All potential American HW greats goes to Football instead of boxing

[Welter_Skelter]

being an excellent athlete much better than being a regular guy. most of the current american HW don't have the mental strength to stay away from the buffet and train hard.

being coordinated, strong, huge, and fast is better than being tony thompson.

just think about the argument you're making...

put these guys in a boxing gym at 10 and you'd have dedicate and driven fighters.

I think you missed my point entirely.
They go into football because they don't wan't to fight.
People who get into boxing do so because they have something inside of them that other athletes don't.
Being 6'8'' and athletic is no guarantee that you will be able to take a punch for 12 rounds or to beat another for 12 rounds, just to prove a point that you are a bad ass.

[John Åge]

why is it that you think this way?

our two best HW prospects are / were former basketball and football players. both got very late starts in boxing. wilder won olympic bronze with just over 20 fights leading in to the trials. mitchell started boxing at 25.

mitchell and wilder are great examples of why the theory is sound. there's no great shame in losing in mitchell's case. it's not at all an indictment of his potential as a fighter that he was unable to win a big HBO fight with only five years of experience with boxing.



mitchell and wilder type athletes are common in the NBA. thats all you've got. huge men with athletic talent. to think that the division wouldn't be better off without these two sports is wrong. i'm not saying that the americans would be preordained great fighters, but they're a hell of a lot better off than the tony thompson's of the world, who have no talent. or the chambers of the world, who is really only a LHW or a CW.

these guys are huge and talented. if you guys were more familiar with the leagues i think you'd be more likely to see why the theory is supported universally by american boxing media.

I guess that your two best US hopes would be ranked around #100 or so worldwide, so if that what Football brings to boxing -

I do not know the best Football team in US, but how many of them do you think has the mentality to be hit and fight with fists? In EU we do also has like 20-30 other sports which are more appealing to youth and has larger membergroups. But US folks talks like it is only in the US that boxing has to compete with other sports.

[Jel]

I guess that your two best US hopes would be ranked around #100 or so worldwide, so if that what Football brings to boxing -

I do not know the best Football team in US, but how many of them do you think has the mentality to be hit and fight with fists? In EU we do also has like 20-30 other sports which are more appealing to youth and has larger membergroups. But US folks talks like it is only in the US that boxing has to compete with other sports.

It is also common knowledge in the Uk that European Soccer (football) takes away from all other sports.

Soccer is the most watched sport in Europe and the most played- that definitely takes away a huge chunk of 140-175 talent pool. That's common sense.

Lionel Messi-140
Cristiano Ronaldo 175
Mario Ballotti 168
Theo Walcott 154.

Just a few examples of what soccer stars could have potentially fought in.

It goes both ways.

European Soccer does affect 140-175
and NFL/NBA do effect HW

[ShoulderRoll]

Seth Mitchell actually proves our point.

He was a football player who only got into boxing at 25 years old. And look how far he got...he was the first one to knock out Timur Ibragimov in either the amateurs or the pros.

Imagine if he had been in boxing since childhood instead of going to football?

[AntonTheMeh]

Seth Mitchell actually proves our point.

He was a football player who only got into boxing at 25 years old. And look how far he got...he was the first one to knock out Timur Ibragimov in either the amateurs or the pros.

Imagine if he had been in boxing since childhood instead of going to football?

what's so difficult to understand about this?

honestly, some of the people who can't see this are being a little too sensitive. the klitschko's are great. its not as if having that opinion can conflict with the initial opinion. it actually might have helped their legacy if there was a legitimately great fighter or two, american or not. it most definitely would have improved there place in history.

[White_Knight]

All the potential heavyweight greats from England, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, Wales, Italy, France, Romania, Argentina, Japan, Samoa, and Fiji have gone into rugby instead of boxing.

[Capaedia]

It's not that difficult to work out, of course if there was more interest in boxing than in football in Europe and South America, they would have a larger talent pool as well.

It's not a one-way street. The difference is that the United States did at one point completely dominate the heavyweight division, featuring the UK. Sometimes.

Hell, if Europe was as much about boxing as it is about football, it would probably dominate the sport.

It's an excuse, maybe a cop-out. But there is truth to it.

All the potential heavyweight greats from England, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, Wales, Italy, France, Romania, Argentina, Japan, Samoa, and Fiji have gone into rugby instead of boxing.

South African heavyweight talent went into golf.

[ShoulderRoll]

There are exceptions but on average soccer players are not rough and tumble like American football players.

You have to be tough and not fear pain to succeed in boxing. Some of these soccer players fall down if you breathe on them.

Rugby players would be better suited to the sport.