Golovkin obviously the wrecking machine he is but look how many medals they got at recent amateur tourney. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_AIBA_World_Boxing_Championships Also doing great in WSB (World Series of Boxing)
That chart just tells of what's to come. Former soviet countries and Cuba. USA boxing scene is nearly dead.
I guess you haven't checked to see how many belt holders the USA has right now? More than anyone else:deal
WBO IBF WBA WBC Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko (a) Wladimir Klitschko Bermane Stiverne CRUISERWEIGHT (200 LBS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Marco Huck Yoan Pablo Hernandez (b)Denis Lebedev Grigory Drozd LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT (175 LBS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Sergey Kovalev Bernard Hopkins (c) Bernard Hopkins Adonis Stevenson SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT (168 LBS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Arthur Abraham Carl Froch (d) Andre Ward Anthony Dirrell MIDDLEWEIGHT (160 LBS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Vacant Jermain Taylor (e) Gennady Golovkin (f) Miguel Cotto JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT/SUPER WELTERWEIGHT (154 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Demetrius Andrade Cornelius Bundrage (g) Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Mayweather Jr. WELTERWEIGHT (147 LBS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Manny Pacquiao Kell Brook (h) Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Mayweather Jr. JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT/SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT (140 LBS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Chris Algieri Lamont Peterson (i) Danny Garcia Danny Garcia LIGHTWEIGHT (135 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Terence Crawford Mickey Bey (j) Richard Abril Omar Figueroa JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT/SUPER FEATHERWEIGHT (130 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Orlando Salido Rances Barthelemy (k) Takashi Uchiyama Takashi Miura FEATHERWEIGHT (126 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Vasyl Lomachenko Evgeny Gradovich (l) Nonito Donaire Jhonny Gonzalez JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHT/SUPER BANTAMWEIGHT (122 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Guillermo Rigondeaux Carl Frampton (m) Guillermo Rigondeaux Leo Santa Cruz BANTAMWEIGHT (118 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC (n)Tomoki Kameda Vacant (o) Juan Carlos Payano Shinsuke Yamanaka JUNIOR BANTAMWEIGHT/SUPER FLYWEIGHT (115 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Omar Narvaez Zolati Tete (p) Kohei Kono Carlos Cuadras FLYWEIGHT (112 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Juan Estrada Amnat Ruenroeng (q) Juan Estrada Roman Gonzalez JUNIOR FLYWEIGHT (108 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Donnie Nietes Javier Mendoza (r) Alberto Rossell Naoya Inoue STRAWWEIGHT (105 POUNDS) WBO IBF WBA WBC Francisco Rodriguez Jr. Vacant (s) Hekkie Budler Oswaldo Novoa USA title holders bolded.
Why is it that whenever some random ethnic group starts making an impact on the sport, your typiclal Murican starts getting defensive. Of course Murica will always be a boxing power. They have a huge population coupled with a shrinking middleclass and an infrastructure that supports it's own.
Look at the AM scene. I'm not celebrating the decline of US boxing, I'm just not denying it. Look at all the big names in US boxing; most were olympic champs. Who has come up in the AMs from USA that made you say "damn" like a RJJ, SRL, FMJ, etc would? No one. The title holders right now are either on their way out (FMJ, Bhop, TAYLOR? etc.) or just mediocre fighters. Danny Garcia has the brightest future of those title holders. It's not a good look. Crawford could have a bright future as well though.
AM boxing doesn't always translate into big success at the pros. American styles aren't best suited for the am game. Most of our boxers make better pros than am boxers anyway.
It's a big indicator though. Look at a place like Ukraine. They had no boxing scene, then they grab some gold medals with guys like Wlad, Loma, Usyk. Now they are close to having three world champs. Scoring is favoring more of a pro style these days, so the transition will be even easier.
the belt holders (FMJ ward + Hopkins) aren't likely to be around for too much longer though due to retirement. Crawford + Andrade look decent, not sure how many potential belt holders from USA are coming through in the next 3/4 years compared to what's coming from the east (not specifically kazakstan though)
I like Spence and think he has a good future as a pro. My point is that Spence should be one of 6-7 guys of that caliber. He is really one of the only recent AMs to talk about. What if he washes out? I know it's cliche, but the amount of sports in the US really is killing boxing. Boxing gyms are shutting down or becoming MMA gyms. Mexicans are keeping it alive, really.
