RIP Aussie Boxing

[polecateddy]

...well for the next few years anyway. Soliman was the last pillar standing. I doubt Australian boxing has ever been in such a dire state, not that it was exactly ever a hotbed. All their international(ish) level fighters are over-the-hill or have been exposed. You only have to buy the latest attempt at a boxing rag, Australian Boxing Legends to see that all the younger fighters are going nowhere fast on tiny, obscure tank town shows with no tv. Damien Hooper may have some vague promise, but that's it. (And anyway he looks a bit chinny.) Did I forget Lucas Browne?! Lol

[Andrew]

...well for the next few years anyway. Soliman was the last pillar standing. I doubt Australian boxing has ever been in such a dire state, not that it was exactly ever a hotbed. All their international(ish) level fighters are over-the-hill or have been exposed. You only have to buy the latest attempt at a boxing rag, Australian Boxing Legends to see that all the younger fighters are going nowhere fast on tiny, obscure tank town shows with no tv. Damien Hooper may have some vague promise, but that's it. (And anyway he looks a bit chinny.) Did I forget Lucas Browne?! Lol

Joel Brunker fighting Lee Selby this weekend to become IBF featherweight mandatory.

Is he any good ?

[bigred83]

...well for the next few years anyway. Soliman was the last pillar standing. I doubt Australian boxing has ever been in such a dire state, not that it was exactly ever a hotbed. All their international(ish) level fighters are over-the-hill or have been exposed. You only have to buy the latest attempt at a boxing rag, Australian Boxing Legends to see that all the younger fighters are going nowhere fast on tiny, obscure tank town shows with no tv. Damien Hooper may have some vague promise, but that's it. (And anyway he looks a bit chinny.) Did I forget Lucas Browne?! Lol

get over yourself pal.
we'll be fine.
our nation isn't huge, around 22million. we have2 major rugby codes, plus afl and soccer. as well as cricket in the summer.
these are our major sports.
there is also basketball and baseball, plus swimming. they take a large portion of athletes from the "pool"
we may not have the list of world champs of other larger countries, or countries where boxing is a major sport.
but we do pretty good really.
have you watched/heard of jeff horn? ill bet ive missed a few other prospects as well, but its late

[polecateddy]

...well for the next few years anyway. Soliman was the last pillar standing. I doubt Australian boxing has ever been in such a dire state, not that it was exactly ever a hotbed. All their international(ish) level fighters are over-the-hill or have been exposed. You only have to buy the latest attempt at a boxing rag, Australian Boxing Legends to see that all the younger fighters are going nowhere fast on tiny, obscure tank town shows with no tv. Damien Hooper may have some vague promise, but that's it. (And anyway he looks a bit chinny.) Did I forget Lucas Browne?! Lol

get over yourself pal.
we'll be fine.
our nation isn't huge, around 22million. we have2 major rugby codes, plus afl and soccer. as well as cricket in the summer.
these are our major sports.
there is also basketball and baseball, plus swimming. they take a large portion of athletes from the "pool"
we may not have the list of world champs of other larger countries, or countries where boxing is a major sport.
but we do pretty good really.
have you watched/heard of jeff horn? ill bet ive missed a few other prospects as well, but its late

I've been in Oz nearly 5 years. I bought that terrible rag World of Boxing a few times. Boxers like Junior Talipeau would get big spreads every month. The same Junior that just got minced in a round and retired. Surely Jeff Horn is just the same. Domestic level in AU. I'm not talking about other Aussie sports which are quite healthy. There's just no talent there in boxing.

[TheBeast]

There is LOTS of promising talent, just not has emerged on the world scene yet.

[dempseyfire]

...well for the next few years anyway. Soliman was the last pillar standing. I doubt Australian boxing has ever been in such a dire state, not that it was exactly ever a hotbed. All their international(ish) level fighters are over-the-hill or have been exposed. You only have to buy the latest attempt at a boxing rag, Australian Boxing Legends to see that all the younger fighters are going nowhere fast on tiny, obscure tank town shows with no tv. Damien Hooper may have some vague promise, but that's it. (And anyway he looks a bit chinny.) Did I forget Lucas Browne?! Lol

Don't be so down . .Australia is simpply coming down from a relative golden age in terms of number of champs and title contenders. Australia throughout boxing history usually had one guy, if that, competing on the elite level (Darcy, Tyszu . . guess you had Harding and Fenech in the 80s). In the last decade you had Geale, Mundine, Soliman, Bika, and Dib . . .the Hussein brothers a little before that. Not bad for a pretty small country population wise in the Pacific.

[greg]

...I've been always wondering if you guys consider Kostya Tszyu an Australian boxer?

[polecateddy]

...I've been always wondering if you guys consider Kostya Tszyu an Australian boxer?

Not even slightly.

[thunderfromdownunder]

It looks pretty dire at the moment for sure. Geale is still top ten at middleweight but even he is 33 years old now. Rocky Jerkic was meant to be a good prospect but I haven't heard anything about him lately

[amwsnw]

Look at the future and its quite promising. Outside GGG Geale is an elite middleweight. Kye Mckenzie, jeff Horn, nathaniel May....if managed correctly can have very bright international careers. There is some great talent down here in Australia, it just needs to be managed correctly and the sport needs more exposure.
Brunker's big test this weekend and if he gets over it will be getting a shot at a legit title.

[thunderfromdownunder]

It's always the same problem though isn't it? Poor management means less money to attract decent opponents, so they inevitably end up padding their records with smaller imports till they get a world ranking and then they get starched when they step up

[polecateddy]

It's always the same problem though isn't it? Poor management means less money to attract decent opponents, so they inevitably end up padding their records with smaller imports till they get a world ranking and then they get starched when they step up

That's exactly what happens. Australia only seems to have small hall shows and basically no tv coverage at all, or not that anyone watches. There really is no championship material there.

[bigred83]

...well for the next few years anyway. Soliman was the last pillar standing. I doubt Australian boxing has ever been in such a dire state, not that it was exactly ever a hotbed. All their international(ish) level fighters are over-the-hill or have been exposed. You only have to buy the latest attempt at a boxing rag, Australian Boxing Legends to see that all the younger fighters are going nowhere fast on tiny, obscure tank town shows with no tv. Damien Hooper may have some vague promise, but that's it. (And anyway he looks a bit chinny.) Did I forget Lucas Browne?! Lol

get over yourself pal.
we'll be fine.
our nation isn't huge, around 22million. we have2 major rugby codes, plus afl and soccer. as well as cricket in the summer.
these are our major sports.
there is also basketball and baseball, plus swimming. they take a large portion of athletes from the "pool"
we may not have the list of world champs of other larger countries, or countries where boxing is a major sport.
but we do pretty good really.
have you watched/heard of jeff horn? ill bet ive missed a few other prospects as well, but its late

I've been in Oz nearly 5 years. I bought that terrible rag World of Boxing a few times. Boxers like Junior Talipeau would get big spreads every month. The same Junior that just got minced in a round and retired. Surely Jeff Horn is just the same. Domestic level in AU. I'm not talking about other Aussie sports which are quite healthy. There's just no talent there in boxing.

I think you may have missed my point.
I think that we are going ok, considering that most athletic people here choose other avenues.
does the fact that a local boxing mag promotes local boxers surprise you? would you rather them write articles on how terrible oz boxing is? to me that isn't entertaining.
sure, we don't have 3 or 4 champs, but we probably never will.
no need to be so down about it really. if the promoters go back to matching locals evenly, things will be entertaining again. isn't that all that's necessary?

[The Great John L]

Per capita, Aussie boxing looks a LOT healthier than US boxing. Does Australia have a healthy am boxing program? Unfortunately ours here in the US is almost non-existent.

[polecateddy]

What does per capita comparisons to the U.S. matter? The fact is Australia has no international level boxers left really. Spinning it any other way is nonsense.

[The Great John L]

What does per capita comparisons to the U.S. matter? The fact is Australia has no international level boxers left really. Spinning it any other way is nonsense.

OK, then let's get back to my question. Does Australia have a viable amatuer boxing program? How prevelant are boxing gyms in smaller and mid size cities? If you live in Australia do you ever attend amatuer boxing shows?

[keirw]

I think Aussie boxing is just going through a transitional period where three or four high level operators are coming to the end of their careers at roughly the same time and the young prospects are not quite ready to fill their shoes just yet, but will do before long

[polecateddy]

I think Aussie boxing is just going through a transitional period where three or four high level operators are coming to the end of their careers at roughly the same time and the young prospects are not quite ready to fill their shoes just yet, but will do before long

Without reeling off the (obscure) names, certainly over the last 6-12 months a succession of the better domestic AU fighters have been exposed on the cusp of moving into international class. Going from building up a record feasting on cannon fodder on small bills, and then trying to leap into decent class clearly isn't working even slightly.

[polecateddy]

...well for the next few years anyway. Soliman was the last pillar standing. I doubt Australian boxing has ever been in such a dire state, not that it was exactly ever a hotbed. All their international(ish) level fighters are over-the-hill or have been exposed. You only have to buy the latest attempt at a boxing rag, Australian Boxing Legends to see that all the younger fighters are going nowhere fast on tiny, obscure tank town shows with no tv. Damien Hooper may have some vague promise, but that's it. (And anyway he looks a bit chinny.) Did I forget Lucas Browne?! Lol

Joel Brunker fighting Lee Selby this weekend to become IBF featherweight mandatory.

Is he any good ?

No not really. Another domino falls! Lol

[Andrew]

...well for the next few years anyway. Soliman was the last pillar standing. I doubt Australian boxing has ever been in such a dire state, not that it was exactly ever a hotbed. All their international(ish) level fighters are over-the-hill or have been exposed. You only have to buy the latest attempt at a boxing rag, Australian Boxing Legends to see that all the younger fighters are going nowhere fast on tiny, obscure tank town shows with no tv. Damien Hooper may have some vague promise, but that's it. (And anyway he looks a bit chinny.) Did I forget Lucas Browne?! Lol

Joel Brunker fighting Lee Selby this weekend to become IBF featherweight mandatory.

Is he any good ?

No not really. Another domino falls! Lol

Yeah very poor don't know whether Selby is world class or he is just poor.

Selby clearly has talent can't wait to see him against the best.

[Cap]

Boxing in general is in decline everywhere. Most media find it too nasty to deal with, much preferring the schoolyard grappling of MMA. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I know that have even a passing interest in the sport. No surprise then that Australia and Canada are producing so few world-class boxers. Public disinterest means no arses in the seats and that means few money-making boxing cards.

[Cutman Scabbers]

Boxing in general is in decline everywhere. Most media find it too nasty to deal with, much preferring the schoolyard grappling of MMA. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I know that have even a passing interest in the sport. No surprise then that Australia and Canada are producing so few world-class boxers. Public disinterest means no arses in the seats and that means few money-making boxing cards.

Not everywhere. It's growing in China.

And what about the Philippines, Thailand, etc.?

[danamba7]

Boxing in general is in decline everywhere. Most media find it too nasty to deal with, much preferring the schoolyard grappling of MMA. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I know that have even a passing interest in the sport. No surprise then that Australia and Canada are producing so few world-class boxers. Public disinterest means no arses in the seats and that means few money-making boxing cards.

Not everywhere. It's growing in China.

And what about the Philippines, Thailand, etc.?

Yeah I wouldn't say it's necessarily in decline in the UK either apart from the lack of free-to-air boxing. Still plenty of talent on offer and big fights to be made.

[yu265545]

A few years ago one of the editors posted the number of total fight cards per year around the world over the last decade. From the early 2000's onward, each year had more fight cards than the year previous. Unless the BoxRec database from a decade ago are incomplete, that would suggest that the sport is actually growing worldwide.

I would love to see the numbers for 2012 and 2013, and 2014 (to date).

Boxing in general is in decline everywhere. Most media find it too nasty to deal with, much preferring the schoolyard grappling of MMA. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of people I know that have even a passing interest in the sport. No surprise then that Australia and Canada are producing so few world-class boxers. Public disinterest means no arses in the seats and that means few money-making boxing cards.

[Cap]

The world population has probably doubled in the last thirty years. So of course there are more boxing cards. Doesn't mean the general public is showing real interest. The masses in Europe go to footy matches, rugby and cricket. Only the slope-browed yabos attend boxing shows any more. Besides, the class of boxers produced nowadays is far inferior to what Europe produced even 20 years ago. They just seem better because a handful are so far superior to the rest. In what other tough sport do you see 40 and 50 year-olds even compete, nevermind dominate. The athletes of this drug-using digital-gadget age are soft plods.