why is it that you think this way?
our two best HW prospects are / were former basketball and football players. both got very late starts in boxing. wilder won olympic bronze with just over 20 fights leading in to the trials. mitchell started boxing at 25.
mitchell and wilder are great examples of why the theory is sound. there's no great shame in losing in mitchell's case. it's not at all an indictment of his potential as a fighter that he was unable to win a big HBO fight with only five years of experience with boxing.
mitchell and wilder type athletes are common in the NBA. thats all you've got. huge men with athletic talent. to think that the division wouldn't be better off without these two sports is wrong. i'm not saying that the americans would be preordained great fighters, but they're a hell of a lot better off than the tony thompson's of the world, who have no talent. or the chambers of the world, who is really only a LHW or a CW.
these guys are huge and talented. if you guys were more familiar with the leagues i think you'd be more likely to see why the theory is supported universally by american boxing media.
I guess that your two best US hopes would be ranked around #100 or so worldwide, so if that what Football brings to boxing - :popcorn:
I do not know the best Football team in US, but how many of them do you think has the mentality to be hit and fight with fists? In EU we do also has like 20-30 other sports which are more appealing to youth and has larger membergroups. But US folks talks like it is only in the US that boxing has to compete with other sports.
Come on guys - I really do like US and has family connections in NY. I am just tired of US folks saying that they do not dominate the HW scene due to other sports - or because HW is in bad shape.
US is still the nation with the most world-champs.
David Haye's hopes of fighting Vitali Klitschko hang in the balance after the heavyweight champion’s political party came third in the Ukrainian election on Sunday.
Klitschko’s UDAR (Punch) party was forecast to have won 15 per cent of the vote which should be enough to send the 41-year-old into parliament - and possibly retirement.
But while Haye faces a wait to see if he will tackle the elder brother, the WBO are considering naming him as the mandatory challenger to Wladimir, who beat the Brit over 12 lop-sided rounds in 2011.
Vitali, who was disappointed with his party’s performance, must now attempt to form an opposition coalition after the ruling Regions Party looked set to retain its parliamentary majority.
‘I had said that we had tremendous potential,’ he said. ‘We must still analyse everything: why we could have won more votes but failed to do so.’
Confusion continues to reign meanwhile about whether the long-reigning champion will hang up his gloves for a second time.
Before stopping Manuel Charr last month he said: ‘First of all, I have to win the parliament election. Step by step by step. After that, I can give you an answer.
‘Right now, there are many discussions about . I’m not ready to announce about my retirement. Maybe one fight, maybe two fights more. And after that, I am retired. I am active in politics.’
But his manager Bernd Boente believes electoral success would mean the end of his tenure in the ring.
‘If Vitali gets a role after the elections where he can make a difference, I suppose that would be the end of his career,' he told Sport Bild. ‘As a friend and manager, that’s what I would advise. The fight for democracy and against corruption is more important than a fight against David Haye.’
The Londoner, however, insists a contract has already been agreed for the £10million superfight to take place next year. ‘The fight has already been agreed, the contract’s done - the money, the split, everything. We don’t need a new contract,’ he claimed.
Should the veteran choose to concentrate on his political career, Haye may instead seek revenge on his 36-year-old sibling.
It is a bit harsh to label a 15% party a fiasco. Remember that the party is just two years old. I would call it a very decent result as it also is described in most medias.
I would like a Haye vs. Vitali fight but Haye should fight a top10 fighter before such a fight - at least to respect other boxers who has to fight their way to a title fight. Let him fight Pulev, Adamek, Helenius or Boytsov. He would be favorite against all of them but the Pulev fight would be close to 50-50. Boytsov might also be able to catch him with a bomb but I doubt.
Great fights mentioned in the earlier posts.
I doubt Wilder will go from BoxRec #250 fighters to David Price - I hope that US will get a good HW-fighter soon, but I doubt it will be Wilder. I would though like if Wilder could at least fight Sexton, Pianeta, McCall, Sosnowski or the likes of them.
Two good fights that would also be Bute vs. Froch and Froch vs. Kessler. If Froch wins against Bute in Canada it is almost 100% sure that the Kessler fight also would happen.
didnt he only have a small amount of am fights? obviously they are scared he will get beat by as journeyman before getting a pay day.
Without google it I think he had about 30-40 amateur fights, but his short amateur run was almost outstanding. I think that Wilder had boxed only 5 or 6 years in the amateur and he achieved so much. Impressive. That is why I find his pro run so disappointing. We really need some good US HWs to get the attention back on the prime division.
This will be a very strange fight for judge Adalaide Byrd. Who will she judge for when both guys are whites? She is the most racist judge in history and should be banned from boxing.
Nice to see that both Wlad and Wach is trimmed to this fight.
Talk is cheap, I don´t think they will give Arslan a rematch. Sauerland and ARD are a disgrace for boxing. Arslan = true champion.
How can ARD be a disgrace? Is HBO a disgrace to boxing when they show a fight with a close result? Huck won a close decision and a rematch would be welcome.
Great! Maybe Wladimir will not get away now with his unfair leaning, clinching-and holding-tactics. K2 sucks!!
Stupid, you sucks.
Who many 1 point deductions had K2 had all career? - combined lesser than your Mike Tyson.
If true, this is sad and a clear cherry-pick. I expected more from Wladimir.
Hard to be a champion as Wlad - if you fight Wilder he is a cherrypick and if you dont then you duck him.....
Solis has not been fit since his amateur days. He is very gifted but he lacks heart and a proper training regime. I lost everything for him after his fight with Ray Austin.
The age disparity more than makes up for the difference in weight.
That is not the point - the point is that I you ask another fighter to fight you, then you should not demand the fighter to come to your weight. If Flopkins want to fight at 175, then he should just ask another LHW fighter.
I guess that Flopkins wants a fighter with a name from Europe, because Flopkins struggling to make serious money in US. He knows that if he fights at name from Europe then there will also follow a bucket of money with him.
Frotch, bhops is half a Damn century old. U should be embarrassed asking a 50yr old boxer for a catch weight!
Flopkins asked a SMW for a fight - it is not like it is a surprise for Flopkins that Froch fights at 168. Froch didn't ask Flopkins for a fight.
There is not any money in such a fight if it is placed in USA.
I don't think that Banks has much to say in choosing Wlad's opponent - anyway Wilder has to sort out his court day and he could be putted aways for years.
Wilder is very very gunshy so he would be put away quickly by Wlad.
It is a good experience that Wilder watch and learn at the Klitschko champ.
According to Chef Wilder so far had less than 10 rounds with Wlad and Wlad was very nice and soft to him in the ring. Though Wilder had a lot of rounds with other sparring-partners in the camp. Wilder may see himself as the main sparring-partner but he is do no means that. Banks is his main sparring partner to this fight as Wlad himself states in another article on this site.
Using Wilders amateur background to defend his extremely crappy resume so far is nonsense. He has achieved more in the amateur ranks than most other pros.
OL bronze, Golden Globe winner, winner of US OL trails and he even defeated Rakhim Chakhiyev at the world championship - absolutely no reason to fight bums in four years. Tyson Fury has achieved much less but so far he has fought very tough competition compared to Wilder. Wilder really need to step it up from now on.
I get surprised everytime I get numbers from US-cards. Even the smallest card in EU gets at least 5000 sold tickets. I understand why 99 procent of boxers out of US is underpaid compared to EU-boxers.
Ward aside, what big fights at SMW?
A lot of unproven guys like Groves, DeGale etc.
Hopkins is a legend and well know to the general boxing fan, and v well known in the UK, far more in the UK than Ward due to his fight with Calzaghe.
There's none at SMW bigger in status than Hopkins at CW or LHW and believe me - Hopkins would do huge tickets in the UK and Froch Hopkins would have cross over appeal due to the US UK factor.
I hope the fights happen for the Press Confrences alone - they be pure gold!
He might be a legend but a legend who cant sell any tickets.
Ward should return Kesslers favour and fight him in Copenhagen as champ. Ward would most likely win but he would gain a lot of respect. Maybe even a fanbase after all his fight in Jokeland.
wtf are you TALKING ABOUT dude? :rofl:
Obama's mother is white - his father is from Kenya and of Arabic descent. No hopus pokus there. Almost all of us are of mixed race to some degree.
and he's not even "black". He's mulato. Guess no one really notices his moms white side of the family.
Obama is mostly caucasian then Arab and least black - I don't remember the exact numbers but it is like 50-40-10. The same goes for Ward. He is more caucasian than black. Not that it is important in any way.