Is It Fair to Call Boxers Pre '91 World Champs When ½ the Globe Couldn't Participate

USSR + Eastern Europe + China + Cuba was probably about 2/5ths. That said, China still won't let its best fighters go pro either, and they didn't even start boxing at all until it was announced that Beijing would get the summer olympics.

 

80% of the divisions contain midgets.

 

I'm kicking you out of the lollipop gang:bart

 

I remember when George Foreman fought Axel Schulz for the WBA and IBF titles back in April of 1995. Now keep in mind that I had grown up accustomed to watching nothing but American fighters at the top of the division. There were former Soviet fighters around (Zolkin and Vaulin come to mind), but I was really too young to understand the complexities of the world. Suffice to say, I didn't know much about the amateur credentials of the Cubans or the Soviets. Rocky 4 was my only frame of reference hehe. I was just a young American kid getting ready to watch George Foreman knock out some German fighter whom I had never heard of. I was thinking easy KO for Big George (like most people I presume). We all know what transpired that night and it's not as though Axel Schulz was a spectacular fighter or anything like that, it was just the surprise that he wasn't some hapless European fighter. My naive perception of foreign fighters was shaped by things like seeing Witherspoon KO Eklund, and not too long before that, Herbie Hide all over the canvas vs. Riddick Bowe. This particular fight made me realize that boxing truly was a global sport. I'm not saying that I started thinking on a deeper level about the global ramifcations (I was just a kid lol) of that fight, but it definitely threw my schema of American dominance into question. I suppose I could have wondered about this even earlier when I saw Francesco Damiani box circles around Ray Mercer before he got clipped on the nose, but what the hell did I know? Fast forward a year after the Schulz fight to Bowe/Golota and my head was basically spinning. I know Riddick Bowe didn't care much for training and had an affinity for food, which led to weight fluctuations, but to see him get his ass handed to him by Andrew Golota was just bizarre. All I ever heard about was how America is the best at this and the best at that, yet there I was watching their first fight on HBO without any evidence whatsoever to validate that claim. I was able to kind of turn down the volume on the whole patriotism thing when it came to boxing many years ago. I realized that we are not alone in the boxing world, and later on, in the world period. If anything, boxing served as a microcosm for the world at large in my eyes. Still does to a degree.

Guys like Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Holmes, and Tyson were all great champions who no choice but to fight who was there to be fought. They were professional fighters, not politicians on the front lines of the cold war. Does this make them world champions in my eyes? Not that my opinion matters anyway, but if you're gonna focus on the fact that "world" does not mean America and only America, their status in that sense alone may need a little reframing. A rather substantial part of the world was unable to participate in professional boxing until the early 90's or so. Don't know about the rest of you, but that's not exactly insignificant as far as I'm concerned.

On another note, the whole argument that says that the American heavyweight is playing in the NFL and NBA ties into this in a way. I'm not quick to trumpet that argument, but to outright deny the possibility that those sports are taking potential fighters from our talent pool would be a little naive in my opinion. This is not a political factor (as communism was), but certainly a factor nonetheless.

 

All these guys fought in the Olympics, with most winning gold medals. The Soviets were allowed to compete at the Olympics. More then not, they got slaughtered. Just like outside of the Klitsckos they still get slaughtered.

 

Duly noted. I'm not calling their credentials into question and I am quite aware of their olympic success. Just keep in mind that guys like Bonecrusher Smith and Bruce Seldon once held world title belts. Forget the Klitschkos. I think either one of these guys would have had their hands full with an Alexander Zolkin. If fighters such as these were the ones perpetuating the monolith of American heavyweight boxing, it's gotta make you wonder just a little. I probably shouldn't have mentioned names like Ali and those guys, but then again, amateur success doesn't necessary equate to pro success. Just ask Tyrell Biggs.

 

Keep in mind tha tLatin fighters and LAtin Americans dominated the Lightweight divisions in the 50's and 60's, ala Emile Griffith, Benny Peret, Carlos Monzon, Kid Gavilan, and Jose Napoles.


Boxing has always been a global sport. Just as it is today.

 

It has always been a global sport with part of the globe hidden behind the Iron Curtain for many years, which prevented a lot of potential fighters from turning pro. Am I wrong? Ever heard of Laszlo Papp? He was one of the fighters that did turn pro.

 

Robinson,Armstrong,Ali,Leonard,Duran etc.
All imposters who had no right calling themselves "World" champions.
We should have a worldwide public enquiry into this and have these jokers removed from the history books and renamed "Regional winners"
Would this make it better?

 

I've never competed in the 100 metres. Is it fair to give Usain Bolt the World Record even though I never got the chance to race him?

At the end of the day, champions in those era were World Champions, because there were no professional boxers in the Eastern Bloc. Whether they were allowed to turn pro or not is kind of irrelevant. They didn't, so that's there problem.

Similar question. Is it fair to say Amateur champions are world champions, when Pro fighters aren't allowed to compete in the Amateurs? If Pros were allowed in the Olympics I'm sure some of them would compete, just for the prestige and career boost.