Myth: champs of the past wouldn't be champs if USSR had been able to compete

I agree.

 

Times are changing. Deal with it

 

László Papp (March 25, 1926 – October 16, 2003) was a Hungarian boxer, born in Budapest. A southpaw, he won gold medals in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia. In his final Olympic competition, he beat José Torres for the gold medal, to become the first boxer in Olympic history to win three successive gold medals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3_Papp

 

Félix Savón Fabre (born September 22, 1967 in San Vicente, Cuba) is a Cuban heavyweight boxer, a winner of three gold medals at the Olympic Games. Savón is considered a legend in amateur boxing and has won six world titles.

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The people who were champs back then would have still held titles, but things would have been more interesting with a true world stage to compete against. But, the thought that SRR would have been a journeyman is utter bull****. It is also ignorant to think that the USSR and Cuban fighters would have been irrelevant in the fight scene of the 60's and 70's.

 

I don't think anyone believes SRR or Ali would be journeymen...but if you can't see that a talent pool is diluted when many countries can't compete, I don't know what to tell you.

 

Not necassarily but it would have definetly been more competitive and there more than likely will have been alot of Eastern-European champs also. I still think think if Savon turned pro the 90s HW era would have been very interesting.

 

Yep, look at what Drago did to Creed.

 

Wrong thread.

 

Agree that it is a myth, usually perpetuated by ex-communists who believe that great amateur success = a great professional fighter.

Since the Berlin Wall fell former soviet boxers have produced less than 25% of the HW world champions & thats their best division.

Look at the transnational boxing rankings, ex-USSR dominance is a myth.

 

Neither of these guy are from the former Soviet Union.

To follow up on what the TS is talking about though all one really has to do to know this isn't true is look at how Ali, Frazier, Foreman and many others dominated the Soviet amatuers. I see no reason it would be different professionally. Lets not forget that back in the day Eastern Bloc amatuers were grown men who had been fighting for years.....basicly professionals 3 round fighters with far more experience than the US fighters, same thing with Cuba and the United States always fared well if not amongst the best teams. Times are changing though and the world has opened up. Overall the US still sports the best fighters, but divisions will always shift and different countries will be dominant at different times. No country will ever rule every division in boxing, they all go in cycles.

 

Cuban or Soviet fighters defeated a lot of future pro champs in the amateurs. Alex Miroshnechenko KOed Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe. Savon easily KOed Tua etc..
Also, when Cubans and Eastern Europeans started to compete at pros, they made a huge impact, especially at heavier weight classes. Pretty much took over.

 

less then 25? since early 2000nds they produced 99 percent of HW champs. Where did you study math? lol