Myth that American leading heavyweights are in other sports-

I totally agree with everything you say here.

People try to say that it is only because the Eastern Euro contingent is there though, and that the rise in popularity and salaries of other sports has nothing to do with it and that is flat out wrong.

 

Boxing is on the decline in the US...everyone agrees with that. Very few, if any, colleges have a boxing team. In the old days (50's?) there would be boxing gyms on every corner....EVERY city kid and many rural kids knew how to box at least a little. Now you see women lawyers boxing in these gyms! And younger guys (and women) like UFC better, which maybe isn't all that important as they are not any way near boxing quality people.

Bottom line is the gene pool for boxers is very small for boxers in the US now.

 

?? what other opportunities are there for Mexican's to make a good living (unless you're born into the upper classes)? Soccer is more popular so what? Some guys like to fight and not every wannabe athlete can play soccer (which might be more difficult than boxing if you think about it).

 

I understand what youre saying but I dont think you understand what Im saying. I know what it requires to be a great boxer, I did ammy boxing for a while. Im not a great boxer BUT I tried it. I did average on the local scene.

What Im telling you is that there are guys that may or may NOT have been good but there's no way of knowing. ****, even Ali just stumbled into a gym and ended up becoming one of the best HWs off all time. What if his bike was never stolen and he would have never set foot in the ring? Im just saying alot of it IS skill but there is a HUGE amount of luck and chance decision making involved too. There are tons of "tough guys" out there. They're not all boxers. Not even close.

 

It's been like these everywhere else in the world. Who wants to box in Africa for example when they can play soccer? I mean many of the popular soccer players from Africa come from very poor living conditions, much worse than in the US with less chances of becoming succesfull at anything.

They are never gonna be coming in contact with boxing, and most don't want to, it's too demanding for their already poor living. For soccer you need a ball, that's all, even if you don't have a real soccer field, teachers in schools/scouts can tell if someone has talent, happens all the time.

Again, it's the same everywhere. Not just USA.

 

Wanting to be 'good but not great' doesn't make a champion either...

 

:good
You make some good points

 

They are probably going to go into something else other than boxing anyway. You act like if they don't go for soccer, they go for boxing cause they don't got much more options. Even if they are not really talented, I bet they'd rather go to some minor league even for less money than box. Or just go into anything else? and not participate in a sport at all?

This is not just Mexico... in Europe it's the same, no one wants to be boxing if they can play soccer, and there are definitely other sports over there, it's not like oh I can't play soccer, there's only boxing now!. Not even close.

I don't see it and will never see it, cause it's the everywhere else not just USA. So let's agree to disagree. The majority in the world don't want to be boxing compared to doing other stuff, this is everywhere, and especially iin other countries with less opportunities than US to get proper training etc. Boxing it's going to be even less of an option.

 

Well I can give you 2 examples of failed "football players turned fighters":

Mark Gastineu
Bobb Sapp

Great Football players, mediocre fighters.

 

Gastineau who starting fighting at like age 85? That Gastineau?

And how could I forget The Great Bob Sapp??

You're really reaching here.

 

You take the current top 20 best athletes in the NFL, rewind the clock until they are all age 5. Train them in boxing instead of football until adulthood. I promise you the USA would hold every single friggin heavyweight belt.

 

What C- Level fighter beat Vitali?

 

Yeah, everybody is aware of those two examples and many more. How f*cking stupid are you? What is the point of bringing up such meaningless information?

And, for the sake of accuracy, Bob Sapp was never a great professional football player. He was cut 4 times in 4 years and only played 1 game.

 

Would they hold every belt if every other country did the same type of thing? Of course you will say they would because people like you think Americans are inherently best at everything.

 

Man, you're a ****ing idiot.


Gastineau started boxing after he retired from the NFL and was out of his physical prime. He was also fighting purely as a novelty act to make money. He admitted that a lot of his "victories" were fixed fights.

Bob Sapp was practice team bench warmer in the NFL who washed out of the league after he tested positive for steroids multiple times. The only reason anyone even knows his name is because the Japanese love to watch him demean himself.