History of professional boxing if Soviet countries could fight pro?

Oh sheet, we would definitely have stricter PED testing. Didn't you guys learn anything from Drago v Rocky? Russians have had Stalin grade PEDs for a while now.

 

the greatest american fighters beat the living shyt out of soviet fighters in the amateurs routinely:good:good

 

Different, maybe much different. No doubt w/less US champs.

But you'll never get the blinded by nostalgia or bigots on esb to agree :-(

 

Would have been different....................

 

Much different, if those fighters could take trainers from outside the USSR. But, even if they could not, it would have been very different indeed.

 

This is what would have happened to them. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCEtaaQ9ZPY[/url]
A young novice in George Foreman had no trouble beating the **** out off these supposed legendary soviet fighters.

 

They only became legends with the decline of US interest in boxing particularly the heavyweights.

Since the retirement of Lewis, take out all the eastern european fighters and name one American fighter that would have been mentioned alongside the likes of Ali, Tyson, Holyfield etc?

Exactly, none, because American heavyweights have become garbage.

You could argue Chris Byrd, but even he was just good

Arrolela, Mitchell, Jennings, Wilder, Chambrs, Brock, Thompson etc would always be bums no matter which era they fought in.

 

I think now were starting to get more of a fair reflection on who is dominent in professional boxing

Lots of Europeans don't turn pro eg Irish ,Russians ,Russians ,Azerbaijanis, Kazakhs but there starting to and so are the Chinese and more Cubans are turning over

I think in about 15 years we will get a fair reflection on who are the dominant forces in boxing if everyone has the opportunity to turn pro

America have almost had professional boxing to themselves for a long time and there legendary fighters eg srr,slr,Ali would be top fighters in any era but they would face a much higher level of competition and maybe it would be very hard for them to have the same level of success

I think there is a decline in boxing in the USA ,while other countries are still maintaining at a certain level or even improving dramatically eg Ireland,China mainly due to a greatly improved set up and training

 

I agree with you on a lot of things apart from the last bit mate, if you took out almost all foreign fighters and just had the ones you named fighting in the last paragraph they wouldn't be bums

There all from the same country and would make for big domestic matches, give a few of them good records and if they have a few great fights together then suddenly some of them will be called great fighters as there is no one else great in there era to compare them too

That's why it's impossible to compare one era with another, the 60's could have actually been a **** era but had a lot of entertaining fighters and fights and colourful characters while the late 80's and today could actually be a truly great era in terms of talent but because it is dominanted by one fighter it seems very weak

 

It's not just soviet countries Europe as a whole is stepping up and so is Asia and Oceania . Increased competition and involvement leads to a stronger era and in terms of global appeal boxing is entering a golden age

 

The key here is that Ali, Tyson and Holyfield were outstanding exceptional talents and this was evident early on in there careers, none of the above are.

Wilder is a big fraud. 31-0 31 kos over some of the worst opposition ever, he is the perfect example of a padded record.

If these guys were facing each other yes there will be some good, entertaining domestic dust ups but lets not get carried away and try to claim these guys are great, because theyre not.

If any of these guys were genuine, they would have taken the boxing world by storm already (or at least the American market), they are incapable of even doing that.

No one is getting excited about these guys and the reason for that is because nobody cares, and the reason nobody cares is because none of the above are particularly good. Without or without eastern european influence.

 

A golden age isnt based upon how many countries are fielding heavyweights, its based on a collection of great fighters who provide great fights (regardless of where theyre from).

That simply isnt the case here.

Yes we've got representatives from all over the world, but where is the legendary fights to claim this era as a golden age?

Wlad-Haye was one of the most hyped up heavyweight fights in about a decade and it turned out to be a dud.

Chisora-Vitali on the other hand was much more interesting and nobody gave Chisora a chance, but he put on a very good performance, for a guy who'd had about 20 fights. This is actually one of my favourite Vitali fights.

Dont get me wrong, there is enough players in the division to make this era interesting, the fact of the matter is the fights arent happening.

You cant have an era based on just names/nationalities, the fights have to happen too.

 

This refers to my point early it's impossible to compare eras, eg the 60's could just have been filled with average fighters who just had lots of great fights an became legends, today's era is considered weak because one man is five levels above everyone and is untouchable