"Americans are playing other sports" is nonsense

Oh, and Americans might want to know that their beloved basketball is not even a top five sport in most European countries, falling far, far behind soccer, various motor sports and in many instances track, a slew winter sports and even volleyball. The average Yank thinks the whole world gives a damn about the NBA and NFL when you can't even find them on the television in most countries. The height of conceit.

 

"I must break you"

 

atsch
This is such a bull**** post with so many holes in it....I don't have time for this crap

 

Bull****, Seamus. Everyone recognizes that the lack of gyms is the most glaring issue. However, even in cities where there are boxing establishments, our best jumbo athletes are getting pulled into other sports.

Tyson is a good example. Someone finds him, spots potential, and hauls him to a gym.

The problem isn't the lack of an ATG, necessarily. You can't control that no matter how many gyms you have. What has happened is that there aren't even any good contenders. With so many brilliant athletes in the country -- and certainly more explosive ones than the Eastern European robots -- there should be decent depth. But there isn't. Our guys just aren't getting exposure to the sport.

 

"If he dies,he dies"

 

and yet you make a bigger ass of yourself....done reading this thread cause aholes like you can't have a decent conversation

 

Actually, most Americans are entirely oblivious to the perspective of other countries. That's one of our problems. No one watching the Super Bowl gives a **** if anyone else is watching.

 

"My name is Drago. I'm a fighter from the Soviet Union. I fight all my life and I never lose. soon I fight Rocky Balboa, and the world will see his defeat. Soon, the whole world will know my name."

"I defeat all man. Soon I defeat real champion."

"You will lose"

"I win for me!FOR ME!

Should have listened to Ivan he warned the World in 85:yep

 

joe louis
rocky marciano
ezzard charles
floyd patterson
sonny liston
cassius clay
george foreman
joe frazier
jerry quarry
ken norton
larry holmes
greg page
tony tubbs
renaldo snipes
tyrel biggs
mike tyson
evander holyfield
riddick bowe
mike dokes
mike weaver
butterbean
tim witherspoon
gerry cooney


some of the top heavyweights and contenders .

what current NFL player`s out of the 1,600 active do you think would make a boxer on a par with the cream of american heavies over the last 50 years ?

which of the heavies on the list would have made a name for himself in NFL ?

 

Totally agreed.

What frustrates me is that some European fans see Americans lamenting the state of our Heavyweight talent pool as a condemnation of the excellent fighters originating from elsewhere. Even a healthy group of American HW talent would struggle against WK.

All most of us want is a decent set of contenders, giving hope that once every decade or so you'll have that one special guy.

 

It's actually very sound logic. Again, there were boxing gyms around the country in those times. There aren't nearly as many of those now because the money has been funneled to other sports from the adolescent level on. There is no disputing this. Check the amount of boxing gyms in the country from the 60's to the 80's against Pee Wee football leagues and AAU basketball leagues, then check it again in the 1990's.

Also, the argument can't be reversed. It isn't logical to say that since Ali and Tyson wouldn't have succeeded in the other sports that the athletes in these sports wouldn't succeed in boxing now. They had boxing gyms to go to and were exposed to it at an early age. They don't exist now for these athletes to go to.

Also, the NBA had 8 teams in the 60's. They have 31 or 32 now. The NFL had something like 12 teams. They have 32 now. The NFL and NBA exploded in the late 80s when they got TV contracts. A little later, boxing stopped being show on network TV. The exposure level was altered drastically. I don't believe it was a coincidence that boxing gyms started closing around that time and that no new American HW's, have been coming down the pike since then. It would be different if there were alot of young American HW's around and they were simply losing. But they aren't even there to lose.

 

:huh Not sure what your talking about since Ali was the star player on his high school team at Louisville Central High in 1958, and 1959. It wasnt until 1960 his Senior year when Ali dropped out of school because boxing was taking up too much time that Ali stopped playing basketball.

 

Fellaz i found America's great HW champ and he aint playing in the NFL NBA or MLB!...

[YT]tlFznJZhGnc[/YT]

 

Actually, the average Yank could care less. The average Yank as you put it watches those sports fairly oblivious to the other nations and what they are watching. You care far more about judging us and calling us names than we do about doing the same to you. Perhaps that makes the country arrogant, but it doesn't change that we as a whole could care less what goes on outside our country. Not saying it's good.....but your assessment is entirely wrong.

 

There's no way to answer either of those questions. What is clear is that those fighters gained exposure to boxing somewhere along the way, something that is increasingly rare in the United States.

We do know that there is some translation between boxing and other sports. Ken Norton Jr. was a very good linebacker in the NFL for years, and Ron Artest was the son of a very successful amateur boxer. I'd love to see a football or basketball player produce a boxer, rather than always the inverse.

That's the problem.