I'm American... The American HW "EXCUSE" is 100% TRUE

I think Michal Jordan would have Taken out Tyson, Bowe,and Holifeild. Wayne Greksky would have beat Hagler, Herns,and Leonard fairly easy also. Plus Steve Nash puts a beat down on hopkins, Jones, and Toney. Wilt Chamberlain would have ktfo Ali. Wayne Gretsky would've been a helluva fighter. Michael Jordan, Steve Nash, and Wilt Chamberlain would get beat though.

Although the original post may not have been worded in the correct manner their are some truths in it albeit not just specific to poverty stricken black american heavy weights! I do agree that boxing is or certainly was a working class/poorer individuals sport and the major world sporting personality was the heavyweight champion in times gone by. But you can't attribute just one reason for the decline in heavyweights because its boxing as a whole that is suffering and there are a billion reasons that it's now no longer considered a mainstream sport (which is why there are less american heavyweights) I'll list some major reasons boxing will struggle to even be recognised as mainstream going forward. 1. Education - Why chose to become a professional boxer given the increased awareness of potential health implications. Certainly here inthe UK boxing is not even mentioned when it comes to physical education in schools. 2. Money - It's common knowledge that only the elite boxers earn what would be considered just reasonable earnings in comparison to the mainstream sports stars. A absolutely sh*te "soccer" player in Scotland can expect to make 100k a year and have a 10-15 year career. 3. Lack of big fights - obvious mega fights so regularly fail to happen and are so few and far between, even when the public want it to happen bad. Compare this to other sports and of course in recent years the obvious comparison being MMA. 4. Lack of a governing body - The only pro sport in the world without any form of central control. Even lawn bowls got that sh*t together. A complete free-for-all for leeches sorry I mean promoters(not all of course) and clingers on that so often drain the sports limited resourses. 5. The lack of accessable coverage on mainstrean TV and in the media in general. The younger generation just don't have the opertunity to even see boxing here in the UK. - This is a huge one when going forward for boxing because I'd bet at least 70% of sports that people participate or are a fan of in are sports that they played or watched when they were younger, often influenced by your father/mother. There is no coverage whatsoever on non satalite or PPV TV here in the UK, thus rulling out the majority of the population and in paricular the poorer families(going back to the orignal post) On the otherhand there is football on TV nearly everyday, motorsports all weekends, tennis when it's that time of year, cricket in the summer, track and field events regularly even coverage of the Superbowl on mainstream TV but no f*ckin boxing. How the f*ck are people going to have the chance tto like the sport if they can't bloody see it (sorry pisses me off) 6. Lack of accessable facilities - It takes a football(soccer), a couple of t-shirts and a patch of grass or concrete to even have a kick about when your a kid and remembering there is no TV coverage how the hell is some kid going to go up to his father and say 'I fancy trying boxing, fancy taking me to the gym 10 miles away' Doesn't happen and thats why so many boxers come from "boxing families". You could argue that other sports require huge resourses like (American) football but the youth leagues and High School football is well established and well funded. The most intersting thing is when the sport is covered well and there is a public friendly boxing hero the interest in the sport soars. (Hatton, Khan at the olympics, f*ck that inspired the last mainstream coverage of the sport when they(mainstream TV producers) were able to buy his early pro fights cheap enough. There has been Haye of recent (that is down to that old heavyweight champ of the world thing and the fact he's entertaining to his credit. So despite the barriers that exist we do have a mini revival in recent years but for the long term sustainability of the sport certainly in the UK something has to change. RANT OVER:bottle:

The difference is that other countries never dominated the heavyweight division and hence no one is asking what happened to the great heavyweights from country x. This excuse wouldn't quite work the same for, say, soccer, since we've never actually proven to be great in this sport. Since there has been a decline in heavyweight talent in the US people are curious as to why this is and hence the reason people are voicing their opinion. So when someone points out that there has been a declining interest in boxing because more of the bigger athletes are being directed into other sports such as basketball and football, it's a perfectly legitimate explanation. Personally I would say this is part of it along with stronger international competition. Even in basketball which has remained strong in the US, foreign countries are catching up to an extent though we still clearly have the best talent.

I think what he said was wrong. But he has a point. The only guys who could possible compete with Vitali and Wlad would be huge NFL/NBA players since they wouldn't face a huge size disadvantage you're too hooked on size. how many atg super heavies have we seen? lennox, that's it. wlad is borderline and if he carries on in his current fashion he'll probably end up a consensus atg, vitali probably doesn't have time on his side to reach those heights. riddick probably falls just short. then you're into the contenders, paper champs, valuev, tony tucker, bonecrusher smith and doofy champs canera and willard. the problem with the division is a blatant lack of skill. contenders aren't fighting enough and when they do they're more busy padding their records rather than fighting similarly ranked contenders.

when you talk about american heavyweight boxing and why it's been lacking for the for the 10-15 years it boils down to "The black American youth has lost interest"... - During the times of Lewis, Patterson, Ali, Fraizer, Foremam american boxing was one of the biggest if not the biggest sport in the world. The American heavyweight champion was the biggest and most known athlete in the world... because of this Tyson was produce, Holyfield, Holms... Over the next twenty years primarily in the 80's basketball and football took hold and took the attention of the black american youth... - Today's generation of 20 year some odd black american males that grew up looking up to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice... boxing took a huge decline in the 90's... - Look at todays school systems... Basketball and Football is feed to you as early as 5-6 years old... Almost every Jr. High and High school has basketball and football programs... it was installed in our brains that, "the basketball and football players get all the money and all the girls"... no one gave a shit about boxing anymore when I was growing up... boxing gyms were not assessable even if you wanted to box... but a basketball court 20 within a 10 block radius...football, you can play almost anywhere... If your walking around high school over 6 feet weight 200+ pounds then there will be a football coach stalking you to play for him... We didn't wanna be Mike Tyson, we wanted to be Michael Jordan... if your american and you disagree then your either not black, you didn't grow up in America, or you grew up in a rich family... I'm sorry if this isn't all "politically correct" but f*ck it it's the truth.... Americans once again thinking there are no sports outside of America, how surprising :rofl:

when you talk about american heavyweight boxing and why it's been lacking for the for the 10-15 years it boils down to "The black American youth has lost interest"... - During the times of Lewis, Patterson, Ali, Fraizer, Foremam american boxing was one of the biggest if not the biggest sport in the world. The American heavyweight champion was the biggest and most known athlete in the world... because of this Tyson was produce, Holyfield, Holms... Over the next twenty years primarily in the 80's basketball and football took hold and took the attention of the black american youth... - Today's generation of 20 year some odd black american males that grew up looking up to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice... boxing took a huge decline in the 90's... - Look at todays school systems... Basketball and Football is feed to you as early as 5-6 years old... Almost every Jr. High and High school has basketball and football programs... it was installed in our brains that, "the basketball and football players get all the money and all the girls"... no one gave a shit about boxing anymore when I was growing up... boxing gyms were not assessable even if you wanted to box... but a basketball court 20 within a 10 block radius...football, you can play almost anywhere... If your walking around high school over 6 feet weight 200+ pounds then there will be a football coach stalking you to play for him... We didn't wanna be Mike Tyson, we wanted to be Michael Jordan... if your american and you disagree then your either not black, you didn't grow up in America, or you grew up in a rich family... I'm sorry if this isn't all "politically correct" but f*ck it it's the truth.... im a white american and i think your a dumbass...probably mad that white people are dominating HW boxing let me reverse the question on you....did you lose interest in boxing because you would rather play other sports, like you say? or did you lose interest in boxing because you kept getting your ass kicked by white people and now use that as an excuse?

got a good point, all the real athletes are elswhere,i can imagine young sportsmen if they chose boxing as thier sport could be anothe great american heavyweight but decide that they can do it easier in football. and im sure most great boxers,regardless of race are extremely poor inner city people thats why they train so hard and get so good because boxing is an escape from trouble and a platform to live safely and happily and make something of thier lives.

Yes they would. I am 150% sure that if Lebron James or Dwight Howard learned to box from when they were little kids, he would KO either Klitschko easily. Just like if Dwyane Wade or Chris Paul learned to skate from when they were little, Alexander Ovechkin would be seen as a mediocre hockey player today compared to them. I think Michal Jordan would have Taken out Tyson, Bowe,and Holifeild. Wayne Greksky would have beat Hagler, Herns,and Leonard fairly easy also. Plus Steve Nash puts a beat down on hopkins, Jones, and Toney. Wilt Chamberlain would have ktfo Ali.

when you talk about american heavyweight boxing and why it's been lacking for the for the 10-15 years it boils down to "The black American youth has lost interest"... - During the times of Lewis, Patterson, Ali, Fraizer, Foremam american boxing was one of the biggest if not the biggest sport in the world. The American heavyweight champion was the biggest and most known athlete in the world... because of this Tyson was produce, Holyfield, Holms... Over the next twenty years primarily in the 80's basketball and football took hold and took the attention of the black american youth... - Today's generation of 20 year some odd black american males that grew up looking up to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice... boxing took a huge decline in the 90's... - Look at todays school systems... Basketball and Football is feed to you as early as 5-6 years old... Almost every Jr. High and High school has basketball and football programs... it was installed in our brains that, "the basketball and football players get all the money and all the girls"... no one gave a shit about boxing anymore when I was growing up... boxing gyms were not assessable even if you wanted to box... but a basketball court 20 within a 10 block radius...football, you can play almost anywhere... If your walking around high school over 6 feet weight 200+ pounds then there will be a football coach stalking you to play for him... We didn't wanna be Mike Tyson, we wanted to be Michael Jordan... if your american and you disagree then your either not black, you didn't grow up in America, or you grew up in a rich family... I'm sorry if this isn't all "politically correct" but f*ck it it's the truth.... Yeah, we know... You will get hated on for this but don't worry about them. Haters hate...

lol,,,dont think Ive ever seen an nba player that could fight. they all slap like girls it not about them fighting its about money you can make more money in MLB, NBA, and NFL then you can make in boxing. It about the money

I think what he said was wrong. But he has a point. The only guys who could possible compete with Vitali and Wlad would be huge NFL/NBA players since they wouldn't face a huge size disadvantage lol,,,dont think Ive ever seen an nba player that could fight. they all slap like girls

boxasmash if u never watched a cricket match australia vs west indies, you would get it. Obviously you haven't. or you can just generalise if you want, but if you looking for racism you can find it.

^^^^^^^^ Here's another retarded racist black supremacist. You racists need to stop crying, whining and making weak excuses. Just man up and admit that Eastern European heavyweights are superior. you know you sound kinda racist too man?

Never look at age as a way to determine prime... Hopkins at 40 compare to what Roy Jones at 40. Do you think there is not a big difference? Morales at 30 and Pacquiao at 30 Do you think there is not a big difference? Prime is not determine by age. Don't ever look at age when you're trying to compare fighters.... yep. lewis was a young 37. he started his career relatively late and never suffered any long beatings

You see this boxingking500. Look at what this dumbass mofo just post... You see what I am telling you about making excuses or trying to act like that lost doesn't count? Fact is Lennox and past prime, inactive, out of shape Lennox Lewis beat Vitaly fair and square... lewis was fortunate he had tougher skin than vitai or else he'd have lost that fight. he also should have rematched vitali. even his own trainor felt that way

how a I racist? I'm just stating the truth... For the last 20 years the American black youth hasn't cared about boxing... We grew up wanting to play basketball and football... So did you grow up in American over the last 20 years? Oh yea you didnt' so stfu you don't know what your talking about weak excuse. since when have football players made good boxers anyway

STFU you racist moron. That's 100% bullshit. Stop making weak excuses. Soviet fighters weren't allowed to turn pro until the 1990s because of the cold war. Now Soviets are allowed to turn pro and they're ALREADY DOMINATING. AND there are TONS of potential Eastern European Heavyweight Boxers are doing Combat Sambo, MMA, Kickboxing, Hockey, Olympic Wrestling, Olympic Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Worlds Strongest Man Competitions, etc. America isn't the only country on the planet that has other sports you racist moron. Eastern European heavyweights are superior.if thats so true they should have won more gold medals. the reason why u dont see a lot of young black or white americans in boxing is because they can make more money playing other sports then they can make in boxing. This year nfl number one pick will make at 10mi of of a signing bounes before playing one nfl game. Thats not inculding his contract which could be has high as 40 mil. How many boxers will ever see that much money in there life.

Yes they would. I am 150% sure that if Lebron James or Dwight Howard learned to box from when they were little kids, he would KO either Klitschko easily. Just like if Dwyane Wade or Chris Paul learned to skate from when they were little, Alexander Ovechkin would be seen as a mediocre hockey player today compared to them. Who? I don't see any. The best middle is Paul Williams. The two best super middles, BY FAR, are Ward and Dirrell. You the pro black version of Carnivore...

blah blah blah... excuses excuses

Who? I don't see any. The best middle is Paul Williams. The two best super middles, BY FAR, are Ward and Dirrell. ten of the twenty fighters that make up the rings top 10 rankings for middle and supermiddle are of european stock.