Will Mayweather-Pacquiao be the last big boxing match?

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will square off at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 2 in an eagerly anticipated megafight that is being billed as "The Fight of the Century." 

While the sport of boxing has the nation's attention at the moment, many can't help but wonder about the fate of this "dying" sport following Saturday's bout.

Is Mayweather-Pacquiao the last boxing match that will matter?

Kyle Smith: Although I bristle at the thought of saying this is "the last boxing match that will matter," I just don't see anything on deck. Boxing doesn't create stars like it used to, and there really isn't anyone waiting in the wings to wrestle the mantle away from Mayweather and Pacquiao. There is no next Ali, Duran, Leonard, De La Hoya or Robinson. Sure, a charismatic upstart could emerge suddenly and capture the public's imagination, I just don't see that happening in the next decade.

Gino Bottero: Boxing's fallen out of the spotlight on the national level, with team sports holding the public's attention. But boxing is still attracting talent at the club level. As meek as the landscape may look at the moment, it's just a matter of time before someone emerges and the next superstar catches the public's eye.

Smith: It just doesn't feel like anything is percolating. Each great era in boxing almost moved seamlessly into the next. The '70s had a bevy of legendary, recognizable heavyweights like Ali, Frazier and Foreman. The '80s-'90s saw the rise (and fall) of Mike Tyson, and a spectacular middleweight division that housed Duran, Leonard, Hagler and Hearns. There was always a group of talented, charismatic fighters to pick up the slack. I'm just not seeing that right now.

Bottero: It's not helping that the marquee division is currently blocked by an uninspiring Ukrainian whose wife garners more attention from the cheap seats than he does in the ring, but that won't be the case forever. Boxing has become an event sport. While few fans are following the sport on a day-to-day basis, people will still gather around their television sets when the right card comes around.

Smith: But who will be there to anchor the card? As was pointed out, no one is interested in watching Wladimir Klitschko's terrifying dominance, and Deontay Wilder - despite being the first American heavyweight champion in almost a decade - isn't really capturing anyone's imagination. It's not that boxing's dead, it's just going to spend a few years in the wilderness.

Bottero: The Mayweather-Pacquiao megafight is great for boxing - it's the kick in the pants the sport has needed for some time. Even people that aren't boxing fans will watch this fight. Best of all, this bout could itself produce the next great fight. If Pacquiao were to win, or, heaven forbid, the fight were to end in a draw, the rematch would be epic. Even if that were to never materialize, this megafight will get eyes on the sport that had left it long ago.