Why the Best American Heavyweights Aren’t Boxing

[daggum]

no one cares about boxing in the united states. its not on any real channels and you have to go out of your way to find it. remember americans are fat and lazy so they arent gonna do that.

[Cadillac Man]

I think this is the ONE OF THE BIGGEST MYTHS IN SPORTS...Just cuz u are a great athlete does not mean u'd be a great Boxer. Maybe Lebron doesn't have a chin,maybe he doesn't like to fight or maybe he is a coward afraid to be exposed without a team behind him.

Tyson wasn't the greatest of athlete and don't tell me he would have been great on the gridiron. I doubt Tyson would be a great team player while listein to his coach. The major prolem there isn't enough gyms and not enough exposure of the sport. I'd bet the best heavy who would love to thrown down and can take a punch is eithier in jail or is some where hangin out not on the court or field. Foreman,Liston and many others were in trouble with the law free spirts that were mesmorized one they could fight without getting in trouble. THE PROBLEM IS NOT ON THE COURT OR THE FIELD IT IS LACK OF EPOSURE FOR THE SPORT AND LACK OF GYMS. Guess what back in the day they still played b-ball and f-ball so why then did we still have great fighters?

[Eric Holder]

excuses excuses

[snake]

I think this is yet another case of boxing pointing the finger at other sports for problems it created itself. Rather than looking in the mirror, boxing has been whining about how MMA is so popular, and now the heavyweight division in boxing is pointing the finger at other sports.

While physically gifted athletes at their chosen sports, I would highly question the mental toughness of NBA or NFL players. We see many times if an NBA player stubs his toe, he is out on the bench for two weeks. If an NFL player gets a boo-boo on his pinky finger, he's out for a month. If a boxer breaks his hand in round 2, he goes on to fight another 10 rounds to finish the fight. A highly doubt NBA or NFL players have the mental hardness to fight through injury, and perhaps this is due to them being spoiled by the leagues, being given anything they want, and being treated like girls when it comes to being injured.

Wladimir said something interesting in an interview not long ago about how heavyweights today have no personalities, and why David Haye is drawing such attention even though he has done nothing in the division yet. That is odd since Wladimir has an engaging camera-friendly personality that should make him very popular in the U.S., yet has largely been vilified in the boxing media for being educated and having a couple loses. Most heavyweights that do talk a lot, and lighter weights as well, try to create personalities that mimic Ali in how they talk and act, and it makes them come across as second rate imitations of the real thing.

If it's any comfort to the boxing heavyweight division, other combat sports have the same trouble. In the UFC, their heavyweight division has been terrible for years and still is. That is due to a lack of talent depth. Outside of maybe the top 5 contenders, there is no one in the UFC of any great talent at heavyweight. This is generally true for all MMA. K-1 Kickboxing had some very good heavyweights but they are all at the end of their careers, and the new generation of up and comers seem iffy compared to the previous talented generation (LeBanner, Hoost, Schilt...those are hard names to replace with new talent; can add Mark Hunt and CroCop to that list as well, two who left kickboxing for mma).

While we're on the topic, that moron Dana White made a good comment for once, saying that ten for fifteen years ago, there were over 10 boxing gyms in Las Vegas, and today there are only two - one is owned by the UFC, the other Bob Arum.

Every combat sport is having problems finding bigger men to fight, not just boxing. But I always take issue when boxing blames other sports for problems it creates itself.

[dondi330]

I disagree with this article...

just because you can doesn't mean that you will.

it's like saying there's not enough doctors because they're all becoming lawyers... OR like saying every fat ass out there CAN loose all that weight and get that great body, but will they?!

my sport (boxing) is a jealous sport, you gotta want it, you gotta have that warrior/gladiator mentality, and want to be in a fight, in the squared circle. All of those basketball/football players KNOW boxing exists, BUT they decided they'd rather shoot a ball or catch one rather than take a PUNCH. they have already been CULLED without setting a foot in the ring! lol they were never fighters or meant to be in ring to begin with! So the author's theory is really therefore only trying to find an excuse. They lost the fight before it even started.

What exactly are you saying? "just because you can doesn't mean that you will." With that statement your saying its a matter of choice. Which is what the article is saying. Even the some of the greatest fighters made the CHOICE on becoming a fighter, for money, for wieght loss, for the challenge and many other reasons. Miguel Cotto started for weight loss and it is not exactly a requirment to have a warriors mentality, theyre are many fighter that dont have the "warrior" mentality.
I do believe America has put so much hype into basketball and football that thats where our guys want to be, go to any ****** in America and no doubt theyre are many more "want to be Lebrons, and Vicks" than Mike Tyson.
Its quite elementary, Mexico or Puerto Rico really hype boxing therefore the young aspire to be great fighters so they produce great fighters. Go to Dominican Republic and all over the news you see baseball hence the kids want to be ball players and produce great players...simple.