Just got back from London and Berlin and you have to give it to Euro fans on one level. Boxing is still very much alive in Europe when it seems to be completely dying out here. Every German I met knew who Wlad and Vitali were and David Haye (much as I cant stand him) enjoyed a lot of hopeful support in England. Aside from Mike Tyson most Americans have no idea who has fought anywhere in the last 20 years.
TV coverage in the UK has improved immensely of late, and I think that's a major factor, along with Calzaghe and Hatton's high profile fights in America.
Could be true. I wonder what the cause of the interest to increase coverage is being caused by? Here in the States it is slowly dying out.
Europeans have always prefered sports, whereas some Amercans are content with watching someone pretending to be doing a sport. This is why WWF and WWE were so successful in the US and never caught on in Europe at all. Europeans watch UFC with a lot of scepticism because all the fighters are owned by the same guy more or less and plans can be made at a drawing board level as to who meet who when and where. It is like the drawing book of a movie. In boxing there are so many people and independent promoters, managers etc. involved that it is much harder and almost impossible to script a longer coherent story line (although ODLH tries). The 'market forces' that europeans prefer and the 'central planning' that some Americans are content with goes against what people see as the dominant political views on both sides, which is interesting.
Does that really surprise you? The bros. are omnipresent in German media for the last ten years, if there's a huge charity event you can bet at least one of them is there (just last weekend Vitali participated in a telethon called "heart for children" that brought in millions of € You're watching a movie and it cuts to commercials, look who's there already, the Klitschkos. You take a look at the guest lists of the truly meaningful (sometimes political), in depth talk shows German tv has to offer, the Klitschkos are out there somewhere minimum once a year. You wanna sit back, relax and have a few laughs on a Saturday night, so you tune in to Europe's most successful game and entertainment show, "Wetten, dass...?" of course. Take a guess who's likely to appear on that program for the tenth time or so? Everybody knows them, it doesn't matter if they watch boxing or not. If you think I'm exaggerating just have a look at these "vids of the Klits" :yep http://www.tempo-web.de/docs/4_informieren/tv-spots.php# http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2503655/Milchschnitte_Klitschko_Brueder http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2503655/Milchschnitte_Klitschko_Brueder http://www.myvideo.de/watch/3376587/McFit_Werbung_mit_Klitschko_Bruedern_Trainerin http://www.myvideo.de/watch/3376665/McFit_Werbung_mit_Klitschko_Bruedern_Trainingsplan
No, no. It doesn't surprise me that Germans know him so much that they actually get media coverage. I have no idea what it would take for a boxer to get even minor media coverage in the States instead of a golfer, baseball player or something. I think what really surprised me was that I ended up for a few days in Stendl (don't ask how or why, though I really enjoyed myself) and the Bros. appeared on a television commercial for something or other. Anyway, it is just discouraging to see boxing dying here in the States as an American. Kudos to German and English boxing fans, shame on all of the fat slobs here who waste all of their time obsession over non-sports like golf, NASCAR and Professional Wrestling.
