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Legendary trainer Emmanuel Steward has revealed how unhappy he is with the current state of boxing as the politics seems to have taken over with less and less mega fights coming to fruition.
The man who currently trains heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko believes that the fact that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao never look like fighting has made his question the future of the sport.
"There's only one major fight the public is interested in - two little fellas, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, who most likely will never fight," Steward told the BBC.
"Boxing's not in good shape. It's more of a business now and it's hurting boxing. We need to return to an era when the best fight the best and it wasn't all about money and egos.
"Unless some drastic changes come about, I don't like the way things are looking for boxing. There's not one dream heavyweight fight - you've got Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko and nobody else. That's not good.
"What made that [1980s] era great was that they fought each other. They could have played politics but they were true warriors."
Steward has trained some of the biggest names in boxing at his Kronk gym in Detroit and has revealed that the negotiations between one of his star pupils, Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray leonard took less than a day.
"I could see something building up, so finally I called up [Leonard's manager] Mike Trainer and said 'Mike, it looks like the public wants to see Ray and Tommy fight and he said 'why don't we meet today?'
"So I jumped on a plane and we met at an airport coffee shop. Mike Trainer said 'what are you looking for for Tommy?' I said, 'I want $5m for Tommy'. He said 'have you lost your mind? How much do you think Ray should get?' And I said $8m.
"They were all shocked, they thought I was going to ask for more for Tommy. They stepped out for a minute, came back and said 'pal, you've got a deal'. I shook hands and flew back to Detroit on the exact same plane that I came on - that's how quick the deal was made.
"One of the biggest fights in history was made on a quick handshake in about 30 minutes. There were no egos involved. We knew the public wanted it.
"The money is there [for Mayweather-Pacquiao], the two guys would make a minimum of $50m apiece, and it still can't be made because of egos. Times have changed and it really frustrates me because I remember how easy it was for me to make the fight with Ray."
