By Cliff Rold
Whether last Saturday was his real farewell or not, the end of the Floyd Mayweather era is at hand. Maybe (probably) he comes back for a fiftieth win. He’ll be 39 by then. Assuming he’s at most one and done, a question emerges with his exit.
Is this the end?
No, not the end of Mayweather; he’ll be around somewhere. The question is whether Mayweather represents, symbolically if not quite literally, the end of the “U.S. era” in boxing.
Since the turn of the twentieth century, the U.S. has been the dominant force in professional boxing. Even today, we have the most major titlists of any country in the world. The September 2015 issues of The Ring credits the U.S. with eleven, followed by Japan with eight. A quick scan through the back issues finds the U.S. edge in 1992 at 17 with next closest being Mexico at six.
The gap has closed considerably.
The most symbolic element of dominance has always been the top of the scale. Fans love to debate stuff like ‘pound for pound’ lists, but in terms of action in the ring, the king stays the king.
The king is the Heavyweight Champion of the World.
U.S. dominance in that regard ended a while ago.
Until the reign of Lennox Lewis, the literal best professional fighter in the world from John L. Sullivan forward was almost always from the U.S. An occasional blip on the radar like Max Schmeling was just that; a blip on a screen dominated by names like Johnson, Louis, Ali, Holmes, and Tyson. That changed with Lewis and has stayed changed through the Klitschko era.
At the top of the scale, U.S. dominance is almost a generation past. Lewis toppled Evander Holyfield to unify the major titles in 1999. There have been prominent Americans in the sixteen years since the Lewis-Holyfield fights. None will be recalled historically like Lewis and the Klitschko’s.
In 2015, the most notable American Heavyweight (Deontay Wilder) has a belt, one win over a serious contender, and question marks about his real upside. The real future of the division is emerging in the U.K. (Anthony Joshua), New Zealand (Joseph Parker) or somewhere in the deep amateur fields of seemingly anywhere else.
Mayweather turned professional after an Olympic appearance on what can be argued as the last U.S. national team to be deeply accomplished as pros. Results are pending for the 2012 class. Errol Spence looks like a special talent. Andre Ward, Brian Viloria, and Jermain Taylor all have had, or are having, excellent careers.
The 1996 team produced six major titlists and legitimate stars in Mayweather, Fernando Vargas, and Antonio Tarver.
That used to be standard for the best of the U.S. amateurs. It’s not anymore. Floyd Mayweather was the most talented and lasting of the last deeply talented U.S. Olympic team. The increased global diversification of top talent over the course of Mayweather’s career has mirrored the decline of the U.S. at the Olympic/amateur level.
We heard for years that it was an issue of Olympic style. That just isn’t true. Trust the eye test; trust the results. Plenty of Olympians from other nations are doing professionally what they were doing in the unpaid ranks: winning. The amateur style certainly didn’t hurt Klitschko and doesn’t seem to be hurting Joshua. Vasyl Lomachenko and Gennady Golovkin seem to be doing fine.
And in the U.S., our most successful amateur since the 1996 team is probably the best overall professional we’ve produced in the last ten years (Ward).
All those losses were telling us something.
Even when the U.S. didn’t have the best Heavyweight in the pro ranks, it often could fall back on the mythical pound for pound crown. Manny Pacquiao made a push to the top for a time and there had been plenty of non-U.S. fighters to be seen as the best overall fighter in the world over the years. Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez come to mind. After Lewis took over, the U.S. could still lay claim to Roy Jones, Bernard Hopkins, and Mayweather.
Accepting Mayweather at his word as retired (and he still hasn’t vacated any of his alphabet titles at 147 or 154 lbs. so keep an eye on that) the picture of myth takes a stark turn. Ward, when active, makes a case as the best fighter in the world. The rest of the names competing for the mythological crown are guys like Roman Gonzalez (Nicaragua), Sergey Kovalev (Russia), and Gennady Golovkin (Kazakhstan). The biggest draw in the U.S. without Mayweather on the scene is probably Mexico’s Saul Alvarez.
U.S. fighters haven’t been a regular dominant force at Featherweight and below for decades (in some smaller classes, they never were) but we’re getting into the second decade where that is true higher on the scale. In the five divisions from 160 lbs. to Heavyweight, only two of the sixteen fighters who hold the top title of the WBC, WBA, IBF, or WBO are from the U.S. (three if we include U.S. citizen Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico). More than titlists, non-U.S. fighters also largely dominate the ratings in those divisions.
U.S. fighters dominate the title picture in three weight classes currently: Jr. Welterweight, Welterweight, and Jr. Middleweight. Welterweight has often been the quickest place to look for the best overall fighters in the world. It’s hard to think of an era where Welterweight hasn’t at least been really good. That isn’t as true for any other weight class. It’s incredibly deep today with a solid mix of fighters from all over the world.
It’s still a small bit of real estate compared to the days when Larry Holmes, Michael Spinks, Marvin Hagler, and Ray Leonard covered more than half the scale. The U.S. even had Jeff Chandler at Bantamweight for a while back then. By sheer numbers, the likelihood that the remainder of 21st century will see U.S. fighters become increasingly rare atop the Heavyweight or pound-for-pound lists is high.
None of this is the same as saying the U.S. is dead in boxing. There is still plenty of talent here.
The biggest money is still here too. Kovalev and Golovkin are here for a reason. We have already seen Wladimir Klitschko prove that one can get very wealthy, and draw butts and eyes in absurd numbers, without needing this market. This is still a destination for many fighters and U.S. fans are open to imports.
But there was a time when the U.S. could be counted on, expected even, to find the next great Heavyweight or next great ‘guy who won’t be quite as good as Sugar Ray Robinson.’ The scales have balanced in new ways and that isn’t the case anymore. We’ll have our share. So will everyone else.
As Mayweather exits, the age of genuine globalization in boxing is fully upon us.
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
