The Gradual Extinction of the great American Heavyweight

[Willow The Wisp]

I always found this explanation to be unfounded as kids don't get into sports because they're lucrative, they get into them for fun and if they're good at it they stick with it and make money later.

Who is thinking about money at 9 years old?

I agree.

I see that the NFL soaks up the best American Football players.
The NBA soaks up the best Basketball players.
MLB soaks up the best Baseball players.

.....But none of them soak up the best fighters, and with the small reward potential offered, neither does MMA.

I think the easy to find, easy to learn U.S. blue collar labor market is to blame.

You ever watch Lyle Alzado, Mark Gastineau, Too Tall Jones, Alonzo Highsmith, Bubba Paris, Howie Long, Jules Long, Mike Balogun, LeVeon Bell, Adam Fogerty, Kendall Gill, Tom Zbikowski, Tye Fields, Craig Wolfley, Tom Payne, Seth Mitchell, George Linberger or Leif Larsen fight? Big tough guys, but their talents in field games doesn't do anything to make them better fighters than some pipefitter, farmer, miner, special forces soldier or roofer might turn out to be if committed to the task.

Other, easier sports to go into has no impact on the scarcity of big bad Americans opting out of the hurt business. It's all about national prosperity.

[billeau2]

You set an arbitrary age and ignored the popularity aspect entirely. Nevertheless, a lot of athletes get into sports at a young age and choose sports to focus on around High School age. Athletes that are good at one sport are commonly good at other sports, and most teenage boys are going to be drawn to what is most popular and what what they are best at. When they are getting out of HS and thinking about which college they are going to go to, they are definitely thinking about their career and which will set them up to make the big bucks.

There's actually a whole process and athletes can choose sports based on that which is lucrative. First you have your basic benchmarks. You can be an incredibly good baseball player but you better run a certain speed for your dash, or they will not look twice at you no matter how good you are.

By the time a kid gets through those benchmarks, they have a lot of mobility when it comes to choosing sport they will devote their time to.

Boxing has become just another line off of that pipeline. Traditionally guys who wanted to boxing were more fighters than athletes. So they didn't really come through this pipeline so much. You see this also with how much amateur farming has become part of professional boxing, even stylistically.

Mexico is much more like it used to be, what guys start fighting at a very young age and learn the ropes as a professional fighter.

[Spray_resistant]

You set an arbitrary age and ignored the popularity aspect entirely. Nevertheless, a lot of athletes get into sports at a young age and choose sports to focus on around High School age. Athletes that are good at one sport are commonly good at other sports, and most teenage boys are going to be drawn to what is most popular and what what they are best at. When they are getting out of HS and thinking about which college they are going to go to, they are definitely thinking about their career and which will set them up to make the big bucks.

If high schools had boxing programs you'd see alot of more U.S based top HWs, if that is what you're saying I'd agree with it.

You have to actively find some place to learn to fight, other sports in school are all in your face and if you go down to the high school weight room coaches will encourage you to try out for teams if they think you seem like you have athletic talent.

[Willow The Wisp]

Elite Level contenders

The 1970's
1. Muhammad Ali
2. George Foreman
3. Joe Frazier
4. Ken Norton
5. Larry Holmes
6. Jerry Quarry
7. Jimmy Ellis
8. Ron Lyle
9. Earnie Shavers
10. Jimmy Young


The 1980's
1. Larry Holmes
2. Mike Tyson
3. Michael Dokes
4. Gerry Cooney
5. Tim Witherspoon
6. Mike Weaver
7. Pinklon Thomas
8. Michael Spinks
9. Bonecrusher Smith
10. Tony Tucker



The 1990's
1. Evander Holyfield
2. Mike Tyson
3. Rid**** Bowe
4. Tommy Morrison
5. George Foreman
6. Chris Byrd
7. Shannon Briggs
8. Michael Moorer
9. Larry Holmes
10. Oliver McCall


The 2000's
1. Chris Byrd
2. Hasim Rahman
3. Tony Thompson
4. Lamon Brewster
5. Joe Mesi
6. Larry Donald
7. Calvin Brock
8. Jameel McCline
9. Lance Whitaker
10.James Toney


The 2010's
1. Deontay Wilder
2. Andy Ruiz Jr
3. Jarrell Miller
4. Chris Arreola
5. Dominic Breazeale
6. Bryant Jennings
7. Gerald Washington
8. Malik Scott
9. Eric Molina
10.Travis Kauffman


The 2020's
1. Deontay Wilder
2. Andy Ruiz Jr.
3. Jared Anderson
4. Jarrell Miller
5. Charles Martin
6. Richard Torrez Jr
7. Michael Hunter
8. Jermaine Franklin
9. Jonathan Guidry
10. Cassius Chaney

[Weebler I]

Was boxing free-to-air back in the day? I think making it PPV might've had an impact on its popularity.

[brettWall]

Back in the day boxing was never a profession. Boxers don't wait around. They have jobs.

[Regge]

The USA boxing program is sick, and it is not confided to heavyweight. It's endemic at cruiserweight, light heavyweight and middle weight too. From professional boxing all the way down to amateur boxing and the teenagers.

Since the Eastern Europeans were allowed to go pro and were professionally promoted, say around the year 2000 the USA upper weight fighters at the top slowly disappeared from 160-201+ That has happened.

In other individual sports like Tennis you can say the same thing.

Another theory is the Eastern Euro group is just a bit better and would have won lots of belts before 2000 IF they were allowed to turn pro AND were promoted. I buy into that one partially.

Still another theory is that the food quality ( plastics ) and environmental issue ( EMF feedback ) is to blame in the USA . That is interesting ... I dunno. Maybe it is true.

There are DNA theories which I'd rather not get into became someone one will give me ad hominem attacks and sociological theories that really sting. Of Course some websites / smart devices are partly to blame our kids are addicted to them. The worst part is that the USA fighters at the top just lack the heart that is needed for boxing. Shades of Marciano _ Frazier, say it ain't so.

The confluence of all of the above has produced a generation of young men, who are prone to being lazy, generally out of shape, not getting laid anymore like they used to, and not mentally tough.

It is worse that meets the eye, as the promoters have a problem and without USA stars, and the networks. Remember when posters used to kick each in the nuts by putting on other USA fighters vs each other on the same night? Sure there is Crawford but he is turning 37.The young USA talent must be on display in the Paris 2024 Olympics games . Expect there is none. The sport of boxing is the USA is in decline.

I was going to write an article on this very topic and my feedback was do not post the article on the web if you want to keep some of your boxing friends. This is a tame version of what I wrote.

Yet the new star of boxing is a young American by the name of Ryan Garcia who at only 25 is already more popular than Crawford ever was....or where you only referring to black Americans?

[Atypicalbrit]

There's a lot of factors.

1. The eastern Euros DEFINATLEY make a difference because the division is much more difficult now

2. Culture has shifted, the ******s have almost all been gentrified and the west has a pu55ified society now

3. MMA takes a lot of talent as its way more popular with kids and so more likely to get into that

I think those are the main 3, also things are cyclical, the USA may find heavyweight clones of Mike a Tyson and Rid**** Bowe in a year or two and then you can all talk about how the heavyweight division is great again. An American heavyweight will be number 1 again at some point

Make heavyweight great again

MHGA!

[crimsonfalcon07]

I mean, it's factually true that Europe doesn't have American football, basketball, or baseball. There's a lot of sports that pay very well in the US that aren't boxing. What's the best analog in Europe, soccer? Being a heavyweight doesn't really benefit much with soccer. How many giant soccer players do you see? Average weight for a male soccer player is 170 lbs, well before the heavyweight limit.

So what's the equivalent high paying job that's pulling all the European heavies away from boxing? Not doubting, mind you, but I don't live there so I don't actually know what exactly is analogous to the major league sports that are the primary draws for American athletes. Feel free to tell us what is pulling all the Euro heavyweight size athletes.

[Malvado]

Quite curious if having to many uncollaborative promotions like PBC, GBP and Top Rank just made it difficult for American heavyweight boxing amateurs think it is not a lucrative option.

Despite being Heavyweights, if there is not fight that is a noteworthy draw under the same promotion, they won't get compensated as well as the fighters from the lighter weight classes that are getting those kinds of opportunities while not getting hit by CTE damaging shots by other heavyweights.

Just wouldn't know if it be worth it. Andy Ruiz was already planning retirement and somehow hit the lottery when Miller pulled out against AJ.