Exactly. Boxing has been dead in the white community in the US for the better part of four decades and is now all but terminal in the African American community. That it is often a game of numbers is lost on a lot of moron Brits.
Referencing the very real question of participation isn't an excuse; it's an acknowledgment of reality. Inept for four decades? Larry Holmes was Inept? Mike Tyson was Inept? And I'll stack the greatest American heavyweights up against those produced by any nation on earth.
You're going back a whole 40 years for Holmes. Mike 's peak was 35 years ago. If you want to go into the 90s we had Bowe throwing away his belt to duck Lewis. See what I mean?
You claimed that American heavyweights had been inept for the better part of four decades. With no effort whatsoever, I named two fighters--Holmes and Tyson-- who fought within the specified time and who were very clearly not inept. Holmes, incidentally, fought into the 90s and defeated Ray Mercer, the very same Mercer who gave Lewis absolute fits (and probably should have earned a draw) a few years later. I could have named a number of others as well. Whether Bowe ducked Lewis is no more relevant to the discussion than the fact that Lewis got KO'd by two Americans (one a journeyman, the other a head case). Bowe quite obviously exceeds the "not inept" threshold. Even today, at a time when the sport of boxing has very little relevance in American sporting culture outside of the Mexican-American community, two of the top heavyweights in the world are American (Ruiz, Wilder). Wilder, moreover, is presently no worse than the third best heavyweight around. So much for inept. So what accounts for the apparent drought with respect to great American heavyweights over the last 20 or so years? Greater global participation in the sport? Sure, I think that plays some role. But if you're suggesting it's the principal factor then the following needs to be considered: if greater global participation was indeed the deciding variable, one would expect that highly regarded American heavies from say, the 1990s, would not fare as well in this new era of international competition. Yet, I don't think anyone would argue that Tyson, Bowe, Holyfield, Mercer et al would not be on everyone's current list of top 10-12 heavyweights. So then is it a question of greater competition, or one of asking why the US-- a nation that has historically dominated the division--has stopped producing as much top flight talent?? See what I mean?
Anderson even haven't fought past 6 rounds, his best win is a premature TKO against Forrest, we don't know anything about him But I doubt he could beat AJ for now. You know why risk averse AJ didn't KO Franklin. Franklin was super careful, he was hugging and his main aim was to not be KOed and just to survive 12 rounds Anderson isn't a careful boxer
Haha. Anderson was very disappointing, though he won via UD. He needs A LOT of work, needs to go over & over the vid of the fight, fix the weaknesses (particularly on defense). I think he's only 21 so he has lots of time to work on things. Just hoping he's the type that works harder after a performance like that.