Fighters can force fights themselves.

Khan is a good trash talker which surprises me. I think he's earned the right as well. Everything he says is spot on. That said, and this is just my opinion, anyone can say anything. I'm a firm believer that if fighter "A" wants to take on fighter "B", he can make it happen. The consensus is that the promoter (Arum or whomever) is in charge. Not true. Again, the fighter can make these fights happen.

Examples: a. Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston. Ali (Formerly Cassius Clay) was known as a joke and a loud mouth before he took on Liston. However, he followed Liston everywhere. He even laid a bear trap in front of Sonny's mansion in "Denver, Colorado", called the police and watched an irate Sonny try to break into the bus he and his party where in and attack him. In today’s world of reality shows, CNN, etc, such an act would not only garner attention from the boxing world at large but the general public as well. A reality show based on a fighter trying to force another fighter to face him? That fighter being taunted is just going to walk away and hide behind a promoter? Are you kidding me?

If Floyd truly wanted Manny, Or Manny really wanted Floyd, or Khan really wanted Bradley or vice versa, these guys could take advantage of the net, television, etc and make it happen. The promoters would be powerless to stop it. Manny standing outside of Floyd's training camp on a daily basis, conducting interviews on how Mayweather is ducking him would make this fight happen. People have done much more for 40 million dollars. Same thing with Kahn pursuit of Bradley.

It's convenient to challenge an opponent, have that opponent back down, and walk away. I have no complaint about that. Though, if you really want the fight, you can get it. Reason being, at the end of the day, these guys are major league fighters and they have tremendous egos. They will just let themselves get embarrassed so much until they accept the challenge. I understand that this method may be a little extreme, however with the money involved in these fights and the present state of the sport, I think the fighter who uses the media to force a fight will be seen as somewhat of a hero. Also, it’s great promotion for the fight itself.

+1

I hate hearing a fighter say "Up to my promoter/manager"

Yes and no.

You can't make someone fight you if they don't want to.

A lot of fighters follow what I call the Sugar Ray Leonard Effect. Move around divisions and avoid guys you know are a bad match-up for you. Jones Jr did it during his prime and Mayweather doing it.

Most fighters don't care what fans ore the media thing. They just care about getting paid by fighting least risky of opponents.

Who controlls the purse strings has the most power. We are seeing better match-ups because networks are demanding it, and so are venues.