Sultan Ibragimov on why Euro Heavies will continue to dominate

I disagree about Americans being lazy. I think it all lies in boxing as a fading sport. Most of our heavyweight champions are in the NFL or NBA. I don't see many Americans willing to travel the hard road of boxing not out of laziness, but out of security. I give the Euro's props they are dominating the division, but not because American are lazy, but because you're not taking on our best.

 

You miss the point. The goal is the NFL or NBA, only a few of the top high school players go on to play for Divison I College teams, and only a fraction of THOSE make it to the Pros. Yet the dream is always within reach for those big enough, athletic enough, and driven enough. A lot of guys come up short, but the chance is still much greater than becoming a pro boxer where you make chump change for most of your career, and given enough talent, and enough years (usually 3 or more until you reach contender/ranked status) you might have 1 or 2 shots at making real money. You have one bad game in the pros, you still get a chance next week, you lose a fight early in your boxing career you might miss your chance at ever having a chance at a legit payday... besides the fact you have to giveaway a shitload of your purse to shady promoters and sanctioning fee's on top of taxes.

Also, that whole thing about getting punched in the face.


So given the choice, the better more realistic pick is for guys to shoot for the NBA or NFL, and if they come up short, they could probably still make a better living in the semi-pro leagues collecting as more than they'd get in their early boxing careers, PLUS if they get a free college education, and the network of jobs that open up being an ex-college athlete.

 

Interesting point about losing one fight and potentially missing out on a big pay day. Besides being why many don't take up boxing this is also another reason why the best won't fight the best. Boxing isn't as forgiving of losing fighters as it was in the past.