Why Brits wont fight in the USA

Theres nothing wrong with a bit of serious debate just as theres nothing wrong with you playing devils advocate. It was good to get a bit of serious, adult discussion going on here as opposed to the usual childish anti-Floyd/Ricky/Joe posts that litter this forum at the moment.

I think we forget sometimes, myself included, that these are real men out there & it's easy for us to sit here saying someone should fight this person or that person when what you've said is right. It is about the money. These men only have a limited number of years in the sport & must maximise it to suit their pocket.

I really do think we need to put this anti-Brit/America sentiment behind us because for the large part I think we get on well. We're enjoying a real glut of high quality match ups within the sport. On top of this people are finally getting the idea with regards to the parasitic sanctioning bodies and there appears to be a general consensus as to who the real champs are.

I think we enter 2008 with many things to feel positive about within our sport and, regardless of where the stage is, I'll be watching with gleeful intent.

 

like the PR people booing the anthem at the mosley-cotto fight in MSG? oh wait......

 

Well actually Lewis is English, he was born in London and moved to Canada at age 11.

 

arran you ****ing idiot.

 

Nothing good comes of these threads.


Its just Americans saying dumb things and Brits being dumb enough to snap at them because they are so dumb...:roll:

 

Arranio , this is so funny !! Keep it up lad

 

Your right , this is funny though

 

I'll take the 20 American sport fans especially if their my 20 friends.
You talk a lot about ***** slapping americans on their own turf but who got the last laugh as 10,000 Brits left Vegas with their tails between their legs after seeing their hero KTFO. BTW Las Vegas is the #2 tourist destination in the world and London probably barely makes it into the the top 10.

 

He was born in London. He's English. You didn't include him because it didn't suit your agenda.

Bugner is Hungarian.



Back to the question, they tend to stay in the UK because they get bigger crowds and earn more money there. It's not rocket science.

 

I actually think the thread started really well but has deteriorated some what due to the sheer weight of unarticulate morons who find their way onto every thread. These people clearly have nothing better to do with their time so having these petty, childish squabbles breaks up their day.

 

What a thread

But what a hell.. here I come myself too... giving my 2 cents, pennies what ever coins there are in different places.

First of all, I don't get the whole thing that is going on here. Pro boxing is not a sport between nations. The countries neither continents are not ranked, the fighters are. If a fighter is good what difference does it make if he's from the US, Japan, Zaire or United Arab Emirates? Also, what difference does it make to any other person where he leaves, was born or what ever. If a fighter wins you don't win anything, neither you loose if he looses. So.. what's the big deal from where some sportsman is from? A good fighter is a good fighter and a bad one is bad, period. I think this whole nationality talk in boxing is one kind of fanaticizm. Well.. if you like to be a fanatic go ahead... I like good boxing... and to me good boxing is what I CONSIDER good boxing.. other ppl can enjoy what they want to.

I think why fighters don't cross the Atlantic so easily has reasons that already have been mentioned here. If we talk about big fights in both continents the promoters want to make money and they make it best by running shows, as some one already said. If we talk about lower level fights, I think big reason in both cases is that it's just too expensive and too much of a hassle to bring your teem overseas. For example, if you'r share of the purse is $20 000 a signifigant part of that goes already for travelling plus for establishing yourself overseas for a week or couple. So... fighters' teams are reluctant to loose mone, so are the promoters in case of the fighters that don't have true marketing and media value. So... you try to fight where your team doesn't need to travel neither be established elsewhere for too long from where you are. This applies to fighters that have their life somewhere and are not planning to be relocated. People that are willing to go for new life in a new place it's a different story, of course.

In my opinion in recent years there are foreign fighters that are going to at least Germany to try to get their career up and running. I think there are quite a few of them, some of them are living there some are only German promoted. I think some known names are Arthur Abraham, Nikolay Valuev... and recently few Cuban fighters. Abraham (Avetik Abrahamyan) even had his name changed so they'd be more attractive to German crowds. Also Herbie Hide is located in Germany these days and is managed by Arena Box-Promotion. Before he was established in England, eventhough he is originally Nigerian (also changed his name, from Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu). And I'm sure there are many unknown european fighters too. Some have even contracted themselves as pro to German promoters and teams eventhough they're still continuing their amateur careers for a good while, untill next Olympics or so. So... I think the same thing IS happening also in Europe, but in much smaller scale than in the US.

In general boxing is bigger in the US than in Europe... so... more people in the business, more opportunities for others. . I think big reasons to that are that the US has been more business friendly environment in many ways, so this kind of industry has had a fruitful soil to grow. The US also it's a big language area where in Europe almost every country has a language and culture of their own and for that reason it is taking more time for big boxing scene to grow.

What personally bothers me most about this Europe-US situation is the rankings. I don't quite understand how can you rank European boxers for example in top 10 that never fought against any American top 10 fithers, or don't even have any common opponents with the American top 10 fighters? How can you put people in one list from practically 2 different leagues?

 

Agreed, and equally how can you put American fighters in a top ten until they have fought European top ten fighters? It is always going to be difficult to come up with a world top ten list whilst there is little cross over.

 

I think Brits and German based fighters don't fight in the US because they have a great fan base at home where they have high reward for lower risks.

The USA Professional Boxing scene has the higher talent pool, period. The best fighters in the world fight in the US and the most money is made in the US. Period. If you are making money in Britain or Germany which has a lesser quality pool of boxing talent, than coming up in the US, speaking for every class non-heavyweight, then why risk stacking your record while building up your craft to come to the big market.

I think its all about whether you want to be a big fish in a small pond or if you want to be the big fish in the big pond. I think its clear to see that a lot of boxers in Britain/Germany don't want to test themselves by facing opposition in a higher class talent pool, they rather dominate over weaker competition and get paid top dollar. This in no way means that their are not European fighers who can not be top dogs in the American Pro circuit though.

 

Depends which division you are talking about.

In some weight-classes the talent pool in Europe is way better than the talent pool in the USA.

Just because a fighter is better known, doesn't mean he's better. :good

 

Lewis was Canadian. He learned his boxing in Waterloo, Canada and grew up in Canada and he represented Canada in the 84 and 88 Olympics. So why do Brits insist he was British talent?