What really happened to HW boxing?

[GhostBlade]

Which is exactly why I used the word "Potential". I'm not claiming that all those NFL or NBA players would be great boxers. However if a good portion of them chose to focus on boxing instead of playing team sports at an early age, I'd be willing to bet that the American HW boxing scene would have more depth today.

Of course, having great athleticism doesn't automatically mean that you will be a good fighter but it certainly wouldn't hurt either...........especially when you consider how abysmal the state of American HW boxing is.

Well, they may have been impressive physically and may have had decent power, but I would be willing to bet many of them would have weak chins and wouldn't want to take a punch so that's why they go into other sports.

 

[IceAndFire**]

Well, they may have been impressive physically and may have had decent power, but I would be willing to bet many of them would have weak chins and wouldn't want to take a punch so that's why they go into other sports.

Exactly! Accessibility, safety, higher average financial rewards and greater potential for fame are the primary reasons why HW American athletes would gravitate towards team sports instead of boxing and it makes perfect sense.

Hell even Rocky Marciano would have preferred a career in baseball, his first love.

http://www.enterprisenews.com/rocky/x1534028362/Baseball-was-Rocky-Marciano-s-first-love

 

[flanellograf]

Yes, they are the best, they are boring for some but they win without even sweating.

David Haye for example could be a very marketable guy if he would be the real world champ.

And a lot of the best fights in the HW division that doesnt includes the Klitschkos end with a KO. And thats what people wanna see, but not if they arent the champs...

Are you saying that most of the Klitschko fights don't end in a KO?

 

[GhostBlade]

Exactly! Accessibility, safety, higher average financial rewards and greater potential for fame are the primary reasons why HW American athletes would gravitate towards team sports instead of boxing and it makes perfect sense.

Hell even Rocky Marciano would have preferred a career in baseball, his first love.

http://www.enterprisenews.com/rocky/x1534028362/Baseball-was-Rocky-Marciano-s-first-love

Which goes to show that everyone excels at different sports. There's no telling if those huge linebackers would ever make good boxers or not. Chances are they wouldn't just as Marciano couldn't cut it as a baseball player. It says he had a weak throwing arm but yet his punches were powerful. Everyone is built differently and not every athletic guy can be a Bo Jackson where he excels at different sports on a high level but even Bo knows he couldn't do boxing and he'd get his head knocked off by the top 80s heavyweights when he was in his sporting prime.

 

[Thanatos2]

I think it's because the stars at the lower weights have usurped the heavies. The fact that the Klistchko's have no charisma also helps. Mayweather, Pacquiao, Canelo, Martinez the list goes on. There are so many more stars at MW and lower, that the HW's, once again in tandem with the total lack of charisma from the Klit brothers, I think feeds this view that the HW's are "dead"

 

[ironfist05]

The Klitschko bros happened

 

[GhostBlade]

I think it's because the stars at the lower weights have usurped the heavies. The fact that the Klistchko's have no charisma also helps. Mayweather, Pacquiao, Canelo, Martinez the list goes on. There are so many more stars at MW and lower, that the HW's, once again in tandem with the total lack of charisma from the Klit brothers, I think feeds this view that the HW's are "dead"

I think the Klitschkos are more appreciated elsewhere in Europe than they are in the U.S. where most people either want to see the great white American hope or a stereotypical black heavyweight champion. The Klitschkos are known well enough to make them quite accepted and respected in other parts of the world that they really don't care whether the American public cares for them.

 

[Basileus]

Americans are uncomfortable with the idea of big white men punishing blacks - especially if those white men come from former Soviet countries.

 

[Thanatos2]

I think the Klitschkos are more appreciated elsewhere in Europe than they are in the U.S. where most people either want to see the great white American hope or a stereotypical black heavyweight champion. The Klitschkos are known well enough to make them quite accepted and respected in other parts of the world that they really don't care whether the American public cares for them.

They are more appreciated in Europe. They do huge numbers in Germany, probably make big bank too, but that money is nothing in comparison to what they could make in the states if they were popular. Mayweather is making money that before, Only guys like Tyson or Ali would make. That's what I mean when I say Charisma. Flloyd has it, Tyson and Ali had it. Mayweather cleared 150 mil plus from his Canelo fight. The Klit's have never made anything remotely close to that, anywhere in Europe. The US has always been the place to make your fortune as a pro boxer, and your fame and legacy. The Klit's are both phenomenal boxers, but the perception that they are the kbig fish in shallow ponds, combined with their lack of star power in the US, I think will hurt them legacy wise. The fact that the lower weight, as I mentioned, have so many bonafide big stars I think also cuts into their money as well.

The US is the home of pro boxing and has been for a very long time. If you're not big there, it doesn't really matter if you're big in the UK or Germany.

 

[Spirit Breaker]

Which goes to show that everyone excels at different sports. There's no telling if those huge linebackers would ever make good boxers or not. Chances are they wouldn't just as Marciano couldn't cut it as a baseball player. It says he had a weak throwing arm but yet his punches were powerful. Everyone is built differently and not every athletic guy can be a Bo Jackson where he excels at different sports on a high level but even Bo knows he couldn't do boxing and he'd get his head knocked off by the top 80s heavyweights when he was in his sporting prime.

I think the point is that the "linebackers" and baseball players, basketball players competing at the elite level were not only athletically and physically gifted more so than others, but they also were willing to make the necessary sacrifices and commit, often times at an early age, to learning the nuances of their sport.

They used to teach boxing as part of many physical education classes, now if a kid doesn't seek it out or is pushed by a parent towards it they may never do it. Football, basketball, baseball, soccer are all in the schools and communities.

 

[IceAndFire**]

I think the point is that the "linebackers" and baseball players, basketball players competing at the elite level were not only athletically and physically gifted more so than others, but they also were willing to make the necessary sacrifices and commit, often times at an early age, to learning the nuances of their sport.

They used to teach boxing as part of many physical education classes, now if a kid doesn't seek it out or is pushed by a parent towards it they may never do it. Football, basketball, baseball, soccer are all in the schools and communities.

Yes, like I said, accessibility is a huge factor.

How many academic institutions in the United States have a boxing program? Very little.

However, just about every school in America from middle to college has a football, basketball and baseball program.

Hell just about every single park across country has a basketball court and a baseball field. Even if you don't play competitively in school, you still have access to it at your neighborhood park.

 

[farfan]

The US is the home of pro boxing and has been for a very long time. If you're not big there, it doesn't really matter if you're big in the UK or Germany.

it actually matters when you're the heavyweight champion of the world and making 30 million $ / year .

 

[Spirit Breaker]

Yes, like I said, accessibility is a huge factor.

How many academic institutions in the United States have a boxing program? Very little.

However, just about every school in America from middle to college has a football, basketball and baseball program.

Hell just about every single park across country has a basketball court and a baseball field. Even if you don't play competitively in school, you still have access to it at your neighborhood park.

There are many universities that have boxing "clubs" but only West Point and Annapolis offer it as a varsity sport.

My observation was that a lot of athletes currently excelling in their respective sports wouldn't necessarily experience success in boxing, but if they went into boxing in the first place they already have the physical and mental make up to do well in boxing. Look how far Seth Mitchell made it. If he had started boxing when he started playing football what would have happened.

Why isn't there more of a serious U.S. HW presence? Because as a whole interest is geared more towards the big three sports and it is not as readily accessible.

 

[IceAndFire**]

The US is the home of pro boxing and has been for a very long time. If you're not big there, it doesn't really matter if you're big in the UK or Germany.

Wow Americacentric non-sense anyone? I'm American and even I know that is utterly false.

While the US is a huge portion of the world's athletic market, it is hardly the only one.

The Klitschkos are doing fine without a US audience.

As is Valentino Rossi, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

[IceAndFire**]

There are many universities that have boxing "clubs" but only West Point and Annapolis offer it as a varsity sport.

My observation was that a lot of athletes currently excelling in their respective sports wouldn't necessarily experience success in boxing, but if they went into boxing in the first place they already have the physical and mental make up to do well in boxing. Look how far Seth Mitchell made it. If he had started boxing when he started playing football what would have happened.

Why isn't there more of a serious U.S. HW presence? Because as a whole interest is geared more towards the big three sports and it is not as readily accessible.

Yep agreed!

I find it crazy that Marciano's arm, the one that he used to KTFO his opponents in the ring, was too weak for baseball.

Makes me wonder if there are some pitchers in the MLB today that could have successfully used their arm in the ring (Clayton Kershaw, Matt Harvey, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander etc.)

Of course this is just speculation but it's still fun to think about.

 

[Thanatos2]

Wow Americacentric non-sense anyone? I'm American and even I know that is utterly false.

While the US is a huge portion of the world's athletic market, it is hardly the only one.

The Klitschkos are doing fine without a US audience.

As is Valentino Rossi, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo.

I hear what you're saying but you're taking that one line out of context in what I said in the entirety of the post. I acknowledged in that same post that the Klit's make good money in Europe, BUT they could easily make more then that if they had the same kind of star power in the US. The Klit's have never pulled in 150 mil in revenues like Mayweather just did. That kind of money only comes in the states for the sport of PRO BOXING.

Sure, Ronaldo and Messi make big money. But they aren't boxers, they are soccer players. I wasn't talking about sports in general, I was talking specifically in regards to boxing. Comparing soccer and Boxing is comparing apples and oranges what does Messi and Ronaldo have to do with the popularity of boxing and where the money really is?

Also, for the record, I'm Canadian, not American.

 

[Spirit Breaker]

Yep agreed!

I find it crazy that Marciano's arm, the one that he used to KTFO his opponents in the ring, was too weak for baseball.

Makes me wonder if there are some pitchers in the MLB today that could have successfully used their arm in the ring (Clayton Kershaw, Matt Harvey, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander etc.)

Of course this is just speculation but it's still fun to think about.

Or a pitcher toiling away in the minors who just doesn't quite have what it takes to be an MLB player, but "coulda been a contenda" if he'd gone another way.

 

[Thanatos2]

it actually matters when you're the heavyweight champion of the world and making 30 million $ / year .

30 mil is good money for sure. Peanuts compared to what Mayweather makes.(He just made 32.5 to fight Canelo.) Or what De La Hoya Made, or Tyson. If you're a big name boxer in the states, it's pretty much undisputable where the big money is, and it's not in Europe, it's in the US. All the biggest PPV's in history of the sport were in the USA, as well as the biggest paydays, unless of course someone can provide me with some numbers from Europe to dispute this?

 

[USMCGixxer6]

Wow Americacentric non-sense anyone? I'm American and even I know that is utterly false.

While the US is a huge portion of the world's athletic market, it is hardly the only one.

The Klitschkos are doing fine without a US audience.

As is Valentino Rossi, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo.

that move to Ducati didn't serve him that well, lol

 

[RawHawg]

I feel what happened to it and boxing interest in general was mma/UFC. However, up-coming, talented, potential boxers would be wise to look at the paydays between mma competitors and top boxers!