For my history class I am intending to write on how the collapse of the Soviet Union drastically changed the landscape of boxing. As many on here are far more knowledgeable of the sport than I am I was hoping that some of you may have links or insights that may be helpful to my effort. Thanks in advance.
I would look into the Soviet sports "Machine" there was a whole organization that for a lack of a better word manufactured top level athletes, not just in boxing but when the Soviet Union collapsed it left a lot of government funded athletes to make a living on their own creating a huge in flux of professional prize fighters. mostly started in european circuits but have since migrated and made a big statement on the highest levels of the sport. (Wlad and Vitali were both in the Soviet Athletic program) People forget that there was a lot of fear at the time and American concerns about Soviet influence and communism didn't just dissappear with the fall of the Soviets. You could discuss how this permiated into pop culture. (Rocky IV displayed the stereotypical view of a russian athlete and American hesitation to accept them as competitors) I wouldn't use Rocky IV as a demostration of a real boxing match though...lol Good Luck
I'm not sure if you'll find it useful, but you might want to watch this, if only for a bit of background. Soviet era boxing Documentary. [yt]TZILMMYy9Lo[/yt]
Hey Aaron, apart from sputnik that just posted before me, coming to ask a perfectly good question like that on a place like ESB is not going to do you any good. The majority of posters on this form DKSAB, and come on here to vent their frustations on others. I liked Sputniks post by and by, but he needs to realise that many on here view Rocky IV as the real life snapshot that it was, and of how it really was back in the cold war era. Ive always had the niggling thought that the Drago fight was fixed and that Drago took a dive, or that his trainer had put something in his water..... Anyway,most of us rocktards beleives that Rocky started the fire that thawed out and put an end to the cold war era.:deal
Yeah was definitely planning on going into the extensive soviet and to a lesser extent cuban ameteur system and the dispersal of talent after the breakup. Likely also going to go into the growth of the sport in germany due to this. Only problem I forsee is finding credible sources in a language I can read
