Question for American fans re: British fighters....

****ing hell! I think you were right to not post this on the general. i'm sure you will get a sensible response on here.

 

There has been plenty of great British fighters, but overall what sums it up for me is that American fighters have had the best chance at becoming complete fighters. Its not because of anything other than training methods.
European and British fighters have been taught to box from a more traditional boxing form, whereas American fighters have been taught a more diverse range of skills, which is needed on the championship level. One style cant beat everyone elses, so its important for fighters to be better equipped to adapt to different looks and even the fighters such as Nigel Benn, Naseem Hamed, and Ricky Hatton that didnt fight from that traditional style, they still were somewhat one dimensional.

 

I have a pretty decent perspective on this as I'm an American now living in the UK (been here 4 years).

The British fight scene is very healthy IMO, and while I will say that boxing isn't exactly a "mainstream" sport here, the fans that you do have are very passionate and very vocal.

I should start by saying that we don't get to see much of your B/C level fighters over there, and as such we tend to completely gloss over those victories when assessing a fighters career. That of course is naive of us.

I must say however, I think that as a nation you should be producing more top level fighters. For some reason you seem to produce many of the same strong, tough, aggresive fighters over and over again. Nothing wrong with that of course but it seems that whilst nurturing their talent, your youngsters aren't exposed to different styles (slicksters in particular). Mexican fighters very often fight in a similar way, but being so close to the States they have the option of fighting many different style of fighters...I'm not sure that options open to you.

Your fantastic fans are partly to blame for this as well, as out and out brawlers like Hatton and Benn seem to be favoured over the more technical Calzaghe and Eubank. With that in mind I'm shocked that Froch cannot seem to get on mainstream TV. Why Sky Sports haven't picked up this tournament is beyond me!!

Unfortunately 2 of your better recent fighters (Calzaghe and Eubank) failed to totally live up to their potential in my opinion, as they were very reluctant to come to the US and fight the best. I totally agree that american fighters and fans can be completely arrogant in expecting top stars from the UK to come to the US when they can pack out stadiums back at home and make lots of money that way. But RJJ didn't need DM or JC to bolster his resume when he had Hopkins and Toney on it. I rate Calz and Eubank very very highly, but they only dared to be great (a little harsh on Joe perhaps??)

I like Cleverly and Brook...and Degale, Gavin, Jeffries and Saunders look to be coming along nicely. Bradley Saunders could be a top fighter one day as well so the future appears to be in good hands. However, I've not seen a great deal in your 3 young HW's (Fury, Chisora and Price) that has shown me these guys will do much yet.