did the Klitschko brothers 'eradicated' the american HWs ?!

The problem is that there are fewer boxing gyms around. So there are fewer Americans taking up the sport from a young age. Martial arts became more popular too. Kids who are interested in learning to fight are more interested in MMA these days.

Most of the best heavy's in the US these days are guys who failed at other sports. They don't put on a pair of boxing gloves until their 20's.

 

My greater neighborhood has half a dozen MMA gyms which do teach boxing but in concert with other martial arts.

 

Wilder has a crap jab for a big man.
His love for his right hand will be his undoing unless he begins to favor his jab over his right hand.
Foreman while similarly crude had one of the best jabs ever. It was such a good jab I will call it the "Jab" with capital J!
All of his power shots were set up with a telephone "Jab"!

Wilder just flicks it out there to setup his right.
Those that call him the HW Hearns should realize Hearns had a very good jab, and excellent footwork.
In fact who was the last HW champ with a crap jab???

 

MMA gyms are also not free, or super cheap.
Boxing gyms are mostly free. Bring your heart not your wallet.:good

 

Hold on...*sniff sniff*...I smell bull$hit.:barf

 

Is this an honest question or troll baiting?

The Klitchkos are hardly unbeatable, they just face an era of mediocre fat out of shape blown up cruiser weights. 6'+ American athletes have other options

 

Because Muhammad Ali was the perfect embodiment of what an athletes appearance is supposed to typify.

:rofl

Klitschko is far superior to him in that regard, and in terms of one punch explosive speed, I'd probably give an advantage to many heavyweights over Ali including Wlad.

Wlad is just to fast twitch dominated in order not to be. His chiseled physique in his advanced age is testament to his athletic prowess.

Ali had man boobs for crying out loud. There was nothing toned about him. Frazier was the most pathetic excuse of an athlete that I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing.

What about the lower weights that are seeing a rise of European talent such as Kovalev, GGG, Pirog, Groves, Lomachenko (who was cheated and robbed of his rightful title and place in boxing history), Carl Frampton, and more?

What excuses will you pull out of the hat to justify the inadequacy of 'Americans' in the lower weight classes? Less gyms? You think there are more gyms in London, Kiev, or Moscow than say a place like L.A., Philadelphia, Detroit, or other impoverished cities allocated around the country? No way. Just remember that those places also have other sports that could lure talent away from boxing. Boxing is not all that they do over there.

Idiot.

 

Are you denying that Vitali was not only ahead on the scorecards when he was fighting Byrd, but also sustained a shoulder injury during the course of the bout?

Do you like rehashing history to further you hateful bias against the Klitschko's?

lol You're ******ed.

 

I bet the the cities that had a gargantuan amount of gyms still has a higher number than cities all over Europe. Boxing is more popular in America than it is in Europe. FACT!

You also assume that boxing is the only sport that Europeans are only actively participating in. You forgot about sports like soccer, Rugby that steals away talent from European boxing.

lol You're a moron. Keep regurgitating the same nonsense while thinking you're some enlightened individual who knows all the ins and outs of boxing.

 

no nba players can fight.

 

You really think fighters of a bygone era with no weight training would weigh the same with weight training?
Ali at 215 in 1972 would easily be 230+ with any poser bodybuilding routine that's so popular with gym goers across the world.

Take any HW from any era, and simply add 20 imaginary pounds to them. Don't think it's that simple? Then you never put any work in the weight room.

Take every current HW away from weight training completely, and watch them shrink.
Weight training has extended careers to the point where it is a distinct advantage, and when Klitschko says he wants to compete for 10 more years I believe he can do it.
Without weight training I would doubt he could maintain the strength needed to compete into his 40's.
Look at Holmes. Yes he still was somewhat competitive, but at 40 he was further from his prime than Vitali was at 40 by a lot.

So my point is comparing era's don't work like you think since the implementation of weight training has made a significant difference, and those athletes from yesteryear would look much different with a cast iron diet.

Ali training with an Olympic coach like Bill Starr would have made him physically much stronger, and perhaps his fights would have had a different style if he was able to muscle his opponents around.
Imagine Ali with a bit more power, and more strength in a clinch, etc. Much like how baseball has changed due to bigger, and stronger athletes.

 

I can't attest to what you say about popularity, but overall popularity in the US is far less than it was 30-40 years ago.
Our talent pool has shrunk regardless.
Maybe other countries are making better use of the talent they do have, and maybe we need to look a little harder at our amateur program?
Either way we have less fighters period which does impact the talent you have to work with.

 

holmes looked like a drunk from a bar.

 

do you really think Ali adding 20 pounds of muscle would help him? it would slow him down a lot and probebly effect his stamina a lot

 

Not necessarily, but it would have changed him somewhat for better or worse.