When will we see another American HW champion ?

@miniq Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic,Usain Bolt would have all automatically have been fantastic boxers had they chose boxing, right?

 

You list a lot of failed US title challengers.

Who were all the failed Ukrainian title challengers, again? You know, the ones who weren't the Ali, Frazier and Foreman (i.e.the Klitschkos and Usyk) in Ukrainian heavyweight history?

There was Czar Glazkov and who again?

Who even are the top five Ukrainian heavyweights these days?

You've got Usyk and ... um?

Is there even a single Ukrainian heavyweight not named Usyk ranked in the top 15 of any sanctioning body right now?

When Usyk retires, who is the next Ukrainian world heavyweight champion? Who is waiting in the wings?

It's weird how cocky some fans got after the bare minimum of success against what was collectively the worst American heavyweight class arguably in the sport's history ...

And you still couldn't produce more champs (or title challengers) than the U.S. did in the same period.

 

Stiverne is from Haiti, not the U.S.

 

@Dubblechin Ukraine have the 3 greatest heavyweights of this generation, all Hall of famers. That's all you need to know. When they have a fighter in the top 10 they are usually number 1 in the division or a world champion.

Ukraine always has a small number of boxers, they have just 303 current pro's, whereas USA has 3446. They may not produce quantity, but they produce in quality.

They have a war going on, very little funding for boxing or infrastructure, the poorest country in Europe, virtually all their boxers have to fight on the road,

Yet they continuously produce elite boxers, including the most elite HW boxers of the last 20 years, without making any pathetic excuses about eras and other sports like you Americans do. They literally have everything against them in comparison to the USA, yet they are producing the Klitschko's and Usyk and you are producing Wilder , Andy Ruiz and Charles Martin

 

1980.s were the best for US heavyweights.....now it,s really bad

 

They've produced three elite heavyweights, ever. And two came from the same family.

Again, it's weird how cocky some fans got after the bare minimum of success against what was collectively the worst American heavyweight class arguably in the sport's history ...

And you still couldn't produce more champs (or title challengers) than the U.S. did in the same period.

There will probably be 10 heavyweight champions from the US before any Ukrainian succeeds Usyk. If one ever does. So enjoy it while you can.

Usyk's career is winding down. And there's no prospect coming up behind him.

 

Ukraine only gained independence in 1991. Ukrainian boxers only started turning professional around the late 90's/early 00's. I thought these types of statistics went without saying to hardcore boxing fans. Considering how much of a force they've been since they've hit the pro ranks.

Either you're pretending to play dumb, or you are dumb. Either way, it's very ignorant. And it's also intriguing how Ukraine's success bothers you so much.

 

The only thing that bothered me was YOUR comment that all the US heavyweights over the last 20 years were BUMS.

The US produced more heavyweight champions than any country over the last 20 years, even though it was not a good era for U.S. heavyweights ... and arguably the greatest era EVER for the UK and Ukraine.

Then you started bashing U.S. challengers who failed world title challenges, and ignore the fact that there were far more U.S. challengers than all the other countries over the last 20 years, too.

The only ones who are dumb here are those who label fighters from the country with the most champions over the last 20 years, and the most title challengers over the last 20 years, as BUMS.

Even in arguably its lowest period producing heavyweights, the US was more successful producing champions and challengers for heavyweight honors than all the other countries.

Deal with it.

 

From my town. I'm keeping my eye on him. I still, embarrassingly, have never been to a fight in person, despite being a lifelong fan of the sport. If he fights locally, I'm going. Otherwise, my first will be whenever Bam (also a Texan) next fights in Texas.

It's absurd -- I've been to BASEBALL games, and I find baseball about as entertaining as watching paint dry. I've been to plenty of NFL games, but no shame there, I do like NFL (but not as much as boxing). I've been to a few NBA and NHL games; I don't seek out those sports on TV to watch, but admittedly find them reasonably entertaining when I watch them. Soccer? No thanks. Not my thing. Although the men in my wife's family are all about soccer, so I'm stuck watching it at times. Yuck.

edit: as a kid, I did see my father score a KO1 against a dude in a parking lot rage incident after an NFL game (dude started it, my father ended it). That count? lol

 

I encourage everyone to go to live boxing shows. Everything is different in person.

 

I will say I used to LOVE attending college football games, back when I was in college. Outstanding atmosphere and excitement. But I was young then.

 

Our best chance currently is Richard Torrez Jr. He's an Olympic medalist and has a decent skill set to build on. As he continues to mature and develop, I see him being at least in position to get the opportunity within the next couple of years.

The reality is, the NFL and NBA have killed the American HW. These kids sign major contracts so young in their sports career. A 7th round draft pick can sign a contract for $4M in the NFL. The last draft pick of the NBA draft can get a $3M contract out the gate. You look at that and then realize that there are some fighters who have 20-30 pro fights under their belt and have never made $1M in a purse.

Jaron Ennis has 35 fights. The first time he got a purse that was larger than $300K was last year in his rematch vs Karen. Think about that.

So, if I'm a 6'4 athlete, 240lbs. Do I want to spend a decade trying to get myself in position to maybe never win a world title and/or get a big payday in boxing, or do I put a helmet on because if I'm good enough, even if I'm picked dead last in the draft for the NBA or NFL....I'll still have more income in my 20s than most boxers have going into their 30s.

 

I wonder if MLB is killing the middle divisions. It seems to be taking a lot of athletically talented middleweight sized dudes.

About the only weights not affected by other pro sports I'd think would be the leprechaun weights. If you're a really athletically talented dude who is 115lbs, what are your options? They seem to be box or race horses?

 

Nah, I don't think the light heavy and below are really affected because the average weight for males is around 200lbs. Most fighters cut at least 20-30lbs to be in shape and/or fighting shape. It's easy to walk the streets and see individuals smaller than 190lbs who are decent to good athletes. The percentage of their existence allows sports that don't require you to be the biggest guy on the field to have more than enough options without effecting those that are interested in boxing.

A lot of the high schools I've trained come in the gym weighing 180 or so pounds. No matter if they play a sport at school or just coming off the streets with a bag of chips in hand. Getting them into fighting shape at or around 154/60lbs is a regular occurrence. I had one kid name Juanito come in my gym a few years back. Kid was 210lbs of koolaid and cheezits.....lol. Today, though he isn't fighting anymore, I had him fighting at 162lbs comfortably. He also had a love for futbol (soccer) which is the sport he played in school. It's very rare that I'll get a HW come in the gym who isn't more focused on football or basketball because of his natural measures. Most people above 210 and are decent to great athletes, they look to participate in those other sports rather than getting in the ring. I feel a big reason for that is the immediate investment that the leagues make in those young athletes, meanwhile, a boxer could be fighting in a pool hall, barn, school gym, local park, etc.......for $20K-$100K that he has to split with his camp and family.