What happened to the great American Heavyweight?

The extremely simplified response:

1) American schools began to universally offer free participation in team sports, including football. The athletes, especially the bigger ones who physically look like athletes, are already tied up with another sport by the time they're old enough to try boxing.

2) Other sports started to pay very well, including football and basketball

3) The Iron Curtain fell, and there are lots of big dudes in Eastern Europe who can go pro now who couldn't 20 years ago

4) Popularity of boxing fell in the US generally

5) Far fewer boxing gyms, especially in inner cities, means less opportunity for kids to try boxing unless they really actively seek it out.

On the balance, it just means far fewer Americans trying boxing at all. The lower weight classes aren't as negatively effected, since someone who's 5'8" / 160 or lower wouldn't be playing any of the major team sports anyway.

 

First off, the NBA and the NFL didn't truly become lucrative til the 70 for the NFL and the late 80's for the NBA. Read the histories of these sports. Most NFL and NBA players from the 50's to the 70's had second jobs in the offseason. It wasn't until much later that these sports became profitable. Fact. This also happened to unfortunately coincide with the rapid decline of heavyweight boxing in the 70's, after Ali retired. Fact. Sure, there were some brief flare ups like Tyson, but the heavyweight snce has been on the decline for year with all but the major stars earning descent salaries.

 

Let me put it this way...

Hatton and PBF sold how many PPV buys in the US (population 300+ million)?

How many in the UK (population 60+ million)?

Yeah....

 

You're a nincompoop.

 

I think those are bad examples because nodody is saying that just because a guy played in the NFL or is big or a good athlete that he would be a good boxer. Boxing skill needs to be crafted, no? Probably more than any other sport or you get hurt. The 3 guys you mentioned didn't follow the traditional path to their boxing careers. They are practically novelty acts.
But, we're talking on a much larger scale than 3 guys anyway. Let's take the thousands of world class athletes of the last 10 years who are the HW type and chose other sports and take just 10% of those and have had them grow up as boxers. Is it a stretch to say that 5 or 6 or even 20 could have been a HW contender? Maybe even a few champs?

 

Not for kids. The American little league system is second to none and is far more popular than football, which is really a high school and college sport.

 

And you've added what to this argument?

 

Right now, NFL is probably the premiere American league. NBA is second and MLB third. You are right in regard to professional leagues.
MLB, baseball, is a bit unusual that this professional sport business is actually a protected business. It is a legal monopoly. No there sports in America is allowed such luxury. In general, only public utilities (electric, gas, etc) are allowed that and that is even changing.

Nevertheless, it does not change that fact that even if you don't like MLB, you have 2 other very profitable sports you can participate in instead of boxing, especially if you are 6' 4" 220+ lbs.

 

MLB is still very popular here...not as much as football, but still ver popular nonetheless. As compared to football in Europe....I don't know. I don't know what the popularity of the seasonal leagues in Europe is, but the world cup stuff is insane.

 

Nothing really, just wanted to let people know that not all Americans are as ignorant as you on that point.

European footballers make every bit as much as American players in the major sports, and Beckham wasn't getting paid to play football as much as for promotional reasons.

As for the original point, I laid out the main reasons.

People who brought up Bubba Smith, etc. are missing the point also. Most good fighters take up the sport when they're 12, not 20. Other than a few rare exceptions (Nate Campbell comes to mind), someone who takes up the sport in their 20's is never going to look or move like a boxer, and the instincts just don't develop the same way.

If an athletic kid is 12 years old and is already playing football for free, they're not going to pay money and commute to join a boxing gym. Sure, maybe after that kid flames out in college football he tries boxing, but at that point, it's unlikely he'll ever be that good. We've seen a bunch of those types (Tye Fields, Brian Minto, Derric Rossy, etc.), and while they might have been good had they been boxing since they were 13, the movement just isn't there for them to be any good now. And the people who are REALLY athletic will just stay in football, since they get paid to do that.

 

Just did a quick search.... check this out on American sports......

http://media.www.uwtledger.com/medi...p-Five.Popular.Sports.In.America-576965.shtml

 

Just out of interest, and I admit this is pretty tangential ...

When did US Colleges start offering scholarships for things like football (US) and basketball?
And has anyone ever had a boxing scholarship?

 

NCAA stopped doing boxing in 1960. Before then, yes, there were boxing scholarships. In the 1960 national championships, a fighter died of a brain bleed, and the NCAA immediately cancelled boxing. As far as I know, there's never been high school level boxing.

As far as I know, schools have almost always offered scholarships for athletes, just there wasn't as much of a pool for them. Until the '60's, the only big money team sport was baseball, and good baseball players generally signed to play minor league ball straight out of high school.

NFL salaries didn't become anything better than what the average joe makes until the AFL was formed and pushed up the prices of players through competition. Basketball players didn't make all that much until the mid-60's.

So sure, there were scholarships available, but how much does that motivate a kid to have dreams of becoming an athlete? I mean, the NCAA gives out scholarships for crew and lacrosse and stuff, but it's not like the average kid is going into those sports when they could go into football, bastketball or baseball instead.

 

I read an article not long ago reguarding the highest paid sports...

1. Boxing ($50m)
2. F1 ($30m - $50m)
3. Baseball ($20m)
4. American Football ($20m)
5. Basketball ($15m)
6. Association Football [Soccer] ($10m)
7. Golf ($10m)
8. Tennis ($10m)
9. Ice Hockey ($9m)

The numbers refers to what the top players/persons in each respective sport can earn annually, the figure does not include endorsment deals an so on.

 

For a long time now. It became common practice after WWII.

I do not know one university that offers a boxing scholarship - but I do know some for volleyball, hockey, golf, swimming, diving, and even field hockey.

So yea...