History of professional boxing if Soviet countries could fight pro?

Not much different.

It wasnt until AFTER the wall came down that eastern bloc countries started to excel in the amateurs.

Look at the Olympics pre the collapse of the soviet union. America was far and away the most dominant nation

Unfortunately yes, good fighters like Stevenson couldnt go pro because of the backward nature of communism

 

I read that and thought.....Adonis?!!!

 

haha, I actually thought it as I was writing it!

 

They were still sending their best werent they?

 

Most arent staying amateur.

From the last olympics alone you have
Mekhontsev
Lomachenko
Usyk
Shelestyuk

From 2008,you have
Glazkov and Chakiev

For some reason the Azeris and Kazakhs dont seem to go pro...dont really get it.

But for the most park, the elite fighters from the old soviet bloc are flooding into the pros.

Even the Cubans are going pro in greater numbers, fleeing the island.

The pro game now is a proper representation of who is the best around.

The amateur game is a good scope of who has talent, but essentially its still the equivalent of college basketball....a good breeding ground

 

It would appear that he didnt go because he got injured....its not like they refused to send him

 

I think the USA would still have been the strongest boxing nation, but there would have been a lot of champions from communist countries

 

My thoughts too.

Would have been a broader spectrum

 

Im not sure what your point is.

They sent the best fighters available to them when they went to the olympics or not?

 

You included 5 olympics after the fall of the soviet union...why?

Also in relation to the OP, what difference does it make if Britain was winning medals, their fighters always went pro anyway?

And Canada? Were they part of the Communist bloc that couldnt go pro? How does Lennox Lewis who immediately went pro change anything? They're a little bit to the left but still...

Also you focused almost purely on SHW...why?

 

People get injured...that doesn't mean they weren't sending the best they could.

So every nation that had a fighter pull out injured before the Olympics weren't sending their best fighters either?

Foreman could have gotten injured and someone else would have went. It wouldn't have meant America wasn't sending its best boxers.

 

Maybe it is for the best.

If you cant understand that someone getting in jured doesnt mean that a team didnt send its best, then theres nothing left to say.

Yes, he would have been Americas best, because who'd be better than him? An injured Foreman?

You send the best team you can send even if that means the 10 best fighters in your country have all come down with a mysterious illness.

If you're picking the best available to you, then you're picking the best.

Good day.

 

It has nothing to do with this thread though.

My very first post I was clearly talking about pre-wall times.

Everything post 1990 is pretty much irrelevant in this thread.