Is Bud Crawford the last of the great Americans

Pretty much.

 

better than mayweather

 

America has a lot of potential greats. It’s just will they live up to the potential. Shakur, Haney, Ennis, Ortiz, Bam (Who is already great), Teofimo, Benavidez, etc.

 

Long term we are in trouble for sure. If I had a son right now, boxing wouldn't be an option. The boxing gym options I would have are more geared towards general fitness and a rip off for the monthly price.
On the other hand, we have incredibly well structured school sports with a huge variety , no monthly fee .
Most of all though I would never be so stupid as to let my kid take punches to the head for fun and entertainment.
You can also get a NIL deal in college sports too now so even less incentive than ever to get into boxing. The top 10 college QBs in American football are all making over 3 million USD a year.
In America, it will become harder and harder to get into boxing without your father dragging you in. It was tough 30 years ago but much much tougher today.

 

I coach boxing at an MMA gym and have been involved with the sport for about 18 years…

I have two sons and I really don’t want either of them to box. I will probably teach them the fundamentals and have them do some sparring, but if they’re interested in combat sports I’d prefer they wrestle or grapple..

To answer the title question - it’s impossible to say… there are currently very good American champions and contenders who have the potential to be great, let alone current prospects or what the future holds…..

 

Most American fighters these days aren't built for the higher weight classes. That is why you see a lack of Americans near the top in those weight classes. American fighters are being taught to pull their punches back quickly in order to try and emulate Mayweather. That doesn't really work at 160 and above, see Caleb Plant. European fighters are being taught to punch through their target. Until this changes, I don't see a bright future for American fighters at MW and above.

 

This. My response is basically "what are you talking about?" We have **** for heavyweights, it's true, but we're doing just fine below there.

 

There are a number of Americans that are elite and may end up "great" (except at HW)

 

No. Americans have always been at the top of boxing and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Last time I checked Floyd the best fighter of his era was American. Crawford the best of this era is an American. Then there have been other top p4p guys like Andre Ward, and the list goes on and on. It's true there isn't a top American heavyweight at the moment but America has top, strong fighters in the other weight classes.

 

Heck no not even close there's alot more American talent left coming up behind crawford just like there was talent coming up after pbf.

 

Crawford isn't the last anything. There's always going to be an American ATG that comes along in every era.

 

Yes for now till the next gen comes through

What was supposed to be the next generation in Ryan Garcia, Haney, Davis etc all dropped the ball in one way or another.

 

I agree somewhat with this. If youre a smaller kid youre not going to be able to play football or basketball so guys who are smaller will always find a home in boxing. Thats why you dont see many Americans who are worth a damn north of 160 If they're, usually football or basketball was their first love and they just weren't good enough to play at the next level so they fell back to boxing.

 

This is completely wrong... americans are less successful only in the HW division because all their big athletes go either in american football or basketball.

Wilder wanted to play both american football or basketball but he could not make it. Yet, while being a very late starter in boxing and rather skinny for the division, he still had some success.

There's a reason why americans still produce the best fighters in lower weight classes : Mayweather and Crawford could not play in american football or basketball, they were too small.