"The reason there aren't any great American HWs is because they're all in the NBA or NFL!".
You've probably heard this statement, or something similar to it by boxing fans before. They think that the reason Americans no longer dominate the HW division is because all the great athletes are playing basketball or football. I guess their logic is that since those sports require great athletic ability, that athleticism would translate to success in boxing.
Given the, shall we say, limited success of former football and basketball players who took up boxing, I don't see any evidence of that being true. The only former football or basketball player who took up boxing and had any real success that I can think of is Deontay Wilder, and I would hardly call him a great fighter.
Its funny because theres starting to be similar excuses for the UFC as well. You never heard it back when it had barely expanded outside of North America and it was American dominated. Now 10 of 12 champs are from outside of the US and all of a sudden the "we've got other stuff to do" "we dont care about it" shyt comes up. The UFC literally even has a quota so the number of Americans on the roster cant drop below 50% for fucks sake :lol1:
The US still has multiple times more pro HWs than any other country, around a third of all pro HWs on the planet in fact.
Most of the potential great HWs of any country are usually playing another sport anyway. Its not just an American thing. Combat sports dont have big talent pools.
"The reason there aren't any great American HWs is because they're all in the NBA or NFL!".
You've probably heard this statement, or something similar to it by boxing fans before. They think that the reason Americans no longer dominate the HW division is because all the great athletes are playing basketball or football. I guess their logic is that since those sports require great athletic ability, that athleticism would translate to success in boxing.
Given the, shall we say, limited success of former football and basketball players who took up boxing, I don't see any evidence of that being true. The only former football or basketball player who took up boxing and had any real success that I can think of is Deontay Wilder, and I would hardly call him a great fighter.
It's absolutely true, the only NFL athletes that tried boxing were the ones that never made it in the NFL. NFL has over 1000+ top notch athletes, many of them could be world boxing champions right now if they wanted to.
Also an added issue in the USA is that boxing gyms are few and far in between, and kids who go into boxing here over other sports really only do so from a passion for the sport or because they want to learn how to defend themselves from the street bullies. Unlike NFL and NBA where these sports are so widely promoted that every single school has a team and a stadium/court for these kids to take advantage of. Not to mention the amount of money poured into the promotion of these sports. Multi multi billion industries, easy to attract young kids to your sport when Lebron James and Tom Brady are the face of your sport instead of Tyson Fury from Britain or Canelo Alvarez from Mexico.
US could really benefit from a dominant US heavyweight champ, someone to get the kids excited about the sport, another Mike Tyson if you will. I have high hopes for Jared Anderson.
there has been alot of 6f6 ish black american boxers highly athletic say in the last 20 years yet none had the footwork or skills of a Tyson Fury...
it takes more then athleticism to be a great boxer
We have Teenagers the Size of Anthony Joshua here in America if not bigger and guess what...they're not picking Boxing over American Football.
For Example, this kid next to LeBron, is 17 years old:
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he is 6'6 245 lbs., he is a very Highly Recruited Football Player with Scholarship Offers from the best Universities in the U.S., why in the F^CK would this kids walk away from a Scholarship to whichever University he wants and now High School and College Players are able to get paid and get Endorsements and make Millions as Teenagers. So he should walk away from that to go...BOX? LMFAO
Boxing fans, a lot of us are Delusional, stuck in the 90's and still think Boxing is as big as it use to be when it is NOT, NOT EVEN CLOSE! Only a very Select few get to make big money in boxing but most don't and won't
So yes the Potential Heavyweights are pursing careers in Football and Basketball in America AS THEY SHOULD!
What’s the point of this thread? I think USAmerica is still the most dominant country in professional boxing. At the moment I’m pretty sure black Americans have the most champions in boxing despite having the lowest population.
- - 100% sure U don't know boxing.
What’s the point of this thread? I think USAmerica is still the most dominant country in professional boxing. At the moment I’m pretty sure black Americans have the most champions in boxing despite having the lowest population.
They might be accountants, engineers, construction workers too.
Everyone in the world has different options. The US isn't alone in that boxing is not the number one focus for kids.
Doesn't change the fact that the US isn't producing a lot of heavyweights. It goes much deeper than 'we've got basketball'.
There would be even more champs from europe if they didn't play soccer.
A lot of big, athletic guys go into pro rugby in the UK nowadays. We've had pro rugby league up north for a long time, but rugby union, the most popular form of the game, was strictly amateur until 1995.
It has some truth to an extent as far as a bigger talent pool meaning there are greater odds of talent. But by no means is it a guarantee that anyone is "great" or even good.
Boxing is not a team sport. You have to be a self motivated person from an individual standpoint and not rely on a system of players and teams to get you through difficulty.
Secondly you really have no physical size advantage over your competition so you are going against people close to your size.
And finally you have to have a personality of just not giving a shit and actually enjoy it. If you look at someone at are like they can probably beat or ko me 7 times out of 10 you have to still have that belief in you that you can win. Even when everyone else including the fans and experts are telling you otherwise.
This is not to say that there are some potential really good boxers in these sports but it 99% likely os not going to be the big names or stand outs in those sports. It will probably some 2nd/3rd string or bench warmer.
You can't just take a guy that spent the first two decades of his life playing other sports and expect him to become a great boxer.
Most great boxers started boxing in their youth and it was the main sport they were involved with their entire life.
Holyfield started when he was 7 or 8. Ruiz started when he was 6.
Wilder and Joshua starting as late as they did and having the success they had is a huge anomaly.
"The reason there aren't any great American HWs is because they're all in the NBA or NFL!".
You've probably heard this statement, or something similar to it by boxing fans before. They think that the reason Americans no longer dominate the HW division is because all the great athletes are playing basketball or football. I guess their logic is that since those sports require great athletic ability, that athleticism would translate to success in boxing.
Given the, shall we say, limited success of former football and basketball players who took up boxing, I don't see any evidence of that being true. The only former football or basketball player who took up boxing and had any real success that I can think of is Deontay Wilder, and I would hardly call him a great fighter.
It's true though.
Even you brought up Deontay Wilder, a guy who started boxing at like 20, won a bronze medal at the Olympics and has 9 defenses of the HW title.
Imagine he was brought into a boxing gym at 10 years old as opposed to playing basketball & football his entire youth.
Same thing goes with all those dudes who are playing in the NFL or NBA as marginal players with insane athleticism.
Honestly I think its true. Same reason why so few good heavyweights in the UFC and the few that are tend to be on their 40s or college players anyway.
Here in the UK there's actually a decent amateur heavyweight infrastructure with a lot of good gyms bringing up talent. This is largely due to the fact boxing receives a lot of lottery funding. The UK has consistently produced medalling heavies in the last three games.
"The reason there aren't any great American HWs is because they're all in the NBA or NFL!".
You've probably heard this statement, or something similar to it by boxing fans before. They think that the reason Americans no longer dominate the HW division is because all the great athletes are playing basketball or football. I guess their logic is that since those sports require great athletic ability, that athleticism would translate to success in boxing.
Given the, shall we say, limited success of former football and basketball players who took up boxing, I don't see any evidence of that being true. The only former football or basketball player who took up boxing and had any real success that I can think of is Deontay Wilder, and I would hardly call him a great fighter.
I have heard this before, but we can't know for sure. So what's your question?:confused:
Very true, also the road to success in boxing is harder than any other sport. NFL guys usually have a somewhat 'pampered road' with training facilities and high school/college BS. In boxing it is different. So that in itself already weeds out 95% of the NFL players in the first place.
3y ago
"All the great American HWs are in the NBA or NFL!". | BoxingScene Community