Why there's no great Western European boxers?

[Larry the boss]

French boxers....lol

[1hourRun]

Broner?
Now you're naming Mexicans in amongst it?
Plus the majority of those guys will likely get exposed for sheer size of America even IF they were all your own US talents it wouldn't be a lot.

Most of the names I mentioned are already world title holders and I left out other players because I like to keep my post short but we got more..and you know Mexicans can have duel citizenship's..I know sucks ha? you guys have enough L's from the Americans...now add Puerto Ricans that are virtually Americans too...damn we slaughtering ya'll.

[Lester Tutor]

Cuba couldn't win **** in amateur boxing prior to the USSR's influence, they were a non entity at the Olympics and everything amateur related

Cuba had pro boxing before the Cuban revolution in 1959, then Castro took over and boxing was banned for years, until Castro decided to use the sport as a means of exhibiting the success of the socialist government, and winning medals in international tourneys became a priority

That's when the Soviet Union sent experienced trainers like Andrei Chervorenko (Teofilo stevenson's trainer) to help develop Cuban fighters for amateur boxing, because the entire boxing landscape in Cuba was in ruins after years of ban, and not suited for the amateur game

Cuba would have never been an amateur powerhouse or produced fighters like Rigondeaux without the Soviet influence

Many boxing greats, even before Castro came into the picture with Soviets, were admiring Cuban boxing. You're digging a hole for yourself considering the demographic of Cuban ethnicity and taking it to the next level for what Russians couldn't do?

[soul_survivor]

Not trolling, I'm just really surprised. It seems like British, American, Latin and ex-Soviet fighters are the only ones who keeps professional boxing alive, if it wasn't for them boxing would be in a messed up state, but where's all Western European boxers, why they're far from being the force to be reckoned with in boxing?

Why we're not seeing great talents from countries like France or Germany, assuming that they have way bigger population than Eastern Europe and way more money to promote their fighters? I'm not even asking about good fighters from Africa or Asia, we're not seeing them as often as I'd want to. Probably these Asians and Africans choose different sports to follow, but why there's no good Western European fighters in pro boxing? Of course, I'm not talking about British fighters here, they have a long boxing tradition and it would be strange if they were non-existent in the sport, but what's up with other West European countries?

Britain is western europe....

But I see what you're getting at and I dunno about great but Germany has had some solid fighters in recent years, some of whom have had long title reigns.

In terms of France, they aren't really a sporting nation. They are good in football and...well that. They don't rise to the top in many team sports and/or individual events. No idea why. Maybe a lack of sporting culture?

[g27region]

So no, eastern euros aren't doing great, it's only russians. russians by heritage, ex-soviets if you want to call them that. It's only the descendants of the Rus', the strongest of all slavic people in history

See, I didn't even mention Eastern Europe in my post and I hate when people call all these fighters "Eastern Europeans". I don't see all these Romanians or Bulgarians doing something important in boxing, it's only ex-Soviet bloc, CIS countries to be exact

Look who's talking.

Russian and Eastern Europe by sheer size should be doing lots more.

Don't pretend like you don't know that it's supposed to be way more difficult for a foreign boxer to have any succes in pro boxing which is ruled by American promoters. There's a lot of great Russian talents in amateur boxing right now, better than fighters of Kovalev caliber, but 90% of them prefer to stay in amateurs and they're not even trying to get in pro boxing at all, because they're not getting any offers from American promoters or they don't have the possibility to be in States. In amateur boxing, Soviet bloc always been on par with States and it's a fact but since we're talking about pro boxing, which is American based, it's understandable why there's not a lot of fighters from ex-Soviet bloc there - it's logical for American promoters to find some American or Latin boxers who would relate to the audience more to be sure he's gonna sell these ppv numbers. If I was American promoter, I'd do the same thing, why you need to spend money on the mother****er who barely speak English. I have to say it again, 90% of amateur boxers from Russia staying away from pro boxing because it doesn't matter how good they are, nobody wants to see their asses in States and they're aware of that. In amateur boxing, Soviet bloc always been on par with States and it's a fact

Britian is considered western Europe buddy

Britain is western europe....

I've said Western Europe with the exception of Britain

when has the p4p king ever been european? let alone several p4p entrants being in the top ten.

A p4p king who's a foreigner and who barely speak English in the sport that relies on American audience? That will never happen just because of political reasons

I've said in some other thread that Russian/Ukranian boxer will NEVER be a pro boxing star of any magnitude

example.....its wide open now but it was Mayweather, before him it was Manny when he was retired, before that the best was Roy Jones, before that Whitaker, before that some thought Chavez, before that Ray Leonard, before that Duran, before that Ali, before and so on

To be fair, European fighters weren't allowed to participate in pro boxing where most of HOF'ers came from in the first place. I know for sure there were a lot of amazing talents in USSR at that time

After the fall of USSR the economical situation was too messed up for more than a decade, people wouldn't care about boxing at that time, survival was more important, and after 90's, all these russian boxers would need more time to learn the pro game and adjust to it. Now we're finally seeing some results of that

[Dip_Slide]

Poverty and hunger breed good fighters.

[ShoulderRoll]

The French prefer the elegant art of savate.

[Danieltapia]

Why there's no great Western European boxers?

Drug testing!!!!

[g27region]

The French prefer the elegant art of savate.

Russians has sambo but that doesn't stop them from boxing, considering that sambo is way more popular than boxing in Russia

Western Europe got destroyed by the World Wars, most of the good healthy men with good genetics all died in the World Wars so we were mostly left with the men who were unable to fight that carried on our genes.

Eastern Europe had WAY more casualties in World Wars so that's not an excuse for Western Europe to not participate

I want to see people all over the world to compete. I want to see more fighters from Asia, Australia and Africa as well. Just imagine boxing without Latin, American, British, and Eastern fighters, we're making this sport entertaining for the rest of the world

[Weltschmerz]

there were, even when excluding British fighters.. Schmeling, Ingemar Johansson was HW champ, Primo Carnera I guess would be the most notable mentions.