What boxing ATGs were footballers/basketballers?

[Cloud]

That's cool maybe the Klitschkos were good at other Sports too like the other fighters mentioned they are great athletes too

The K Brothers were fantastic martial artists and kickboxers from what i can remember. Vitali only lost once in Kickboxing and was a world champion.

I think because NFL and NBA are just so popular, kids see the great payers there and dont think much of guys like Seth Mitchell and Deontay Wilder and such (only real US prospects i could think of which is sad...)

I hope one day though that the US does get some more Heavyweights that are not fat. The 80's and 90's was full of wasted US talent.

[Someone88]

The K Brothers were fantastic martial artists and kickboxers from what i can remember. Vitali only lost once in Kickboxing and was a world champion.

I think because NFL and NBA are just so popular, kids see the great payers there and dont think much of guys like Seth Mitchell and Deontay Wilder and such (only real US prospects i could think of which is sad...)

I hope one day though that the US does get some more Heavyweights that are not fat. The 80's and 90's was full of wasted US talent.

I knew Vitali was a Kickboxing Champion, Wladimir I'm not sure. I agree Americans could have better heavyweights than now but the Klitschkos are beasts

[Cloud]

Yeah, real shame US heavies dont have the conditioning of Vitali and Wladimir.

[JAB5239]

This is the type of talent the US is losing to football. Imagine if this kid concentrated soley on boxing what he MIGHT have become. Funny thing is there are for more talented athletes than Zbikowski in football and basket ball.

[Cloud]

Holy ****!

I heard alot about Tommy Z but i never seen him fight. God damn, what a talent he could be..

[The Hammer]

Yeah, real shame US heavies dont have the conditioning of Vitali and Wladimir.

Interestingly, the USA still has far more boxing gyms than any other country. The excuse often given is that all the best American athletes go into other sports, but an even smaller percentage of kids go into boxing in places like Russia and Ukraine.

Number of pro heavyweights:

USA: 392

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?countr...IT=Go&pageID=1

Ukraine: 17

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?countr...us=A&SUBMIT=Go

Russia: 17

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?countr...us=A&SUBMIT=Go

UK: 32

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?countr...us=A&SUBMIT=Go

[JAB5239]

Holy ****!

I heard alot about Tommy Z but i never seen him fight. God damn, what a talent he could be..

There are no guarantees him or anyone else would make it to the upper echelons of boxing, but its ridiculous to say boxing talent isn't lost to both football and basketball because of its immense popularity in the United States.

[New England]

None or very few because you learn boxing usually when you're a child and do it throughout your life. The argument isn't that NFL or NBA players could step in the ring and kick ass right away. The argument is if boxing wasn't surpassed by those two sports, more kids would of tried out boxing instead of those sports and probably had a decent chance at excelling. A debate that is valid and a debate that I agree with.

a great post


anybody who doesnt think the talent in the NBA and the NFL would turn HW boxing on it's head is flat out wrong


just think about the talent pool if all of those guys boxed from kids to world class amateur level and then entered the pros


it would look like the 70's again.


boxing used to be the biggest sport in the country (along with baseball)

today it's lucky if it's in the top 20 most popular sports for young people// in the top 20 sports that talented young people take up

[New England]

This is the type of talent the US is losing to football. Imagine if this kid concentrated soley on boxing what he MIGHT have become. Funny thing is there are for more talented athletes than Zbikowski in football and basket ball.

solid evidence jab and a very relevant post

tommy Z would be one of the most talented big men in boxing


and in NFL terms he's basically the bottom of the barrell.
he's literally in the bottom tenth in terms of pure out of the womb talent.



a bunch of 6'4" 250 bricklayers who run 4.6 40's from the NFL who can take HUGE shots to the head (rob gronkowski, for example)

or a bunch of 6'9" (the average height of an NBA player is 6'9") guys with fleet footwork and 85"-90" reaches

..they wouldnt overhaul the division typified by guys who are literally 30 lbs overweight and void of physical talent?


right

[JAB5239]

Interestingly, the USA still has far more boxing gyms than any other country. The excuse often given is that all the best American athletes go into other sports, but an even smaller percentage of kids go into boxing in places like Russia and Ukraine.

Number of pro heavyweights:

USA: 392

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?countr...IT=Go&pageID=1

Ukraine: 17

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?countr...us=A&SUBMIT=Go

Russia: 17

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?countr...us=A&SUBMIT=Go

UK: 32

http://boxrec.com/ratings.php?countr...us=A&SUBMIT=Go

Misleading post since there are a combined 244 million people in those countries and 311 million in the United States which means we're sending an enormous amount of talent to much more popular sports.

On top of that, number doesn't dictate where the talent is at. See my Zbikowski post for confirmation.