EE/Russian fighters keeping high level boxing alive?

According to ESB's favorite Afro-Lenninist attaboi. The sport is in a huge slump and one thing will revive it is the influx of more Cuban fighters as a direct artifact of the U.S. softening relations with Cuba.


Sort of like curing narcolepsy with sleeping pills if you ask me!

 

Yes

 

The Soviets, the Mexicans and the Japanese are holding boxing up right now, shame however that the Japanese guys aren't getting TV exposure in the west.

 

Agreed.

 

:deal You never really hear about the Japanese-Mexican rivalry much, but I remember even a Mexican commentator mentioning how the Nippon warriors actually have a lead in victories against Mexican fighters. That's just how reserved and respectful they are, they are the opposite of pac****s, hardly a peep from Japanese fans. I try not to miss these fights Uchiyama and Tomoki Kameda are fighters I hope really transcend and become international stars. Tomoki, training out of Mexico for some time now, is a rising star in Mexico. Wbo champ.

 

I really don't understand this fixation grouping countries together. Ukraine is its own country, Russia is its own country, Kazakhstan is its own country. Imagine boxing without Central/South American countries like Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua. Let's group Asian countries together too. Japan, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea.. how would boxing be without them?

 

TBF Asian countries are ignored right now by the west, name more than 5 fighters from each of the the "Asian" countries you mentioned (ignore Kazakhstan if you wish, though it is central Asia and Eastern Europe) and you'll probably struggle. South Korean boxing now is at a VERY low point, Chinese boxing is picking up (you didn't mention China but it WILL be integral in the next decade), Indonesian boxing is...interesting but limited.

I'd love Boxnation/HBO/Showtime/Sky to just give those guys a ****ing chance. Inoue, Tanaka, Uchiyama, Miura, Yamanaka, Amnat, Ye Joon Kim, Koki Eto, Daiki Kaneko, Jomthong Chuwatana, Albert Pagara, Servania, Wanheng et al are all more deserving than half the *****s that US TV rave about.

 

@Boxing Prospect - who would you say was the stand out Asian fighter to keep an eye on? Are there any more Injin Chi's in the pipeline?

 

Japan-Kosei Tanaka, Ryo Matsumoto, Shohei Omori, Shun Kubo, Takuma Inoue, Ryota Murata and Hinata Maruta (He'll make his debut late next year but is tipped as a sensation by those in the know)

Thailand-Stamp Kiatniwat, Eaktawan Mor Krunthepthonburi, Kongputorn CP Freshmart

South Korea-Limited options here by Ye Joon Kim is the stand out (Ja Ik Goo seems to have quit the sport due to internal wranglings, Min Wook Kim seems to have done the same, REAL shame with both of them).

China-Ik Yang, Zou Shiming, Qiu Xiao Jun, Kuok Kun Ng

Philippines-Albert Pagara, Genesis Servania, Michael Dasmarinas, Ben Mananquil, Mark Magsayo

Both Japan and the Philippines have a list as long as your arms so I've tried to keep them short

 

That's quite a list. Thanks buddy :good

 

I'd suggest asking Takahiro-Onaga for more about Japan, the guy is clued up as hell. Seriously he's been passing on stuff weeks before the wider press gets to it.

 

Those weightclasses have always been a hard sell to Western audiences, It would probably take a dominant American or two at those lower divisions to gain recognition. Plus there are only so many TV spots available and those fights are happening half way around the World making production an even bigger issue. Again a dominant American would have to bring the competition to his own backyard for a more practical TV production value.

 

You are right there are only so many TV spots available...so why are they wasted on things like..Garcia Vs Salka? or Smith Vs Molina? The TV Production could well be what Boxnation do and literally take a live feed and put commentary over it.

Compare the Garcia Vs Salka debacle cost wise to what it'd cost to STAGE Gonzalez Vs Estrada II and Inoue Vs Narvaez on US soil. The little guys are an impossible sell when you don't give them a ****ing chance. The guys at 112 and below have time and time and time and time and time put on the best bouts over the last few years. The fact TV doesn't want to air things like Hernandez Vs Porpramook, Yaegashi Vs Porpramook, Eto Vs Diale, Yaegashi Vs Ioka is why the divisions don't get any attention.

They are dirt cheap purses and they are quality fights. Fight fans respond to action and getting to see these little guys beat the **** out of each other would get the division a lot of attention quickly compared to the primadonnas refusing to fight at the higher weights.

We're seeing more and more that boxing doesn't need an American (Golovkin and Kovalev are proving that quickly) so why do we think differently of the most action packed fighters at the lower weights?