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

The only thing more stupid than thinking USSR allowing professional boxing would've rendered Ali a journeyman is thinking that none of them would've become champion had pro boxing been there.

It would've been a more varied group of champs, some guys who did pick up a belt might not have, others might've had shorter reigns, but the great fighters would've still done great things. And the USSR, like the US, had the infrastructure to produce great fighters. It's just common sense.

 

No one claims that they would have "dominated".

This is just the response to the typical American-centric bull**** of the only reasons Eastern Euro's succeed in the HW division is because all US athletes are playing NFL or NBA.... atsch

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouctB0CUUuY[/ame]

:deal

 

Glazkov is a ... prospect! Who beat ... Tor Hamer!!

He looks good, but come on.

 

The Berlin wall came down in 1989. Since then there have been 33 HW world champions, 8 of which came from ex-soviet countries.

Less than 25%

 

I think if Dirk Nowitzki was a pro boxer he would have give Vitali Klitschko a savage beating

 

It's misleading to start the clock at 1989 considering there was no professional boxing infrastructure in place in their home countries and little opportunity for ex-Soviet boxers abroad- particularly heavyweights.

If it wasn't for the German boxing scene, many of them would still be afterthoughts because U.S. promoters don't like to invest heavily in the ex-Soviet fighters. It's better today than it was even 15 years ago, but that element still exists. In 1989, an ex-Soviet fighter getting a break here was unheard of. All the Heavyweight action was in the U.S., and nobody wanted to touch those guys. There was still an element of "us vs them", and our trainers weren't exactly in a rush to teach them.

 

Guys like Arbachakov & Zolkin were fighting professionally in 1990. I often read on ESB that since the Berlin wall came down EE have been dominating boxing :yep

Another useless stat, since 2000 only 5 Olympic gold medalists have won a world title.

 

Yeah, and how did he do professionally? His best win was a 3-1 Ross Puritty. His next best win was over a cruiserweight who lost 11 of his last 15. Care to explain how that makes the Soviets dominant or is this the another figment of your imagination like heavyweights hitting their prime in their mid to late thirties while every other athlete in the world starts declining in their early to mid thirties?