USA haven't had a male Olympic Gold medalist in boxing since 2004

[Poppo168]

you can see the decline in US boxing over the past decade with the lack of medals over the past 4 Olympics

Andre Ward was the last male gold medalist.

What is the main catalyst for the decline in US boxing?

[NakiFan]

Main catalyst is drug testing. All american fighters used to be on ****tails of PED's and allowed to get away with it.

In recent years they can't do it anymore so now they suck

thats it in a nutshell

[Beercules]

Besides boxing being half dead here, I think MMA's popularity.

Honestly nobody cares for it anymore.

[HeadShots]

talent pool.


the best coaches used to always be from the US because you had a 100 yr start on every other country due to its origin.



now the rest of the world caught up with coaching and funding... now you're left in the dust.

[The Big Dunn]

Main catalyst is drug testing. All american fighters used to be on ****tails of PED's and allowed to get away with it.

In recent years they can't do it anymore so now they suck

thats it in a nutshell

https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=744065

Always laugh when guys who either don't lift or did p90x and now think they are steroid experts. STFU

[bigdunny1]

Most of the top american athletes who in years past would become boxers are now going into Football, Basketball, ect. They and their families think the sport is too dangerous and they have dreams of making money in "safer" sports. This is one of the reasons why despite the NFL being is so popular right now that could shift in a decade or 2 based on all the information now about CTE. You already seeing parents not letting kids play pop warner football and the last 2 years have seen more NFL players retire early in their careers after making their money because the risk of long term health problems is so high.

[Eff Pandas]

USA Boxing wasn't funded or properly led like it used to be is a big part of it. I'm sure the popularity of MMA & MMA gyms has stolen from the boxing talent pool in the US. Other countries have gotten much stronger in the last decade or two. Its not one thing, there's been a few things that helped led to USA Boxing's subpar showings.

I mean when you think about the late 80's & 90's amateur boxing time there were only a handful of countries that were major players. Now there are a bunch of players in amateur boxing. Cuba used to murder sh^t. From 1992 to 2000 (3 Olympics) they won 10 gold medals. From 2004-2016 (4 Olympics) they won 5 gold medals. The game done changed for everyone & USA boxing is further down on the talent totem pole than Cuba is.

[-Freddy-]

I would say MMA also.

[Robbie Barrett]

Besides boxing being half dead here, I think MMA's popularity.

Honestly nobody cares for it anymore.

2 of the top 3 PPVs happened in the last 4 years, the top 3 in the last decade but nobody cares about boxing anymore.

[Randall Cunning]

What is the average age for champions though, Americans are normally one olympics and done before the age of 22? Then youre fighting career amatuers. Dont think its something to get completely worried about.