1920-1940 was the golden age of boxing

Possibly.
But I'd doubt the record of boxing matches in 1925 are as complete as record keeping of boxing matches in 2016.
Certainly there are huge holes in boxrec, for example.

 

N,o its your truth because again your not reading what I wrote but jumping to your conclusions. Of course its comes from underprivileged countries, but their are plenty of "underprivileged" area's in America,America is not some magical paradise where the streets are lined with gold.Their are pockets of poverty here that rivals any issues a so called 3rd world country has,and probably has double the homicides, and that's where the vast majority of the great fighters came from. But in America today those same underprivileged kids have other avenues they can explore unlike the past. American Football, Basketball , Baseball, even Tennis,and Track and Field are much easier to get into in today's era because its very big business here. So at every high school, even places far off the path, some coach will find you if you have athletic ability. Boxing isn't the sole way someone can have athletic success as it was in the past unless you were freakishly talented or extreme lucky. As I wrote earlier the sport has declined significantly because of those other avenues and the extreme risk of the sport .Media in the states have created this fear about concussions since the early 80's which is true to a certain extent. Now that same fear is being created in American Football. So in a few yrs that sport will have issues finding top talent. Your opinion seem to be the world has caught up with America in boxing. In my opinion it hasn't ,especially by what I see in what is called world class boxing today. In America today the sport is mainly just forgotten.

 

Yes, there have always been top boxers from outside the US. My point is, that they were far fewer back in the "good old days", when most of what was of importance, took place in the US... mostly involving boxers from the North American talent pool.

Today the scene is very different! One has only to take a little time to look at The Ring's end-of-year rankings, from the 1920s and onwards, to realize, that the US no longer have a stronghold on world champions, world title bouts and top-10 ranked fighters. I don't understand, how anyone can dispute this!

Yes, in the 20s there were several world champions born in Italy or the former Soviet block, like:
Joe Dundee
Sammy Mandell
Johnny Dundee
Benny Bass (born in Ukraine)

What do these champions have in common? Well, they were all immigrants, became US citizens - and never boxed outside of North America! Boxing-wise they had nothing to do with their birth countries, and shouldn't really be used to illustrate how widespread boxing was back then.

 

Right... but then how about just looking at The Ring ratings from the 20s up to the present day! Is it not obvious, that where boxers from the North American talent pool once dominated these rankings, it's a very different story today… where a lot more boxers from "foreign" countries can be found in their top-10 lists?

 

I'm not disputing that the world championships and the world rankings were dominated by Americans in the 1930s or whenever. And not so many Americans now.
But I don't conclude that everywhere in "the rest of the world" has enjoyed a boost in boxing since those days.

 

The 1934 Ring magazine rankings for bantamweights :

Champion : Panama Al Brown

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Most of those are not Americans.

 

1934 Ring magazine Flyweight rankings :

1. [url]Midget Wolgast[/url]
2. [url]Jackie Brown[/url]
3. [url]Benny Lynch[/url]
4. [url]Maurice Huguenin[/url]
5. [url]Valentin Angelmann[/url]
6. [url]Joe Mendiola[/url]
7. [url]Bobby Magee[/url]
8. [url]Young Siki[/url]
9. [url]Tommy Pardoe[/url]
10. [url]Phil Milligan[/url]

Not many Americans.

 

I don't think it's cut and dry really.

 

I don't believe anyone has said, that boxing has enjoyed a boost EVERYWHERE in the rest of the world. That would be a silly claim! There are naturally places where boxing has gone back, and there are still countries that have never hosted pro boxing! I would have thought this was obvious - so where does this "everywhere" come from?

And then you list the bantam and flyweight top-10 from 1934... and surprise, surprise, hardly any Americans in sight! I think we all know, that the lightest divisions have never exactly been overpopulated by Americans. Still, you use this to conclude, that it's not really a cut and dry thing.

Ok, but then let me ask you this: Do you honestly not see, that the OVERWHELMING trend over the last many, many decades has gone from almost total American domination… to boxing being much more international these days (and, no - not EVERY country in the world has taken part in this)?

 

Some of them were immigrants, and some moved their base of operations to the UK, because that was where the money was.

As for today, we might just be seeing an American collapse, rather than boxing becoming more widespread.

 

As for what will happen in the future, your guess is as good as mine.

But right now, we're discussing if - FOR WHATEVER REASON - the boxing scene has moved towards becoming more international (and not completely dominated by the US) since the 1920s. Will you not agree, that this is indeed the case?

 

Yes, but is that because the international scene has got more involved, or because the American scene has collapsed, or a bit of both?

The UK was the powerhouse of boxing for pretty much all of the 19th century.

There was a short period where Australia/New Zealand became the new powerhouse, although nobody acknowledged it, before the USA took over decisively.

The USA dominate throughout the 20th century.

Now the former Soviet Union seems to be taking over, and we even have the UK emerging as an unlikely resurgent!

 

"yes, but".

Ok, I now see... you're just trolling me, and aren't really interested in a serious discussion.

 

I absolutely am interested in a serious discussion.

It might not go in the direction that you want of course!

 

I agree that opportunities for underprivileged kids in the US are much more widespread toady with the growth of other sports,and I agree Boxing is dying in the US. It is flourishing in other less wealthy countries that do not have those other avenues.I think its a combination of all the things mentioned,you seem more concerned with proving me wrong than proving you are right,its of no matter.