Look at the physical shape the heavyweights were in during the 70's

[Spartacus Sully]

Sorry, I've always thought that theory is a load of hooey. Being a good athlete doesn't equal being a good fighter. A fighter is determined by upbringing and culture. America just doesn't have as many run-down, dirt-poor neighbourhoods as the former-Soviet states, hence your lack of decent HW fighters.

you dont need to be raised in a dirt poor neighbor hood you just need to be raised right, with the mind set that you can do anything you want if you work hard enough.

and yes alot of kids in America grow up with asperiations of football or basketball. while your probably not going to succeed and make a pro career out of it, it does get you to college.

[JAB5239]

Sorry, I've always thought that theory is a load of hooey. Being a good athlete doesn't equal being a good fighter. A fighter is determined by upbringing and culture. America just doesn't have as many run-down, dirt-poor neighbourhoods as the former-Soviet states, hence your lack of decent HW fighters.

Than what made Muhammad Ali so tough? He was raised middle class and never got into fights when he was growing up, now he's considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight ever.

[nomadman]

Than what made Muhammad Ali so tough? He was raised middle class and never got into fights when he was growing up, now he's considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight ever.

There are always exceptions, but as a general rule many of the best boxers didn't exactly have the nicest of upbringings. Boxing, more than any other sport I can think of, relies on mental toughness, and that sort of toughness is most frequently cultivated in hardship and poverty. It takes a certain type of person to become a professional boxer, and you're more likely nowadays to find that type of person outside of the States.

[Takamura!!!]

**** that george foreman is a monster hitter, he must be the hardest hitting heavyweight ever.

Ernie shavers was the hardest hitting in my opinion

Yeah, today so many heavyweights look flabby compared to back then





Bit of a downgrade eh?

[GJC]

Sorry, I've always thought that theory is a load of hooey. Being a good athlete doesn't equal being a good fighter. A fighter is determined by upbringing and culture. America just doesn't have as many run-down, dirt-poor neighbourhoods as the former-Soviet states, hence your lack of decent HW fighters.

No I think there is something in that theory and it backs up your point. Boxing has traditionally been a window to the less advantaged which is why there are far far fewer ***ish, Italian and Irish fighters these days than there were in the past as they have generally prospered and moved out of the ******s etc. Now being English I'm not in the best position to say for sure but maybe American Football and Basketball are less segregated than they were in the past and so giving coloured kids more opportunities to compete?
I realise that boxing didn't cover itself in glory re equality but there was always opportunities for coloured fighters to earn money just not as many opportunities as white fighters.
I know that a lot of kids get schoolarships based on their skill at American football.
Given the choice would you rather play baseball American football or box?
I know in Egland there were lots of boxing gyms when I was a kid and now there are very few I would imagine the same is in America?

[sonnyboyx2]

I disagree completely. These guys throw hardly any punches compared to the top fighters of the past and they fight fighters who throw hardly any punches. To top that off they're pretty much spent after 7 or 8 rounds. Can you imagine them having to fight a fight where they were forced to throw twice as many punches as they normally did? Can you imagine them defending against a guy like Frazier or Marciano who throws non stop for 15 rounds? I can, and its not a pretty thought.

100% correct.. it is laughable to think that Heavyweights of the last 15yrs could compete with the likes of Frazier & Marciano.. yet there is literally 100s of members who claim Vitali, Lewis, Haye, Wlad would completely destroy Joe Frazier within 2rds, they even claim that those same 4 would beat Muhammad Ali at least 4 times out of 10 fights should they have ever fought, they also claim they would demolish the 73 version of George Foreman because they are taller and weigh more.. the same people will avoid this Topic

[StarshipTrooper]

No I think there is something in that theory and it backs up your point. Boxing has traditionally been a window to the less advantaged which is why there are far far fewer ***ish, Italian and Irish fighters these days than there were in the past as they have generally prospered and moved out of the ******s etc. Now being English I'm not in the best position to say for sure but maybe American Football and Basketball are less segregated than they were in the past and so giving coloured kids more opportunities to compete?
I realise that boxing didn't cover itself in glory re equality but there was always opportunities for coloured fighters to earn money just not as many opportunities as white fighters.
I know that a lot of kids get schoolarships based on their skill at American football.
Given the choice would you rather play baseball American football or box?
I know in Egland there were lots of boxing gyms when I was a kid and now there are very few I would imagine the same is in America?

The major team sports in America integrated in the 1950s. The thing is, the NFL and NBA were not big money sports until the 1980s. Case in point, in 1972 a typical star NFL running back was making around $60,000 a year and that's a marquee position: Imagine what less glamorous players like linemen were making. Compared to that top boxers stood a good chance of making significantly more than that during that time frame so if someone was a superior athlete growing up and fit the body type of a Heavyweight fighter/football player/basketball player boxing would be seen as a lucrative possibility. In the 1980s the money in the NFL and NBA exploded with even seldom used reserves making $1,000,000 a year to do nothing. That makes boxing's potential payoff look MUCH less attractive. And with the fall off of boxing's popularity there's less money to be had for lower tier fighters which makes it even less attractive an option for a young athlete.

Poet

[rockybalboa1]

The heavyweight division is a joke, today. There are a few good fighters but they wouldn't last with the heavyweights of other eras.

[GJC]

The major team sports in America integrated in the 1950s. The thing is, the NFL and NBA were not big money sports until the 1980s. Case in point, in 1972 a typical star NFL running back was making around $60,000 a year and that's a marquee position: Imagine what less glamorous players like linemen were making. Compared to that top boxers stood a good chance of making significantly more than that during that time frame so if someone was a superior athlete growing up and fit the body type of a Heavyweight fighter/football player/basketball player boxing would be seen as a lucrative possibility. In the 1980s the money in the NFL and NBA exploded with even seldom used reserves making $1,000,000 a year to do nothing. That makes boxing's potential payoff look MUCH less attractive. And with the fall off of boxing's popularity there's less money to be had for lower tier fighters which makes it even less attractive an option for a young athlete.

Poet

Thankyou I must admit I didn't have too much knowledge as such to back up my theory lol. I have little knowledge of baseball,basketball and American football but have heard of Jackie Robinson re baseball and am I right in thinking the Harlem Globetrotters were a result of segregation within basketball?
Would the sporting schoolarships in colleges have an effect too?
I know in "soccer" a proper world wide sport the money has exploded in the last 10 years, in the 60's they still had a maximum wage. So after the war when even the less glamourous clubs used to get 50-70,000 people through the turnstiles the owners knew what their wage bill was every week and generally took the lions share of money out of the game. The certainly didn't spend it on the stadiums!.
Generally the footballers earned twice the average wage for a career that lasted 15 years. We now have gone to the other extreme where very average players can earn 50'000 a week. One positive on the old days was a team's star player generally saw out their career at their home club as there was zero financial benefit to moving to a bigger club which meant that the league was a little more level.

[DeepSleep]

The major team sports in America integrated in the 1950s. The thing is, the NFL and NBA were not big money sports until the 1980s. Case in point, in 1972 a typical star NFL running back was making around $60,000 a year and that's a marquee position: Imagine what less glamorous players like linemen were making. Compared to that top boxers stood a good chance of making significantly more than that during that time frame so if someone was a superior athlete growing up and fit the body type of a Heavyweight fighter/football player/basketball player boxing would be seen as a lucrative possibility. In the 1980s the money in the NFL and NBA exploded with even seldom used reserves making $1,000,000 a year to do nothing. That makes boxing's potential payoff look MUCH less attractive. And with the fall off of boxing's popularity there's less money to be had for lower tier fighters which makes it even less attractive an option for a young athlete.

Poet

Hit the nail on the head, for example Brandon Jacobs(Starting Running back for the Giants for the non-NFL fans on here) was 30 - 0 as an amateur boxer, yet he gave up boxing for football even though he didn't begin at a big name Division 1 college program. Now he just signed this year a 4 year $25 Million dollar contract with the giants. He is getting on average $6.25 Million a year, significantly higher than any Heavyweight boxer makes today through boxing other than perhaps one of the Klitsckho Bros. and he isn't even one of the best at his position.

Back in the day the great big athletes turned into boxers:
Fastforward to today:

Vernon Gholston NFL LOLB/DE:


vs.

Arguably Top American Heavyweight Eddie Chambers:


Luckily they only poach the Heavyweights from us; we still get to keep just about all the athletes from LHW down to Minimumweight.