I'm sure there is an element of that, boxers usually come from poverty, there are fewer black americans living in poverty now, compared to the 60s or 70s.
This againatsch Dude, don't you ****ing understand that playing American football and basketball requires an entirely different set of mentality than boxing? It's not like you have universal soldiers that can do anything equally well. If your calling is to fight it doesn't mean you can throw a ball as well.
Again, if the USA has been weakened by other sports, then why if you take out Eastern Europe and Cuba (who were banned from boxing until the 90s) the USA is still #1 by far?? Why isn't Mexico or any other country beating America the the heavyweight division now if its weaker?
they were communist so they couldnt compete professionally. Kostya Tzyu was Russian was he not? they could still compete at olympics were cubans cleaned up dont know about Eastern Europe.
This site really is full of agendas. americans saying the Nba and Nfl is the reason no real american heavys. eastern Europeans claiming that if they could of competed professionally thet would have dominated. small truths hidden behind a frankly xenophobic and racist veil. truth is eastern europeans are only dominating because of two talented brothers. when they go next heavyweight champ could be from australia and people would still be talking smack.
I'm glad you mentioned the conditioning bit. Football is a 3 hour game, that only has 11 minutes of actual football in it- which means a little over 5 minutes each for offensive and defensive players, stretched over 3 hours. That's why they can afford to get as big as they do- each play is a few seconds, with an ample amount of rest in between. Conditioning has been marginalized to the point where hundreds guys can bulk up to 250-350 lb , and still play the whole game. That's also why they gas so quickly in a boxing ring. The level of conditioning is nowhere near the same. There's a good number of them that can't even play a whole game without gassing, which is really just embarrassing considering how much time there is to recover.
Look at the Hw ranks and you'll see most of the prospects coming up are from eastern Europe, so there's a pretty good chance they'll keep dominating the HWs for the foreseeable future.
The HW division has globalized and the world caught up The US amatuer programs and boxing gyms in general are in decline other nations especially former soviet bloc nations have the great coaching background and the hunger to break out the cubans maybe the next group to burst out if those doors open its a matter of globalization and american decline in the boxing field the division isnt worse just worse in america and thats why the pundits say its the worst
This is the key, eastern euopeans did ok in the olympics and in the amateurs but only have come onto their own once the Americans faded away. The Americans dominated the heavyweight classes until 1988 when Bowe was the last champ (save stephanson and Savon from cuba). The truth is probably something between the two extremes. Boxing has declined in the US as big men can make a better living in other sports and at the same time the Eastern europeans picked up the sport more because they could make a better living than most. In the 80s everyone wanted to be "like Mike", Jordan that is not Tyson. The Hearts, minds and Imagination of the youth in North America is not close to being into boxing. Ali, Louis and johnson were not only legands they were heros.
As i see it there are only really 2 very good heavyweights out there right now and thats the bros! everyone else sucks so bad (no matter where they come from . . . except for Adamek) that they should ban the division . . . lol
Right, nothing tells me anything will change when the Klitschkos retire The best fighter from the US. Eddie Chambers already lost to Povetkin..
true but you may see king or another american promoter try to get a belt and hold it hostage like when the klits retire all 4 go vacant right say chambers grabs the WBC then only fights americans and his promoters and the WBC find away to keep the belt out of Euro hands its possible like in the mid 2000's when king had Briggs with the WBO Rahman with the WBC Ruiz with the WBA and Brewster was facing Wlad for the IBF and he almost had total control and probably woulda had a unification tournament then wlad beat brewster maskaev beat rahamn valuev beat ruiz and ibragimov beat briggs creating 4 eastern euro champs
i dont think its the worst ever...not the greatest either but the top 10 is solid got some youth coming up and strong champion the division lookes really weak because the 1 and 2 are so head and shoulders above the contenders that it makes it look weak without them you got a competitive top 10 anybody can beat anybody and it would be an interesting mix thats why i rate the klits as great champs they are so dominant wait til they are gone and you got 4 titles that change hands rapidly with no unified king of the hill