Who or what is to blaim for the state of the heavyweight division?

I don't believe that at all. A fighter is usualkly born, not made.

You either have it or you don't and every fighter who gets in the ring has it more than the average bear, but not necessarily enough to be the best.

 

No, that sums it up more than anything else.

 

It's easier to be a ****up or make mistakes on a team. When it's just you in the ring with your opponent, one mistake can end the fight and set you back years. Especially at heavyweight.

Guys getting into sports know all of this. They weigh their potential in different sports and then make a decision that best fits them. Most are not about to roll the dice on boxing. It's a sport for the lower class, the desperate. Furthermore a sport that benefits the learned. A guy can enter highschool and make an adjustment to be a football or basketball player and be successful on that 4 year period. A guy getting into highschool just now showing an interest in boxing has a long ways to go to catch up to the kids who started earlier.

No doubt about it. Our best heavyweights are not boxers.

 

That I can agree with 100%

The division is bad for Americans, but not for the sport as a whole.

 

I don't buy into that. Fighters are born not made. What makes boxing fairly unique among the sports is that it's one on one, no fall back option, no one to take the weight for a moment.

Prizefighters are what they are because they can fight & win on their own, with heart, grit & invested gym time.

 

You should have added "Football" to the poll, I bet it would win

 

paper titlists like maskaev or the White Tyson refusing to unify and citing bull**** reasons. wlad has tried to unify since he beheaded byrd but maskaev and valuev didnt want any part of him. Sultan deserves mad respect for willing to unify. Too bad wlad is gonna take his chin home in a box :nod

 

I believe that's a cop out.

 

Good post. If there was more guarenteed money in boxing (much like the millions of dollars they give for contract signing in other pro sports) then the heavyweight division would be looking a lot better. A LOT better :deal

 

Boxing pays the most money, minute per minute investment-wise. If you're good you fight maybe 4 times a year. If you have a title maybe 2 or 3 times is enough.

 

No way. Maybe for a top 5 heavyweight but not the rest of the pack.

Look at the wealth distribution in football compared to boxing. Boxing is pathetic in comparison. You have to be truly elite or very marketable to make those millions.

 

But you only have to be the best for that one moment in boxing where in Football you have to have a good season or at least a good string of victories. Understand the difference? Sure you have to be the best, but those moments may only last for a few minutes worth in a fight and you can change history. That simply can't happen with a single game of any sport.

 

Football is a pathetic excuse

How long has that **** been going on for? I think it might actually be to do with discipline, commitment and hard work, which the Eastern Europeans have in abundance

But then again, the truth hurts

 

the heavyweight division is looking ok these days

its just that boxing as a whole is doing better

 

And how many times does this happen?

You don't realise how difficult it is to get to the top in a pro boxing division. Especially due to the politics in the sport. How many heavyweights have been the champ, let alone a popular unified champ in the past 3 decades? You can count them on your fingers. And consider how many guys over 200lbs turn pro every year. It's a very small turnover.

A guy who gets drafted into the NBA may bench for the first couple seasons, but usually he gets some spotlight. However he has a contract waiting for him right as he exits college. Same goes with football. And no matter how shitty they play, they can hold onto that contract or get moved to another team. Either way, they still get paid more than boxers on average.

There have been enough cases where heavyweights have fought for less than 10k. Consider the 3-4 months in training, paying managers, promoters, trainers. You get the picture now?

Football and baseball and basketball salaries dwarf your average boxing salary. And for that reason alone you won't see a 200lb+ American choosing boxing over football/basketball/baseball.