Why isn't there a good American heavyweight at the moment?

???

 

Talented Americans choose other sports (basketball, football)

 

option 1 and 3. (other sports and fat assholes)

 

I picked the "combination" as there's never just one reason, but i think option # 1 is the biggest one.

 

MMA is actually taking many of our athletes as well.

 

??? really?

 

dsimon writes:

A couple of things are going on. Other sports are a drain, socioeconomically there is no primary group, no infrastructure of trainers that is manufacturing fighters.

 

A combinations of all those factors.

 

Other sports for sure, I often gaze across the basketball and football fields on TV, and pick out who would be the reigning world heavyweight champion at the moment, and who probably wouldn't be.

 

You mean taking the clubfighters who wouldn't even be on tv. They take the fat unathletic heavyweights. At least boxing doesn't hype garbage like Sylvia and act like hes good.

 

:crafty: :: :clap: :crafty:

 

American Athletes have Tooooooo MANY OPTIONS...

Imagine an Athlete like a LeBron James or a Ray Lewis as a PRIZEFIGHTER???...

If those Guys had Spent their Formative SPORTING Years Learning BOXING, they Could Conceivably B DOMINANT Heavyweights Today...

Boxing Takes MORE Discipline than ANY American Sport & Obviously there's MUCH More RISK INvolved...Thus, Fewer Big Men Gravitate to it...They RESPECT it, but DON'T Wanna DO it...

These Days, BIG Men Only Box when they've Run OUT of Options...

REED

 

Yep...


REED

 

:doh: Now who is missing the point.

 

Do you guys think Wlad could have been a good basketball player if he was commited to the sport? Wlad is very athletic for his size.

 

The ethnic/racial make-up in sports isn't constant and it isn't just in boxing.

One other example is the declining numbers of African Americans in baseball, which has been a topic for years in that sport...and it's coincided with dramatic increases in Latin American players (and some Asian players).

 

This is ignorant. Clubfighters?? You are generalizing every MMA fighter into the Tim Sylvia mold. There are MANY dedicated, talented MMA fighters that would have done well if he had pursued boxing as his sport of choice.

 

.....

RJ is pretty much right. I mean this thread is about heavyweights and I don't see any UFC heavyweights that could cut it in boxing.

 

You realize that there is more out there than just the UFC right?? And how do you know if they wouldn't cut it in boxing??? You know they aren't boxers right??? But if they had trained in boxing from the start?? ....

 

and also, in Europe, boxing is all they do, the king and queen of Europe has overlords who inspects babies for weaknesses or defects when they're fresh out of the junter, and such are to be taken away and buried alive. ALL juveniles are put through a rigorous training program from the age of 6 months on upwards, they haurd through mandatory government funded academies in millions like death marches, and what have they got to show for it?? :: , thier ultimate talent, Alexander Povetkin, get's his arse schooled for 4 rounds, by a flabby undersized black American off the streets, who can't be bothered to try. I agree with you. :stir:

 

I think the biggest answer is lack of gyms and opportunities.

Pointing to the NBA and NFL is pretty fucking weak considering how few, if any, great heavyweights could cut in in the NBA or NFL.

 

Yeah, their ultimate talent. With a whopping 15 fights under his belt.

 

Highest touted for sure, Povetkin can think himself lucky basketball players aren't putting on the gloves, otherwise he'd be fucked like a congo train, he wouldn't be ranked in the top 700.

 

There's MMA besides the UFC :eeeek: Wow, I learn something everyday. The fact is if any of these guys in MMA had a chance to be a great heavyweight they would be. Why? Well, we all see how these guys get robbed and don't make shit. It's why MMA don't have any elite boxers until they can't box worth a damn anymore. Until MMA starts paying worth a damn they won't be stealing talent from any other sports.

 

WHat a coincidence that the decision of Americans to take up football and baseball just so happens to be chronologically congruous with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of dominant European fighters.

 

yeah cuz there is so many "dominant European fighters" :: like who??

Hatton?::

Wlad? ::
Povoken?::

 

Well Wlad and Povetkin look pretty fucking untouchable right now, as far as any American is concerned. Wlad has beaten Byrd, Brewster and Ray Austin as of recent and also has relatively recent wins over Davarryly Williamson and Dannell Nicholson, not to mention Byrd again, Mercer and McCline during his earliest title stint. He has only lost to two Americans and has avenged one of those losses. I

Interestingly, one of Wlads best pre-title wins came with a KO2 win over Derrick Jefferson, who WAS a promising Basketball player until he suffered a shooting. Thus he turned his hand to boxing and got wasted by Euros like Wlad and Oleg.

Another notable All-American Athlete, Michael Grant {supposedly the epitome of the sort of guy who is allegedy playing football or hoops when he could be boxing} got wasted in 2 by Euro Lennox Lewis.

Now, I am not saying that Grant and Jefferson are permanently indicative of the fate likely to be suffered by all American athletes deciding to persevere with boxing, but it should be noted that both were stand out athletes from varied disciplines, and both fell short.

 

You talk like someone who never watched Alonzo Highsmith-Mark Gastineau. :laughing:

 

You are forgetting something. Gastineau was himself an American Footballer. So....its hardly the most controlled of tests!!!!

 

Personally I like the "Other Sport" choice.


If I start to see a huge swing in Europeans completely dominating at lower weight classes, then I'll re-think it.

I don't think it's a coincidence that we've seen the change at the HW level and most pro basketball and/or football players are 200+ pounds.

The poor, struggling inner cities that have typical produced great fighters are now producing more and more great football and basketball players. From a parenting standpoint, children are naturally pushed more toward football and basketball because both those sports keep kids in school and promise potential college scholarships.

Boxing, on the other hand, is much more hit or miss in terms of success. And even the most elite amateurs don't get college scholarships or guaranteed financial success in the pros.

In today's sports environment, if a kid is looking for athletics to take him out of poverty, boxing is the worst possible choice unless of course you're too small to play basketball or football.

My thoughts anyway.