The Six Reasons Why I Dislike Heavyweight Boxing

Peak of boxing - Not sure about that. Boxing was pretty racist back then. I think the sport peaked much later 60-90's. The rise of cable put money into the NBA and NFL and PPV and changing Western values took boxing off of TV.

Foreign Competition - I have a problem with this for a specific reason. If foreign competition was magically so good and just unable to compete, why are they STILL not dominant in the lower divisions?

Choice of Athletes - Boxing is more about parental and society choice than only athletic choice. Boxing has a unique requirement of lifelong dedication. When boxing was a way of life ALL athletic boys dabbled at the boxing gyme or the thought of being a boxer. This is no longer the case. The former Soviet block countries treat boxing as a sport like any other. Boys pick a track from youth. This is not the case for America.

IMHO, being in the NBA or NFL doesn't make you HW champion material. It takes a special breed of man and he isn't always the most athletic. The problem is that boxing is not even considered for men with any athletic talent. This is proven through the age that most American HW's begin boxing. By yesterdays standards it is OLD.

I am in no way diminishing the Euro champs, it just doesn't add up to me.

 

Tyson was a beast. He was also boxing since childhood. I don't think Either of them withstand Tyson.

 

I agree with 1,2, 5 and 6, especially 1. It's ridiculous how Wlad and Vitali fight guys so much smaller then them. You don't have that disparity in any other weight class. It's a joke.

 

1) From a quantity standpoint, boxing in the US was never more popular than in the 20's and 30's, when the only other game in town was baseball. There were between 8 and 10 thousand licensed boxers a year in the US, comprising pretty much every ethnicity out there. While the title shots were affected by racism and politics, there were fighters coming out of nearly every ethnic group, and alot of them.

2) The lack of boxing as a youth option for the past few decades has been a big reason there's fewer boxers from the US today. I agree with you 100%. Better education and options for many count for a lot, as well.

3) Foreign competition is indeed better than ever- not all of it comes from Ukraine of course, but the lower weights bear this out, too. Here's something interesting I found going through the Ring rankings....

There isn't a single weight division where American-born fighters make up the majority of the top 10. None of the Ring champions are American, either.

Not one. That's not to say we're weak in boxing now, but the monopoly's been broken.

 

All solid points.

I think you expanded on 2 perfectly also and I agree.

I can't help but agree with three and that second point is interesting. However the only "problem" I find in it is the actual MASSIVE talent gap in many of those positions of lower weights.

Americans always sucked below 140. Any spot they held was transient. They are now sucking 170 and above. Right at the entry level into American football. Boxing is a TOUGH sport to just go half ass at. Football isn't. There must be a correlation, but I can't prove it.

I also look at guys like Kessler, Abraham, and Calzaghe and wonder if they would be the fighters they are today had they come up or fought more often in America? These guys meet Americans well into their twilight or green and get beaten or put down. It doesn't add up (or maybe I am just an American wishing for the glory days? :conf).

In the end though, I am really glad that the global boxing community is sharing more. I would much rather share this than soccer! :good

 

The reason some are cutting down the heavyweight division is because they hate the Klitschkos. Klitschkos are, by far, superior to the other heavyweights at this time and the haters know that, so they make up excuses, such as everyone is playing basketball, football, you name it. They did not say that when other heavyweights dominated. Lewis was far taller than his opponents, but that was OK, but now, haters want another division. Klitschkos won in superheavyweight division amateur and Vitali was six time superheavyweight division champion kick boxing, both amateur and pro. Klitschkos have skills, it's not just their size by any means.

 

Excellent post :good

But now we should get out of here as fast as we can!

 

Ali, Tyson, Holyfield, Holmes, Frasier - if they all met Wlad as he is now, they'd lose to him.

Lennox Lewis and Foreman have a chance against him but I still expect he'd win. Anyone who disagrees? Nostalgia talking.


You made some good points until you got here. Prime Ali, Tyson, Holmes and Fraiser dominate Wlad.......rather easily. Young Foreman takes hiim out to.

 

Okay I'll admit it. The K2 dominance over the Heayweight division is the reason that Heavyweight boxing is boring. It is the reason that a Heayweight title fight that should always be on HBO and PPV is being downgraded to tape delay on ESPN2. K2 with all their size, skill and dominance have made Boxing glory division boxing's boring division. Hopefully, someone can either defeat them and the division can go back to being exciting or they can retire on top either way the first day K2 no longer have 75% of the belts will be one of the best days we've seen in boxing in a while.

 

To the OP:

1. Size advantages have always been a factor. Consider this:
Joe Louis is often seen as Nr. 1 HW of all time. He actually fought 17 HW's in his entire career, the rest were CW's by today's standards. He won the title from Braddock, who had 20 losses at LHW. Who were the only fighters to knock down a prime or near - prime Ali? 186 pound Cooper and 5'10 Frazier. Ali had a bigger size advantage over them than the Klitschkos have over most opponents, yet these two got close to stpooing Ali. Liston dwarfed Patterson height, reach, weight, raw strength and those were most likely his best career wins.

2. We will never know how greats from past eras would have fared against the best iron curtain fighters. We don't even know how many kids in the Eastern block didn't pick up boxing, because they had no prospect of fighting the best pros. Vitali became a boxer, because when he was a kid he could fathom fighting Mike Tyson one day. Today we have the Klitschkos, Chagaev, Solis, Povetkin, all amateur stars from the Eastern block. Ali or Foreman never had to deal with Stevenson etc. In terms of depth, there is a shift from the US to Eastern Europe, but if we look at second tier contenders, I don't see Jerry Quarry or Jimmy Young as better fighters than Chagaev, Solis etc.

3. Some HW's are fat, alright. So was Frazier in his rematch with Foreman, he was walso half - blind in Manila. Schmeling went into the rematch with Louis with his wife held hostage by the Nazis, you think that gave him a chance to prepare well? Ali fought Holmes with a neurological disease. Douglas was horribly fat when defending against Holyfield. Comeback Foreman was fat. McCall rematched Lewis 50 days out of drug rehab. There were always HW fights with one fighter less than well prepared.

4. Size increases in all size - related sports. Football players are bigger now than 30 years ago. Shaq was the physically most intimidating center of all time. Does that mean these guys have no skills? Why is Valuev the shittiest HW belt holder in recent times when he is the biggest? Size plus skill is what lets the Lewis/Klitschko type dominate.

 

Foreman!

:rastaAli's biggest bugbears were Joe Frazier and Ken Norton. Foreman couldn't even take Ali the distance.

 

well now thats not necessarily true, a small list of p4p beasts less than 140lbs america has created:

benny leonard
henry armstrong
joe gans
willie pep
terry mcgovern
george dixon
barney ross(started at lw)
tony canonzeri

certainly in recent years latin american countries and asians have dominated the lower weights but america has produced a few stellar boxers in these categories.

 

What I can't comprehend is how people are picking Wladimir Klitshchko, (the guy who was KO'd three times, and who was in bad trouble against SAM PETER!) over guys like Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Liston even... Lennox Lewis would beat up both Klitschko's in his prime, Tyson would annhilate them and so would the other guys I mentioned...

As for Popkins points I agree with almost all of them, and although I do occasionlly enjoy heavyweight fights, all too often I watch two fat, slow and talentless fighters bore me to death.