Few years ago the Eastern Europeans looked like a force to be reckoned with, but that chapter has now come to a close.
American Boxing have risen to the top with the likes of Thurman, Spence, Crawford, Ward, Wilder, yes i am missing many out, but this is the proven elite of the elite...but so much more talent is coming through
The UK is a close second with Jousha, Degale, Fury and other talent coming through up the ranks...
Then you have other elite level foreigners coming out of the American school of boxing like Leonard Bundu
The Eastern Europeans one could say have been exposed....Kov is finished, Pov is finished, Wlad is finished
GGG isnt Eastern European. He is more Asian, so i wouldnt even class him as a EE, he is from a Islamic country an has South Korean and Mongolian heritage.
hes a small guy himself though. im not as high on him as some are but christ, to say hes an average boxer is a brave call. arguably the greatest amateur of all time and hes looked pretty skillful as a pro too
He is not a small guy, clearly bigger than the bums he has beaten.
Also stop making the small excuse, if he is that great he should be able to move up and take on bigger guys like Floyd did, like Ward did, like all greats do
Like i said if Lomo beats someone with a pulse who is a genuine threat, i will give him credit, its easy to look good against smaller guys, Broner did it for most of his career and when he stepped up he didnt look good
Lomo vs Garcia is a good matchup...it will really tell us how good Lomo is...
pardon????????
Pardon what? who has Lomo beat?
Feasting on small guys, most of whom are bums.
I will give him credit if he beat someone like Mickey Garica
Even Rigo is small
golovkin, usyk, lomachenko.The best of the best.Once beterbiev gets his chance he will join them.
Bumlovkin is a Kazakhstani, not even a Eastern European, he is from the country of Borat
Lomachenko is a bum who will be exposed if he ever steps in the ring with American War Hero Mickey Garcia
Oleksandr Usyk is another bum....but he isnt a pansy Russian, so i give him credit
Face it you have nought, when you have to latch on to a Kazakh/South Korean/Asian
So Kovalev, povetkin and Wlad were only the ones holding up that EE banner for the boxing world and made everyone think the EE were taking over?
And you big up the U.K. on the strength of having only Joshua, Degale lol and a has been Fury lol.
On a elite level yes
Has been Fury?, Fury would batter every Eastern European and Yank on the planet
Lots of hurt feelings in here
Lomachenko is a very average boxer lets be honest here, he will get destroyed by Micky Garcia
Look end of the day, credit where credit is due, the Americans stepped up and are bringing the ruckuss.
We the UK are a close second...
the rest of EU can;t compete, its about levels
blacks run boxing. wake me up when you have real news.
Louis
robinson
Ali
foreman
tyson
Leonard
hagler
hearns
holyfield
Whitaker
Jones jr
mayweather
ward
crawford
Spence
it's just the way it is.
... I think that, in the OP, "Eastern Europeans" would rather point out to the "Ex-Soviet school of boxing"... this would be much more simple to deal with... even if there are some differences between the "Russian" and the "Ukrainian" schools...
The thing is, Lomachenko, Usyk, Gvozdyk, et al, do not even represent the "Ukrainian school", they represent the "Anatoly Lomachenko school". When I look at Ukrainian boxers outside of those who have had contact with Lomachenko Sr, I mainly see two types, upright jabbers like Klitschko and Postol and fairly crude pressure fighters like Rudenko and Bursak. Now that Lomachenko Sr is in the USA, Ukrainian amateur fighters once again mostly adhere to these two archetypes. Russia and Kazakhstan in general have much more sophisticated "schools". Uzbekistan also has a golden generation right now but it remains to be seen whether it will last
... In the near past there were some good products from that "Ex-Soviet school of boxing", such as Tszyu, the Klitschko Bros, Dmitry Pirog... post 2010, there were GGG and Kovalev who tried to "conquer" the U.S. market (with quite little success in terms of business, tbh)... To date there are Lomachenko, and (maybe) Usyk , Beterbiev, Gvozdyk, Bivol, Gassiev...
You chose to "fragment" my post... :) OK...
1)... You mention the "Anatoly Lomachenko school" as some sort of a "subset" of the "Ukrainian school"... OK, but I take it as a much too sophisticated approach for a boxing site like this one (where people hold and express very limited knowledge on this very issue -- see the OP)...
2)... You say: "even if you add the whole former Soviet territory together it still can't compete with the USA in terms of consistently producing elite talent"... Well, I don't actually compare the the U.S. "elite talent pool" to the "ex-Soviet talent pool"... I'm simply following the "schools' competition" on the U.S. market, of course (competition which also includes the "Mexican" and the "Cuban" schools, for example)...
... I think that, in the OP, "Eastern Europeans" would rather point out to the "Ex-Soviet school of boxing"... this would be much more simple to deal with... even if there are some differences between the "Russian" and the "Ukrainian" schools...
The thing is, Lomachenko, Usyk, Gvozdyk, et al, do not even represent the "Ukrainian school", they represent the "Anatoly Lomachenko school". When I look at Ukrainian boxers outside of those who have had contact with Lomachenko Sr, I mainly see two types, upright jabbers like Klitschko and Postol and fairly crude pressure fighters like Rudenko and Bursak. Now that Lomachenko Sr is in the USA, Ukrainian amateur fighters once again mostly adhere to these two archetypes. Russia and Kazakhstan in general have much more sophisticated "schools". Uzbekistan also has a golden generation right now but it remains to be seen whether it will last
... In the near past there were some good products from that "Ex-Soviet school of boxing", such as Tszyu, the Klitschko Bros, Dmitry Pirog... post 2010, there were GGG and Kovalev who tried to "conquer" the U.S. market (with quite little success in terms of business, tbh)... To date there are Lomachenko, and (maybe) Usyk , Beterbiev, Gvozdyk, Bivol, Gassiev...
I am happy to have these guys around, they are a great addition to the global pro boxing scene and some of my favourite current fighters, but as I said, even if you add the whole former Soviet territory together it still can't compete with the USA in terms of consistently producing elite talent
The U.S can't afford to lose so they rob them from their biggest wins and force them to build up a fighter from the scratch.
Boxing is a business game.
Would be interesting to see American reactions if say Germany or Russia became the biggest markets for boxing and the likes of Spence and TC got robbed there the way fighters who do not market well in Vegas get robbed in the States.
With boxing the way it is, US judging will always swing in the direction of the US/PR/MX fighters because those ethnicities drive boxing in the States.
But make no mistake, if Western United States had as many Russians as they have Mexicans, you sure as hell would see Russian fighters fall into favor with judges in US.
As you say, its all about business, not colour, not language, just dollars.
What happened? Nothing has happened.
To me it seems the same as it ever was (ever as in last decade).
Speaking for Ukrainians, they currently have two champions, and potentially one or two more to come. They've had a few champs in the last few years as well that lost their belts.
You can't just go and take a snapshot of boxrec right now and claim hey look at all the Americans, however even in that case that's just not true.
If you want to talk about EE in general then CW is all EE and that's not going to change.
LH with the exception of Ward who is arguably top lb4lb fighter is all but American.
SM no Americans, middleweights Canelo and GGG still take out everyone.
With the exception of Welter, Superwelter and Lightweight there is not a single division that is US dominated. This range seems to be the US domain historically 135-154.
There is a healthy representation of European, Latin and American boxing in all divisions right now, be happy isn't that what we want to see? Or should boxing be like baseball and World Champions should have the title just because you know, America is the center of the universe and naturally....
Or is all of this noise just because American fighters are talked about again where in the last few years it was about Mexicans, Pac and some Russian and Ukrainian guys? And now that Ward started fighting and you got the likes of TC and Spence, America is back?
I thought we were all here for boxing.....but no tribalism it is. "peeleft:
The U.S can't afford to lose so they rob them from their biggest wins and force them to build up a fighter from the scratch.
Boxing is a business game.
Of course, man!... :)
... I fully understand "markets" -- at some point, I used to work as a "stock exchange analyst"... tough job!... :) and that's precisely why I addressed the issue by pointing out the "U.S. market"!...
USA being #1 is the status quo. They have the deepest talent pool, the best infrastructure, the most lucrative audience and the greatest tradition. The Eastern Bloc has a much bigger presence in the pros now than it ever did before, and will hopefully continue to grow, but people are deluded if they ever thought they would be a match for the USA and to a lesser extent Mexico. Ukraine had a golden generation thanks to Anatoly Lomachenko's work with the amateur squad, but they are all in their late 20s now and the following generation isn't nearly as impressive. Russia produces a pretty consistent stream of good fighters but not too many great fighters. The Kazakhs and Uzbeks still aren't turning pro with any regularity. Poland, Latvia, Hungary, etc., don't seem to have much of a boxing tradition and mostly produce journeymen. No one is taking the USA's throne any time soon
... I think that, in the OP, "Eastern Europeans" would rather point out to the "Ex-Soviet school of boxing"... this would be much more simple to deal with... even if there are some differences between the "Russian" and the "Ukrainian" schools...
... In the near past there were some good products from that "Ex-Soviet school of boxing", such as Tszyu, the Klitschko Bros, Dmitry Pirog... post 2010, there were GGG and Kovalev who tried to "conquer" the U.S. market (with quite little success in terms of business, tbh)... To date there are Lomachenko, and (maybe) Usyk , Beterbiev, Gvozdyk, Bivol, Gassiev...
USA being #1 is the status quo. They have the deepest talent pool, the best infrastructure, the most lucrative audience and the greatest tradition. The Eastern Bloc has a much bigger presence in the pros now than it ever did before, and will hopefully continue to grow, but people are deluded if they ever thought they would be a match for the USA and to a lesser extent Mexico. Ukraine had a golden generation thanks to Anatoly Lomachenko's work with the amateur squad, but they are all in their late 20s now and the following generation isn't nearly as impressive. Russia produces a pretty consistent stream of good fighters but not too many great fighters. The Kazakhs and Uzbeks still aren't turning pro with any regularity. Poland, Latvia, Hungary, etc., don't seem to have much of a boxing tradition and mostly produce journeymen. No one is taking the USA's throne any time soon
Few years ago the Eastern Europeans looked like a force to be reckoned with, but that chapter has now come to a close.
American Boxing have risen to the top with the likes of Thurman, Spence, Crawford, Ward, Wilder, yes i am missing many out, but this is the proven elite of the elite...but so much more talent is coming through
The UK is a close second with Jousha, Degale, Fury and other talent coming through up the ranks...
Then you have other elite level foreigners coming out of the American school of boxing like Leonard Bundu
The Eastern Europeans one could say have been exposed....Kov is finished, Pov is finished, Wlad is finished
GGG isnt Eastern European. He is more Asian, so i wouldnt even class him as a EE, he is from a Islamic country an has South Korean and Mongolian heritage.
Lol. Who cares about tribalism? This is boxing!
Anyway, the cruiserweight division is full of eastern european boxers. Vasyl Lomachenko is arguably the best boxer P4P below middleweight. Whilst Oleksandy Usyk and Oleksandr Gvozdyk are two of the best boxers P4P above middleweight. I won't be surprised at all if Oleksandy Usyk moves up to heavyweight and can become a champion and the best in the division. None of those guys have the skills that Oleksandr Usyk has. He would school more than half of the heavyweights in my opinion.