Is the Heavyweight division dead!

[psychod1986]

I didn't mean that majority heavy weights has below average skills i meant some of them do,after Holfyfield,Bowe,Tyson,& Lewis where finish,in early 2000's the division became very weak.

[CaptainSpacerod]

Apparently, there are a lot less kids, in the US at least, that are entering the sport. If the trend continues, all the divisions will start to suffer.

Hopefully, it's just a temporary lull, and things will get back on track.

One of the reasons cited for less kids entering the sport was that there were far easier and safer routes from the tough inner cities to sporting success ie NFL and NBA.

Now that NFL at least has been shown to be dangerous itself perhaps that trend will be reversed

[sucracristo]

than in 1940 when the talent pool was just 30 American men who weren't busy fighting a world war.

pearl harbor was december of 1941...

[sucracristo]

UFC is where the money is in fighting

no it isn't. there are maybe 5 people in the ufc who make their living off fight purses,
and that is after reaching the so-called pinnacle of mma. below them it hard to find
anyone who could even subsist off of fight purses alone in any given year.

[actjac]

It is in a revival period and probably the most exciting division to the world's sports fan and will be for years to come...

http://boxning.blogspot.com/2013/11/top ... pects.html

[Impractical Poster]

UFC is where the money is in fighting

no it isn't. there are maybe 5 people in the ufc who make their living off fight purses,
and that is after reaching the so-called pinnacle of mma. below them it hard to find
anyone who could even subsist off of fight purses alone in any given year.

In the UFC, the median pay per fight is $24,500. This is before fight bonus' and sponsorship money. Fighter's under the UFC banner fight an average 3 times per year. I'll check the median pro boxer pay per fight when I have more time.

[Impractical Poster]

Older, but interesting article on MMA and boxing pay.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/3/15/20 ... ng-and-mma

[koolkc107]

In answer to the OP...

No, it isn't dead.

And we might just be in for the most excitement in the division in well over a decade to 15 years.

I don't now if it will be another golden age like the 70s, but there are signs it can be.

[palooka]

I didn't mean that majority heavy weights has below average skills i meant some of them do,after Holfyfield,Bowe,Tyson,& Lewis where finish,in early 2000's the division became very weak.

I agree when I watched the Wlad v Fury bout I imagined what a prime Mike Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe or Lewis would have done with either. I'm glad Fury has shaken things up but those names would have really had a field day.

[dempseyfire]

Wrong. Boxing was a much bigger sport not just in the United States but internationally in the first half of the 20th century. Now it's a fringe sport in terms of participation and popularity. The one part of the world you could say there has been a slight increase in professional participation is Eastern Europe, and boxing is not very big over there. And that is more then dwarfed by the collapse of the sport in Western Europe (and there were a number of heavyweights who came from Europe's colonies pre WWII), the United States, and Latin America (Argentina used to be a huge boxing hub; it's suffered a steep decline there too).

Many people seem to be in denial about that on this forum.

Wrong. There were no Russians or eastern Europeans or black Africans or Cuban expats competing then. Even the most populous country in the world, China, is starting to get into it now. As far as I know westerrn Europe and Latin America are still into boxing as much if not more than ever.

Man, once China starts taking boxing seriously for real, the sport is going to suck monkey balls. Such a huge talent pool, it's going to suck worse than it currently does; which it currently sucks way worse than in 1940 when the talent pool was just 30 American men who weren't busy fighting a world war.

Yeah, the Chinese are such large people . . .

Boxing is a fringe sport in China and there's no reason that would change,

[dempseyfire]

Wrong. Boxing was a much bigger sport not just in the United States but internationally in the first half of the 20th century. Now it's a fringe sport in terms of participation and popularity. The one part of the world you could say there has been a slight increase in professional participation is Eastern Europe, and boxing is not very big over there. And that is more then dwarfed by the collapse of the sport in Western Europe (and there were a number of heavyweights who came from Europe's colonies pre WWII), the United States, and Latin America (Argentina used to be a huge boxing hub; it's suffered a steep decline there too).

Many people seem to be in denial about that on this forum.

Wrong. There were no Russians or eastern Europeans or black Africans or Cuban expats competing then. Even the most populous country in the world, China, is starting to get into it now. As far as I know westerrn Europe and Latin America are still into boxing as much if not more than ever.

I guess Nino Valdez, Omelio Agramonte, and Rex Romus never existed (and why black Africans? Besides Sam Peter, Henry Akinwande, David Izon and crazy Ike all of the best African heavyweights have been white South Africans, and that traditions goes back to the turn of the 20th century . . Boer Rodel, Ben Foord) It's also hard to track the number of black Africans fighting in the first half of the 20th century because they often immigrated to England and then fought under the English flag as English fighters.

"As far as I know westerrn Europe and Latin America are still into boxing as much if not more than ever."

Well you don't know enough then. Look at the number of big European fights from the 20s through the 70s . .Italy, Spain, France (and I forgot to mention Canada) . . .boxing was huge in Western Europe. Now it's a shadow of what it was there; only Germany still has a strong boxing market but that mostly uses fighters from its East . . the German fight scene itself is not what it used to be.

Ditto with Argentina and Brazil. Boxing matches there used to fill huge soccer stadiums monthly. Now it's once in a blue moon.

[Ilya Muromets]

You ignore by far the most important of all, Russians and eastern Europeans, who were not involved in pro boxing until the 1990's, and now they dominate the heavier weight divisions.

[JC]

Apparently, there are a lot less kids, in the US at least, that are entering the sport. If the trend continues, all the divisions will start to suffer.

Hopefully, it's just a temporary lull, and things will get back on track.

UFC is where the money is in fighting

Is that true? I always read that UFC guys didn't make all that much.

[Impractical Poster]

Apparently, there are a lot less kids, in the US at least, that are entering the sport. If the trend continues, all the divisions will start to suffer.

Hopefully, it's just a temporary lull, and things will get back on track.

UFC is where the money is in fighting

Is that true? I always read that UFC guys didn't make all that much.

The median payout is a bit higher in the UFC.

[asdfjkl]

Yeah saw the skills of Wladimir & Vitali but yeah can u really tell me that Klitschko brothers skills,would ever been better than Muhammad Ali skills are Lennox Lewis the same guy defeated Vitali.Also did u see Wladimir recent fight when he was defeated an outboxed by Tyson Fury?

Lennox Lewis was very very lucky and Wladimir was the worser fighter of the two and eventually lost at the age of 39, while winning most of the later rounds. Tyson Fury has a really odd long reach, you have to be hitted like two times before you can finally hit him. If Wladimir refuses to accept those hits before hitting back he will automatically lose his rounds the way he did.