, 'Bomber' got his chance and failed at light-heavyweight but soon after Cleverly took on Sergey Kovelev and was literally blasted out, his bubble was burst. The move up to cruiserweight and losing to Bellew in the rematch not only proved he is better off at light-heavy but also saw his standing, even in Britain, sink.
The second attempt to agree a Braehmer deal came in that spell and this time the Welshman said no, with the German an established world level champion by now. Cleverly then lost to Andrzej Fonfara out in America in a blooded battle so maybe it made sense to finally sign the deal we have been waiting five years for.
Well, did the German team see that glint in Cleverly's eye? Did they see how he seemed to enjoy that brutal battering? Has Cleverly got his and that bubble back? Braehmer might have the right man at last, but maybe at the wrong time...
This is a Sky Sports piece, so don't expect it to join some social folk and be happy the long-standing commentator has finally called it a day at ringside. But love him as we do, or loath them as many Twitter trolls do, Jim Watt's retirement will be the end of an era that will never be forgotten.
A proud Scotsman, a world lightweight champion and the man involved in some of the world's biggest fights, simply called it as he saw it. Watt was never one to sit on the fence once that first bell went. People have criticised him for supposedly siding with Carl Froch in the rematch with George Groves long before that knockout, but do people remember his commentary on that controversial first? Probably not.
Watt also saw things coming before they unfolded in front of our own eyes. His ITV career will be remembered for that enthralling, but ultimately sad, war between Nigel Benn and Gerald McClellan. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but the moment 'G-Force' blinked hard and rubbed his forehead, Watt sensed and said something wasn't right.
Watt was never one to blow his own trumpet or even backtrack if he was not totally on point, but he has helped enhance the human involvement boxing covering needs. Commentators are like judges, they can't do right for doing wrong, but the Scotsman will be sorely missed and will not be replaced by a team of 'techies' analysing punches, inventing an instant scoring system, with decisions being referred upstairs.
Watt formed excellent commentary partnerships with Reg Gutteridge, Ian Darke, Adam Smith and Nick Halling and brought controversy, comedy and correct calls as only a human can do. And as he would have said himself, he was it 'right on the button' more often than not.
