USA Heavyweight boxing

[Dornalai]

What has happened to the USA heavyweight boxers?
Michael Hunter is ranked No1 but is barely in the Boxrec to 20.
What happened to the days of the great US heavyweights?

[JamesPhilips]

It’s just the globalisation of heavyweight boxing. Eastern bloc countries didn’t used to allow pro boxing. Modern nutrition and availability of food has also resulted in a larger global population of bigger humans. The pool of heavyweight boxers is larger than it’s ever been. Chinese, Cuban and ex Soviet nations are now in the mix. Also I think boxing interest in the US has receded and fewer Americans are attracted to boxing. People say the NBA and NFL has taken away a large number of big US athletes from boxing. I’m not sure about that as both sports have been very popular for decades; these are hardly new sports. The most interesting aspect is the number of successful British heavyweights. I think that’s because of amateur funding, modern nutrition and the fact that boxing has a higher profile in the UK. Success breeds success.

[Perkin Warbeck]

It has something to do with softer lifestyles and lack of motivation, people being unwilling to go through the required intense training.

Most of the great heavyweights of the past like Louis, Foreman, Liston and Marciano grew up poor. Now life is much easier for Americans.

Muhammad Ali was highly motivated and stayed in excellent shape between fights. Nowadays, American boxers seem lazy and grow large bellies.

Heavyweights used to fight more often - usually several times a year. Nowadays, many only fight once or twice a year.

Another factor is the entry of very good heavyweights from other parts of the world into heavyweight boxing (Usyk, Dubois, Joshua, the Klitschkos, Kabayel, Hrgovic). They seem to be generally more motivated than American heavyweights.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Big American lads rather play is safe in the NBA or other sports.

[joshj909]

Big American lads rather play is safe in the NBA or other sports.

NBA is dominated by non-Americans at the moment as well

[Perseus]

What has happened to the USA heavyweight boxers?
Michael Hunter is ranked No1 but is barely in the Boxrec to 20.
What happened to the days of the great US heavyweights?

The popularity of boxing in America is a fraction of what it was 50 years ago.
Boxing fell off the mainstream radar around 25 years ago and has been a niche sport ever since.

[JMac]

What has happened to the USA heavyweight boxers?
Michael Hunter is ranked No1 but is barely in the Boxrec to 20.
What happened to the days of the great US heavyweights?

The popularity of boxing in America is a fraction of what it was 50 years ago.
Boxing fell off the mainstream radar around 25 years ago and has been a niche sport ever since.

A big part of the problem is the amateur program. Most of the great US heavyweight boxers had good amateur careers and many boxed in the Olympics. The current governing body USA Boxing is weak compared to past years. I put most of the blame on the excutive director. He doesn’t get amateur boxing on TV anymore. Back before him, they used to show the US Championships, Golden Glove nationals, dual matches against the world and Olympic trials on Tv every year except the Oly trials. Kids are just not exposed to it anymore. Plus the younger generation would rather look at their phones or x-box than go to a gym.

[londonwar]

All of the above, pretty much.
Look at the most recent amateur of any note, richard torres. His pro career has been handled so badly.

As for Hunter? He's a joke.

Let's not forget when boxrec suddenly rolled out the new search format offering a long list of sub-pro and outright bullsh*t versions of boxing.....This was never going to end well. Throw Saudi money into the mix and you can pretty much turn the lights out.....

[CMCanavessi]

Michael Hunter is ranked No1

[PRINCEKOOL]

People make excuses too much 'and use the cliche excuse that the NFL, and Basketball have taken all the natural fighters. That is complete nonsense'.

Note: If you want to understand how great America is at sports 'then you look no further than the Olympics, and they are still consistently one of the best all-round sporting nations on the planet'.

The Olympics both the Summer and Winter 'are the litmus test of a nation, and their sporting ability. That is an absolute fact'.

Whether it is the Summer or Winter Olympics 'America are consistently either winning, or in the fight to win'.

And Basketball, and NFL don't play much of a factor in the Olympics.

I think America still has talented fighters which enter heavyweight boxing 'but compared to great American fighters from the past. They all seem to have poor work ethic'.

I personally think if American heavyweights had better work ethic 'they would be more of a factor at top level. Andy Ruiz Junior could have done a lot better, if he had a better work ethic'.

Even Deontay Wilder's work ethic, has been suspect? He stated many years ago, that he did not utilize road work during a interview 'but apart from that, Deontay Wilder had better work ethic than most heavyweight boxers'.

Deontay Wilder is still the number 1 American heavyweight fighter in my opinion 'and he is number 1 even at this late stage of his career, predominately because of his greater work ethic. All the guys below him, are terrible' etc.

[londonwar]

People make excuses too much 'and use the cliche excuse that the NFL, and Basketball have taken all the natural fighters. That is complete nonsense'.

Note: If you want to understand how great America is at sports 'then you look no further than the Olympics, and they are still consistently one of the best all-round sporting nations on the planet'.

The Olympics both the Summer and Winter 'are the litmus test of a nation, and their sporting ability. That is an absolute fact'.

Whether it is the Summer or Winter Olympics 'America are consistently either winning, or in the fight to win'.

And Basketball, and NFL don't play much of a factor in the Olympics.

I think America still has talented fighters which enter heavyweight boxing 'but compared to great American fighters from the past. They all seem to have poor work ethic'.

I personally think if American heavyweights had better work ethic 'they would be more of a factor at top level. Andy Ruiz Junior could have done a lot better, if he had a better work ethic'.

Even Deontay Wilder's work ethic, has been suspect? He stated many years ago, that he did not utilize road work during a interview 'but apart from that, Deontay Wilder had better work ethic than most heavyweight boxers'.

Deontay Wilder is still the number 1 American heavyweight fighter in my opinion 'and he is number 1 even at this late stage of his career, predominately because of his greater work ethic. All the guys below him, are terrible' etc.

Surely Deontae Pettigrew is no.1? He would never do 'roadwork during an interview'

[joshj909]

According to Boxrec, the top 15 US heavyweights under 37 are:
1. Kingsley Ibeh
2. Richard Torrez
3. Brandon Moore
4. Da'Mazion Vanhouter
5. Pryce Taylor
6. Gustavo Trujillo
7. Jermaine Franklin
8. Joshua Edwards
9. Jake Paul
10. Federico Pacheco
11. Dante Stone
12. Roney Hines
13. Sardius Simmons
14. Kashaun Davis
15. Devon Young

Can't see many of them getting above domestic or sometimes regional level in the UK.

[margaret thatcher]

the best usa hw prospect is 19 year old amatuer joseph awinongya, he is a total stud. he is 6'5 at 200 pounds so still has some filling out,but really impressive . been at it since he was a little kid and is well schooled and not just a pure athletic guy who gets by on that alone

the usa amateur team is the best its been in a while, some of the kids i expect to be big names in the future. watch for awinongya, marcus luther, salem ellis bey, lorenzo patricio, lavant brownlee - all just 19 or 20 i believe. i would be surprised if they didnt finally break the gold medal drought in 2028

[JamesPhilips]

According to Boxrec, the top 15 US heavyweights under 37 are:
1. Kingsley Ibeh
2. Richard Torrez
3. Brandon Moore
4. Da'Mazion Vanhouter
5. Pryce Taylor
6. Gustavo Trujillo
7. Jermaine Franklin
8. Joshua Edwards
9. Jake Paul
10. Federico Pacheco
11. Dante Stone
12. Roney Hines
13. Sardius Simmons
14. Kashaun Davis
15. Devon Young

Can't see many of them getting above domestic or sometimes regional level in the UK.

Jake Paul is seriously the number 9 USA heavyweight according to Boxrec???? Wow I don’t think there can be a better indicator of how poor the situation is

[JMac]

According to Boxrec, the top 15 US heavyweights under 37 are:
1. Kingsley Ibeh
2. Richard Torrez
3. Brandon Moore
4. Da'Mazion Vanhouter
5. Pryce Taylor
6. Gustavo Trujillo
7. Jermaine Franklin
8. Joshua Edwards
9. Jake Paul
10. Federico Pacheco
11. Dante Stone
12. Roney Hines
13. Sardius Simmons
14. Kashaun Davis
15. Devon Young

Can't see many of them getting above domestic or sometimes regional level in the UK.

Jake Paul is seriously the number 9 USA heavyweight according to Boxrec???? Wow I don’t think there can be a better indicator of how poor the situation is

100%

[1984097]

The world is a weird place.
For over a 100 years America dominated heavyweight boxing and Britain struggled to have a single fighter in the world's top ten.
Today the top American just about gets into the top 10 in Britain.

[joshj909]

Michael Hunter has a big pro fight coming up. Luis Angel Bolaños (5-5-1), Boxrec's #756 heavyweight, in a small Mexican city near the US border...

[JMac]

the best usa hw prospect is 19 year old amatuer joseph awinongya, he is a total stud. he is 6'5 at 200 pounds so still has some filling out,but really impressive . been at it since he was a little kid and is well schooled and not just a pure athletic guy who gets by on that alone

the usa amateur team is the best its been in a while, some of the kids i expect to be big names in the future. watch for awinongya, marcus luther, salem ellis bey, lorenzo patricio, lavant brownlee - all just 19 or 20 i believe. i would be surprised if they didnt finally break the gold medal drought in 2028

USA does have some good young boxers coming up but USA Boxing has their head up their butt. They have their no. 1 boxers, the high performance team and they protect them. The last Olympic cycle they didn’t have the HP team fight in the US Championships for the 2 years prior to the Olympics and they didn’t even fight in the Olympic trials which was crazy. I hear they are doing the same thing this time around which if true is just plain stupid. Now they still could luck out and get a medal or 2 because they are the host country for the Olympics and it’s a fact that the host country always gets some favoritism in the scoring.