Comments Thread For: Roy Jones Jr. Explains Why Eastern Europe is Surpassing America

[Tony Trick-Pony]

I think he's right. America has to change or we will be falling way behind. Of course, empires rise and fall all of the time, but we will see.

[kidbazooka]

Jones is a sell out a wanna be European who is bais cuz europe still lets him get his brains bashed and in yet he thinks there doing him a favor .

The best fighters come from USA and latin America.

And please lets not bring up the Russian cheats.

[Jc8804]

Not all russians cheat.

You have plenty of us fighters, black latino getting caught cheating.

Floyd just got caught taking an illegal iv trying mask something like lance armstrong. The us has cheats in baseball football and now lebron is being investigated for taking illegal supplements in basketball.

The ped market is huge in the usa

[kiaba360]

Lebedev, Kovalev, Golovkin, Troyansky, Lomachenko are the eastern european champs both the UK and USA each have more than all there countries combined
UK - Fury, Joshua, Bellew, DeGale, Saunders, Liam Smith, Brook, Burns, Crolla, Flangan, Frampton, Selby, and Haskins
USA - Wilder, Jack, Jacobs, Jermell Charlo, Jermall Charlo, Thurman, Garcia, Vargas, Crawford, and Russel Jr
UK are beating us but no way in hell are the Soviet Countries, Roy should be charged with treason getting a citizenship in Russia, wtf now he sucking *****s 1 inch ****

Eastern Europe: Drozd (in recess), Lebedev, Glowacki, Shumenov (WBA regular), Kovalev, Bivol (WBA interim), Golovkin, Avanesyan (WBA interim), Troyanovsky, Lomachenko.

I can't say if Roy's assertion is right/wrong, but the Eastern European presence is definitely felt in certain divisions, and the same can be said for other countries. For example, WW and LMW are almost completely controlled by Americans, while UK almost has full control of LW and HW. Meanwhile, Latinos have a lot of control over 122-130.

[MDPopescu]

With the shady promoters, managers & stereotypical mafia types that have run boxing in this country for so long it's no wonder. Historically; boxers in America have been on an island surrounded by sharks looking for a feeding frenzy on the talented. There is a bigger gap in the standard quality of living between America and the East. Kids, especially black kids, don't need to be sacrificial lambs to these low lifes as much as they used to be. Nor should they have to.

... Well said... and deep.

[The D3vil]

Kids, especially black kids, don't need to be sacrificial lambs to these low lifes as much as they used to be. Nor should they have to.

But football is arguably worst for you than boxing is and Blacks are 70% of the players in it

Oh trust me, we care. Look at how we cry about the HW division.

Who is we? I mean, we as boxing fans do, but we're the minority. You have a whole generation of people who haven't cared about boxing since Mike Tyson was in his prime. Those people care about NBA, NFL, & MMA. Boxing in America is going the way of baseball and horse racing.

athletes just realized playing basketball, football or baseball pays a hell of a lot better.

This is actually a part of it.

I think the real reason is those sports are more glamorous, especially football & basketball. When Michael Jordan took over as the most idolized athlete in the world after Muhammad Ali, that's when it changed.

They loved Michael Jordan, not because he was "tough" & "brave" and a "fighter" like Ali, they loved him because he was ultra-talented and he was charismatic, and he dressed nice, and he sold more gym shoes than anybody else

We value marketability in America more than anything else and boxing guys for the most part aren't that marketable. They don't have jerseys to sell or gym shoes that kids will walk around in.

Kids grow up wanting to be like those guys not Deontay Wilder

[MrRolltide91]

athletes just realized playing basketball, football or baseball pays a hell of a lot better.

True........

[bojangles1987]

Most people here in the states. It's just that we've thrown in the white flag and make excuses now.



Trust me, we're salty that we're not the best. As soon as we have a real champion and start dominating again, watch how it will go back to normal. The money has made our heavyweights lazy.

Look at Wilder, although an ok champion, he brings people together in fucking Alabama out of all states. We care but we like winning.


Also look at how dominating the U.S. basketball team is, they shut out other teams and people still watch. We don't have that in boxing at the moment.

Us being "salty" about not winning is not why boxing loses popularity. It's ridiculous to think that is to blame. Boxing was losing popularity back when heavyweights were still ruling the division. This isn't some "oh, Wlad rules heavyweight now we don't care" situation. Boxing has seen a steady, consistent decline in popularity for some 30 years. Who the **** is Deontay Wilder? There probably aren't a million Americans who could pick him out of a lineup.

And what has happened in that same time? The NFL and NBA became powerhouses. Boxing declined specifically because of them. Football and basketball offered a lot more money, a lot more opportunity, and didn't require 10 years busting your ass and getting your head bashed in to be a success. The worst paid players in these leagues walk into them making more than 95% of pro boxers ever could hope for.

Because of this rising popularity, kids started getting pushed towards these leagues as young children. Kids with any speck of dominant athletic ability are pushed by their parents, their schools, and their friends to play these sports. And if they don't play those, they play baseball or wrestle or play lacrosse or even soccer before they find a boxing gym. Every elementary, middle, and high school has baseball, football, or basketball teams. Finding a boxing gym and putting in the necessary work to be good at it requires a ton of effort that kids and the parents that have to help them don't want to put in. Not when they can just join the school football or basketball team.

So no, it's not us being "salty." America has moved past boxing and found things we like much more. It can be seen in everyday American life. There is a very clear pattern in the rise of these sports and the decline of boxing that followed.

[turnedup]

But football is arguably worst for you than boxing is and Blacks are 70% of the players in it



Who is we? I mean, we as boxing fans do, but we're the minority. You have a whole generation of people who haven't cared about boxing since Mike Tyson was in his prime. Those people care about NBA, NFL, & MMA. Boxing in America is going the way of baseball and horse racing.



This is actually a part of it.

I think the real reason is those sports are more glamorous, especially football & basketball. When Michael Jordan took over as the most idolized athlete in the world after Muhammad Ali, that's when it changed.

They loved Michael Jordan, not because he was "tough" & "brave" and a "fighter" like Ali, they loved him because he was ultra-talented and he was charismatic, and he dressed nice, and he sold more gym shoes than anybody else

We value marketability in America more than anything else and boxing guys for the most part aren't that marketable. They don't have jerseys to sell or gym shoes that kids will walk around in.

Kids grow up wanting to be like those guys not Deontay Wilder

Hey man even football has some sort of guaranteed money if you sign the contract. Boxing you are one punch away from having to work your way all the way back up. We just saw a guy take 30k to fightt one of the top fighters in the world, boxing is quite fkd in the way they pay. I don't think any boxer fighting on a premium cable channel deserves less than 150k period. From the moment I heard what diego chavez was paid in contrast to what bradley earned i've been sick to my stomach with the pay scale in the sport.

[Mr.Fantastic]

Us being "salty" about not winning is not why boxing loses popularity. It's ridiculous to think that is to blame. Boxing was losing popularity back when heavyweights were still ruling the division. This isn't some "oh, Wlad rules heavyweight now we don't care" situation. Boxing has seen a steady, consistent decline in popularity for some 30 years. Who the **** is Deontay Wilder? There probably aren't a million Americans who could pick him out of a lineup.

And what has happened in that same time? The NFL and NBA became powerhouses. Boxing declined specifically because of them. Football and basketball offered a lot more money, a lot more opportunity, and didn't require 10 years busting your ass and getting your head bashed in to be a success. The worst paid players in these leagues walk into them making more than 95% of pro boxers ever could hope for.

Because of this rising popularity, kids started getting pushed towards these leagues as young children. Kids with any speck of dominant athletic ability are pushed by their parents, their schools, and their friends to play these sports. And if they don't play those, they play baseball or wrestle or play lacrosse or even soccer before they find a boxing gym. Every elementary, middle, and high school has baseball, football, or basketball teams. Finding a boxing gym and putting in the necessary work to be good at it requires a ton of effort that kids and the parents that have to help them don't want to put in. Not when they can just join the school football or basketball team.

So no, it's not us being "salty." America has moved past boxing and found things we like much more. It can be seen in everyday American life. There is a very clear pattern in the rise of these sports and the decline of boxing that followed.

It's not ridiculous, it's the truth. Keep being in denial though. If it was on a consistent decline we wouldn't of had the popular 90s. We're not dominating, other countries have adapted.


Let's keep putting the blame on NFL & NBA. Most of those guys wouldn't last, especially on the way their attitudes are. Always crying for the simplest shit. We don't need them in boxing. What we need is another Mike Tyson followed by a Holyfield and a Foreman type boxer kicking ass in the division. Watch how the sport springs back to life with ease. I've been a fan for over 25 years, I don't claim to know it all but this is pretty obvious for me to see.

You're right about kids in a way. Most of them are going into MMA gyms now. As they grow, they will get into MMA type of sports. Guess what?!?! In MMA, they pay you much less than boxing at the top.