Eddie Hearn asks Americans "Do you know who Deontay Wilder is?"

[g27region]

Golovkin fans; "This isn't a popularity contest".
Ward fans; "This isn't a popularity contest."
AJ fans: "This IS a popularity contest!"

Nothing but respect for Golovkin and Ward and they're better fighters and more accomplished than AJ but maybe their fanbase says that only because Golovkin and Ward never been able to sell tickes the way AJ does?

[sicko]

I think it's more about Americans not standing behind their athletes like most other nations do.

In Eastern European countries, our athletes always have huge support and are promoted everywhere in the local media. If they achieve something in some relevant sport, every grandmother knows about them. I don't know how the British are but I assume they're at least a bit like that too.

America just doesn't have that kind of mentality. Americans are individualistic and they don't form a real nation. Everyone is on his own, unless an athlete has some special story to sell nobody is going to care.

Also America is not a Small Country! In American people root for their City in Sports, the Sports Teams that represent the city they live in or where they was born. In boxing, nobody really fight in their hometown consistently other than Crawford, but then you have fans who complain when guys fight in their home town.

One of the most overlooked aspects of Mayweather success as a DRAW and a Superstar is that he fought exclusively in Vegas!

[saintpat]

There's no doubt Wilder is more popular in the US, but AJ's popularity in the UK is so overwhelming that AJ is clearly the bigger star and the bigger draw overall.

Not questioning that, just pointing out the fact that “Wilder isn’t well known in the U.S.” (what boxer is apart from Floyd and Pac?) is a cute way of avoiding the “AJ isn’t either” part of the equation.

I say make the fight whenever, wherever, but I would point out that AJ maybe, just maybe, has a chance to become the No. 1 worldwide draw in the sport and step into Mayweather territory (money-wise), but needs the U.S. to do that. Having the fight in Vegas would be a smart long-money move on his part.

[saintpat]

I think it's more about Americans not standing behind their athletes like most other nations do.

In Eastern European countries, our athletes always have huge support and are promoted everywhere in the local media. If they achieve something in some relevant sport, every grandmother knows about them. I don't know how the British are but I assume they're at least a bit like that too.

America just doesn't have that kind of mentality. Americans are individualistic and they don't form a real nation. Everyone is on his own, unless an athlete has some special story to sell nobody is going to care.

What you call countries we call states. And people definitely support their own in the U.S., but there’s not a blind “He’s American thus he’s a national hero to all of us” because there’s a bunch of other athletes out there from the U.S. in all sports (check Olympic medal counts).

[Ray*]

Yeah this was some good jabs by Eddie, I consider it them just building towards a Mega Fight! But no shame in not being known yet, boxing is not very popular in the US as a WHOLE. You could do this to any fighter in boxing today sadly and the reaction would most likely be the same which is sad not for Wilder but more so for the sport of boxing as a whole

I dont think Hearn was taking shots at Wilder per se, i think he is merely pointing out why this fight needs to be promoted/hyped up.

I mean imagine America having someone like Wilder! His name would be an automatic response from anyone on the streets.

I get the fact that boxing isn't the number one sport over there, neither is that country a small country, but that even makes it easier........You got ONLY one name to promote and a heavyweight one at that.

[N/A]

Not questioning that, just pointing out the fact that “Wilder isn’t well known in the U.S.” (what boxer is apart from Floyd and Pac?) is a cute way of avoiding the “AJ isn’t either” part of the equation.

AJ isn't from here and shouldn't be expected to be as well known as Wilder here.

But you're right about the larger issue, how many fighters here do the general public know? Very few, if any. Someone in another thread got upset that we called boxing a niche sport, but that's what it is in this country. The man on the street likely doesn't know any current boxers.

[RedZmaja]

What you call countries we call states. And people definitely support their own in the U.S., but there’s not a blind “He’s American thus he’s a national hero to all of us” because there’s a bunch of other athletes out there from the U.S. in all sports (check Olympic medal counts).

Americans are not a real ethnic nation that's why you don't feel any bond with other Americans. It's not about the size. Slavs are better represented in all of sports yet I still support every single one of them. There are also more Slavs out there than there are Americans and we cover much more territory.

Also if you count the number of medals together we have won more Olympic medals than the Americans and that's despite the blatant pro-Western bias and corruption of the anti-doping organizations that deliberately target the Eastern European countries while letting Americans dope like there's no tomorrow.

[Johnston]

Golovkin fans; "This isn't a popularity contest".
Ward fans; "This isn't a popularity contest."
AJ fans: "This IS a popularity contest!"

It's funny how this works

[ShoulderRoll]

It would have been funnier if Hearn asked Americans who Anthony Joshua is.

[AD86]

why are you guys so hung up on whyte? you talk crap about wilders resume, but when he says he wants the top guy, you say he should fight some bum who hasnt done anything besides hit aj with 1 good punch. you cant have your cake and eat it too

all you aj fans turned into mini bob arums and want to 'marinate' it

I don't know any fan of Joshua that does not want the Wilder fight as other than a fully fit Tyson Fury its the biggest fight he can have. Most Joshua fans though know that this fight is going to be built towards July-October time as its obvious that everyone involved with the fight including Wilder will want to sell as many PPV's in America as possible.