Dear God, Grant Me An American Heavyweight

Oleg Maskaev is an American heavyweight...

 

Blame guys like Michael Strahan, Julius Peppers, Ray Lewis, and alot more players in the NFL.

 

Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba have always had good fighters. These countries have always displayed an array of talented skilled boxers. The lightweight division has always been more exciting than the heavys ever since forever. I dont understand who would want to see a PPV fight end in 30seconds by one punch but stupid boxing fans the ones who think a heavy weight knockout is the best thing on earth. I personally would rather see PAC VS Marquez over and euro heavy fight any day. Now that there is hardly any talent in HW division more and more people are agreing with me.

 

I Really Dont Care What Country The Next Exciting Heavy Comes From. Just Bring Excitement & I'm Happy.

 

British and Danish fighters are a bit different - I had more German and Eastern European fighters in mind.

If you can't participate in a grown-up discussion without talking about excrements or any other bodily functions, I suggest you wash your mouth before you kiss your mom good night.

 

If you can't help but make generalisations about european boxers then you shouldn't have pretentions of being able to take part in a proper debate.

How are Danish fighters any different to German ones by the way? Do you know where Denmark is? Britain and Denmark are just as European as Germany and the Ukraine y'know.

You get plenty of action-packed fights worthy of Gatti - Ward in Europe, in Germany too, but you dont see them coz they're not on HBO so you make a ridiculous assumption that all european fighters are boring.

 

I think there is some merit to your distinction between American and German/Eastern Euro fighters. However, the difference now is that we have a lack of guys with talent "willing to live in the gym" and "die for the sport". When we had generations willing to do that (pre 2000), I'd favor the talented "willling to die" American style versus the the Eastern Euro prolific sportsman. For example, look at all the great champs and contenders through the 70s and 90's (with less so in the 80's), I'll take that group over the group existing in Eastern Euro now and recently (and then). Wlad and Vit are the exception to that rule and that is primarily because of their freakish height that combined with decent skill and good atletecism makes them difficult for any fighter of earlier generations. But I'd take Tyson, Holmes, Bowe and some others certainly over Wlad and also of Vitaly because there of that "willing to die" attitude.

 

This is a lot of fun. Why would you think I am an American chained to HBO? Didn't the mentioning of Ulrich-Barashian ring any bells? And when did I ever say European fights are boring?

The thread starter has a point, and I think the type of fighting he is unhappy with comes from a difference in psychology. Britain is one of the few places in Europe where boxing is the sport of the poor and an exit from the streets. And it shows.

 

I agree. But I think each type of boxing has its own merits. So it's all (mostly) fun to watch, but in different ways.

 

Yeah, but the point I was trying to make is that I don't agree the type of Eastern Euro fighter we were discussing generally beats an American style fighter. Although both have their merits, I'd favor the American style to win more championship belts.

 

Well, in heavies the Eastern Euro style seems to be doing better at the moment. You would say the true American heavies are just not around anymore. But then maybe they are, they are just stopped in their tracks. Think of Calvin Brock and Eddie Chambers. Are they that bad or is it that Wlad and Povetkin are that good?

 

Yeah as we both discussed (and I thought you agreed), they're not around anymore. Your mention of Brock and Chambers emphasizes the point. Brock almost has the Eastern Euro mentality - he's got some type of professional degree, he has decent skill, but is not a guy who takes a lot of chances or evidences some fierce mentality in the ring. Chambers lacks size obviously but from all accounts lacks killer instinct and just tries to react/counter punch and if he was willing to go all out, he would've beaten Povetkin. Povetkin IMO is nothing special in any era (except possibly this one). Wlad and Vit are somewhat special as I said but it its primarily because of their size.