European Fighters vs American Fighters

[Liaison]

It is when they stay in their home countries and fight absolute nobodies for alphabet titles and then claim they are superstars that I have a problem, Sven Ottke presents a prime example of this.

I always felt Ottke had a good resume. Whether he won most those fights is obviously up for question...

[sparked_85]

I always felt Ottke had a good resume. Whether he won most those fights is obviously up for question...

This is actually true, Ottke's resume was good.

Everybody wanted to fight him because he wasn't great, to be be fair about 7 of them beat him like you say.

[Texas Made]

euro trash fighters blow Kessler is decent Joe has he fought any good american in their prime? the only one who is any good across the pond is Hatton and hes gonna get whooped by Malignaggi later this month

[Steak]

oh my gosh, you people are so dumb. just fight the best in your division/around your division. its really not that complicated, and it doesnt matter what the nationality of the fighter is.

and generally, the biggest fights happen in America. I mean, arguably Calzaghe's biggest win is Hopkins, and where did that happen?

Im not saying that you HAVE to fight in America to be great, but generally, all the great fighters have come over to America at one time or another...

I mean, lets face it, most of the best boxers come from the Western Hemisphere. and places like Las Vegas are overall probebly the best spots to fight in the Western Hemisphere. so its sort of expected for fighters to cross the pond to get the big fights.

but I dont want to have double standards...if an American fighter wants to be great, he cant just sit in America waiting for them, he better get his ass up and try to make the big fights.

[lance_uppercut]

While I do agree that european fighters sometimes get slagged on here...a truly talented fighter's abilities transcend their origins. If someone is blasting top ten opposition left and right they should be getting recognition.

[Dan...]

Thanks for replying danc1984. Here is a small list of fights (as I don't have much time)
Carl Froch - Good Fighter and should win a world title in December
David Haye - wasn't rated and was relatively unheard of in the states until recently (when he became undisputed Cruiserweight champion)
Joe Calzaghe had been world champion for over 10 years and it wasn't until he beat Lacy that America realised he was a force to be reckoned with.
Kevin Mitchell - Prospect, British title holder and a top fighter. American prospects good and bad are well known world-wide, but not European prospects.
I could name various Russian and Ukrainian national champions who don't get any attention...even in Western Europe!
For the most part the cream always rises to the top and European fighters will get noticed in America if they are able to find good opponents and win (but attracting those opponents is much harder). Fighters such as Froch have struggled for any recognition for years. The trend is set that America is the place to be if you are a boxer, so many fighters get left behind...it also makes it a lot easier for an American boxer to make it to the top relatively quickly.

To be honest I think it just comes down to the fact that the American boxing scene is a little more global than it is over in Europe. Fights that take place on HBO or Showtime just get a lot more attention from international media than fights on say Sky or Setanta or a continental European station.

There are a portion of American boxing fans who are overly patriotic and cloud their judgement with regards to European fighters. It is hard for me to say to what extent this actually occurs though seeing I am not American. Still, when European fighters step up and fight top class fighters they get credit for it I think, wherever the fight takes place. Don't forget that the criticism in relation to level of competition is not restricted to European fighters. Look at the criticism levelled at the likes of Berto and Chavez Jr.

[sparked_85]

euro trash fighters blow Kessler is decent Joe has he fought any good american in their prime? the only one who is any good across the pond is Hatton and hes gonna get whooped by Malignaggi later this month

okay so how is a British boxing fan or even a European boxing fan not mean't to get pissed of by this kind of post.

It's posters and people like this that make me always want to back a Brit or Euro over any American just so it dawns on ****ers like this. Good fighters are everywhere.

[Dan...]

I always felt Ottke had a good resume. Whether he won most those fights is obviously up for question...

I wouldn't say he had a "good" resume. It is a resume full of B/B+ level fighters whom he either just got wins over or managed to get given gifts against.

[lance_uppercut]

okay so how is a British boxing fan or even a European boxing fan not mean't to get pissed of by this kind of post.

It's posters and people like this that make me always want to back a Brit or Euro over any American just so it dawns on ****ers like this. Good fighters are everywhere.

Agreed. When a fighter does something great in the ring he will be talked about all over eventually. People should have more intelligent criticism of a fighter than "kessler is from denmark...he must suck". Stuff like that makes my brain hurt.

[JStone1984]

I'm glad that there has been sensible debate and discussion on this thread and none of the abusive and ignorant posts that I see on other threads all too often. I have a few ideas on the Calzaghe - Jones fight: https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/s...d.php?t=221343 please feel free to leave your thoughts and tell me how you think the fight will transpire and whether or not you agree with my thoughts on the fight.