20 days until Usyk vs Gassiev!

GGGOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!

 

Less brain damage?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NFL_players_with_chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy

 

smashing!

 

Pickford has also been amazing!

 

The answer would be money, I think. Or let's say a way to change your life. Look at guys like Adonis Stevenson or Jean Pascal. I highly doubt they dreamed of becoming pro boxers when they were kids.

No, not true, as far as I know (I’m not a soccer fan). Usyk himself said that he would have rather become a soccer player, but he’s just too big for it. The point is the size is not that important in soccer (maybe unless it’s British soccer, which is notoriously rough, lol). And in American football size does matter and is in demand.
Also very importand is the reason @tinman mentioned -- athletic scholarships for football.

 

He was. Phenomenal saves!

 

The opportunity for a small percentage to make obscene amounts of money in boxing has always been available, and is still available now, so I don't understand that line of reasoning at all. If an athlete is more concerned about their health, scholarships and retirement benefits then it's highly unlikely they'd ever have have touched boxing in the first place.

Usyk isn't "too big" to be a soccer player. Lol. Most likely he just simply wasn't good enough.

 

Just FYI, six players on the Sweden side today are taller than Usyk, five in the England side are as tall or taller. Robin Olsen and Jack Butland are both the same height as Wlad. Harry Maguire is the same height and build as Kubrat Pulev.

Usyk wouldn't stand out on the field size-wise at all.

 

So, should an athlete be concerned about all this? I would say rather yes, that would be smart, at least.

But, after all, the point is — boxing is definitely not one of the most popular sports nowadays in America (maybe the situation is improving now a little bit but that's another story) and American footbal is. And cruiserweight-sized guys are in demand in football. They can potentially earn a lot of money there, become famous, etc. Or at least to get into college thanks to football. And that diminishes the number of American cruiserweight boxers.

 

Yes, they should.

What I'm saying is that if that is the first and foremost concern in their mind then they wouldn't have a hope in hell of making it in boxing. You need to be, frankly, a bit of a nutter to ever contemplate a career in this sport. Sane, rational thinking people don't tend to want to get punched in the head for a living, regardless of where they come from.

This is the same old argument I've heard time and time again, only it's usually in relation to the heavyweight division.

The fact is that boxing isn't a particularly popular sport in any country, and won't ever get the cream of the athletic crop. You want to make it seem like the US is a special case, but it's not. In fact, soccer probably hoovers up ten times the amount of talent worldwide that American football ever does, and does so across a far larger pool of athletes.

The US doesn't do well at cruiserweight for the same reason as any other country that doesn't do well at cruiserweight. They simply aren't good enough at this present moment in time.

 

Did somebody just say Usyk is too big to be a soccer player? Really? LOOL you dont have to be 5’6 to be a soccer player, another clueless simpleton. Many players in Europe and Africa are over 6’4.

Fact is Soccer has a vast and large talent pool. Many small, medium and large players exist, especially in Europe and African countries. These tall players dont bulk up, meaning they stay incredibly thin for their size, a better way to keep endurance for 90 minutes.

 

Usyk doesnt know what hes talking about. He doesnt even follow soccer, and would probably not even be good at it. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is taller than most heavyweight boxers.

Had Usyk decided to become a soccer player he would not have bulked up, he would have stayed thin.

Average height of soccer players will vary from region to region.

 

@minemax Another FYI. Currently according to boxrec there are:

- 65 professional cruiserweights from the UK

- 36 professional cruiserweights from Russia

- 32 professional cruiserweights from Poland

- 27 professional cruiserweights from the Ukraine

- 16 professional cruiserweights from South Africa

- 14 professional cruiserweights from Latvia

- 3 professional cruiserweights from Cuba

- and 218 professional cruiserweights from the USA

So out of all the top ten CW countries in the world, the USA more athletes competing than all the above countries put together, countries in which I can guarantee you that boxing was never considered the number one choice for any athlete growing up.

How is it that the best they can achieve is a measly number seven spot, considering they're competing against such a weak and depleted field?

 

Yes, that comment made me turn my head as well. Even more so that that particular poster thought it was a solid point to help bolster his argument.

I sometimes forget how closeted non-soccer playing nations are, that they would assume that most soccer players were wimpy little midgets that a SIX FEET THREE INCH GIANT!!! like Usyk would be considered too big to compete. In the Sweden England match alone there were twelve players that'd match or outsize Usyk, quite a few who'd outweigh him on fight night, this in a sport where it pays to be as lean as possible.

Just a whole load of ignorance operating there.

 

He's quite good even now:

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