Is America Really Declining Boxing Wise!!

Isn't it strange that Eastern Europe and Cuba has never produced a quality professional fighter that stood above the rest like many of the all the greats? Yes you have alot of European and Cuban fighers today, more than in the past.....but it's quite obvious you're confusing quantity with quality. There has yet to be an Eastern European or Cuban fighter that transends his division in the likes of a Floyd Mayweather, Roy Jones Jr, Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Foreman/ALi etc.., etc..

A natural reaction for some. But the objective truth is obvious.

 

ATG fighters but a lot of those never transeded a division.

mayweather had a case at 130 but moved up without cleaning out any divisions.

roy jones had a rival D/M in his main division for many many years and they never squared off.

holyfield at cruiser but he moved up quickly to heavy and was never a dominant heavy champ for any length of time.


foreman i would have to look at the record books but from memory his longevity was short lived first time around.

tyson definatley did /whitaker got a **** descion in france but was the best lightweight of his time.

 

MMA is a growing sport in the US, but boxing has been in decline since the 1970's, well before MMA got popular.

Your second point is interesting. I see more MMA type gyms opening up in Michigan than I do new boxing gyms.

 

That's a great point tommy. Overregulation has definitely hurt the sport here, as well.

To add on to it and compare it to the "mainstream" contact sport, it's to the football's credit (for their own interests, that is) that they hide the risks of playing the game to the point where people honestly believe it's considerably safer than boxing, even though concussions and life long lasting injuries have crippled many former NFL players, they die younger, and the injury rate is significantly higher than boxing.

More people play football in the US now of course, but 13 football players died last year. It just never gets mentioned so nobody is any the wiser. There's already been over 300 more deaths total caused by playing US football the past 75 years than there has been recorded in boxing over 250 years worldwide.

 

That's a solid post, Tommy. Heck I can remember watching Larry Holmes and Earne Shavers fight on free TV. :yep

 

Would you say that Basketball is on the decline in the US with the influx of foreign players in the NBA and recent slip ups of the national team (not in including the recent Olympics)?

The talent pool in the US is still here. The media coverage is just lacking though. Boxers just need to fight more often on TV and against better competition. It was boxers like RJJ and PBF that contributed to indifference with their regular HBO bum of the month (or should I say quarter) club and promoters who set up these fights that are to blame and have allowed the HW division to become fractured for so long since the retirement of Lennox Lewis. In fact, I think a case can be made that Lennox Lewis destroyed American boxing.

 

:huh

 

It all seems fairly simple to me and this argument isn't just about the US, there are two main problems which are damaging boxing, putting most fights on pay tv or ppv, and the fact there are two many organizations handing out belts. Sort those two things out, one central world governing body, and regular top class fights on free tv and boxing will do well.