Look elsewhere in the US: tech leadership, military, college education, student IQ. The whole country is going down the drain, not just boxing.
:rofl I remember seeing this a few months ago. http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/05/13/can-phillys-darmani-rock-be-the-next-muhammad-ali/
Antonio Vargas is a good fighter and would medal for the USA but didn't participate. Beat the Cuban who is in the semis now.
That only applies to Europeans.:deal Actually most people don't give a damn about American amateurs either, we don't care about Boxing that much.
Boxing isn't popular whatsoever in the states, so this doesn't surprise me. The decline in American talent started as early as the 1960's when they effectively wiped out collegiate boxing from the country. And it doesn't help that pretty much all the top tier athletes from a young age in the US gravitate towards football (american,) basketball and baseball. The lack of popularity that boxing has in the US is nothing new, and I don't expect the talent pool to get better anytime soon.
The place of boxing in Europe is exactly the same. Honestly I think that US fighters are still good. Look at Crowford and Erol Spence. They are both pretty damn good boxers but they were not legendary amateurs. Some trainers like Garcia express the opinion that it's not very useful to throw 18 years boys against 26 years old men without headgear and get them beat up in the amateurs. I don't think that the decline in American pro boxing will be as pronounced as their obvious decline in the amateurs.
Time to defect then. The guy Veitza(not sure of his name at 118 pounds) is no where near as good as he is.
Oh I know that feeling, had a few bob on both but stood to win more if O'Reilly lost, still roared for him, so that must make me a true patriot!
I dont know if it is like this in the urban areas but boxing in suburbia is seen as brain damage, your parents tell you to look up Muhammad Ali now or Kim Telling your parents you want to go to a boxing gym leads to you being asked to try a different sport. Boxing gyms dont exist really unless they are a fitness one or one that is also martial arts though there is one in New Brunswick that had a guy on the national team. i hate the phrase americas best heavies play football or basketball because it simplifies it and ignores the decline in gyms and the death of the club system that develops pros. i do feel at least in my area that football with all the reporting of concussions is getting that stigma that boxing has. My freshman year not even a decade ago we had an 80 man freshman roster. Last year the turn out was 35. We know an owner of a youth football league in one of the bigger towns in my state, he isnt getting the same numbers from 5 years ago
