Are all the best American Boxers in the NFL and NBA?

I had an interesting convo with my older brother and he mentioned a quote that Bob Arum used a few years back saying something like, "the best American heavyweights are in the NFL."

I'm thinking it's not just the heavyweights but other weight classes too. There's no real incentives getting your head bashed when you can make more money in another sport like the NFL, NBA,that's just less brutal, although American football can at times be brutal, but not like boxing. And most of the black inner city kids wants to be the next Lebron James or Vince Young than being the next Ali or Sugar Ray Robinson.

Sugar Ray Robinson has been on record to say that he hates boxing and considered it to be a barbaric sport, and he did it for the money, because it was easy for him. My brother and I was thinking that if SRR had lived in this era he would probably be a corner back in the NFL with his speed and athleticism and not a professional prize fighter.

Your thoughts?

Boxing more brutal than NFL??? :confused:

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Originally Posted by Rocky Balboa

Boxing more brutal than NFL??? :confused:

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i rather be in a ring with Wlad than be on a field with Ray Lewis.

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Originally Posted by kingfrnk

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Originally Posted by Rocky Balboa

Boxing more brutal than NFL??? :confused:

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i rather be in a ring with Wlad than be on a field with Ray Lewis.

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plus you only take the hits come fight night, which comes at the most once every 3 to 4 months, not like football which is pretty much weekly

Boxing takes way more head trauma than Football which is also very bad, but not like boxing, the rate of people alzheimers and parkinsons is way lower in football.

The thing is that football and basketball have the best recruiting scouts, they take all the athletes in highschool, and what young kid would rather be a boxer that nobody knows instead of a superstar who is on top of the world? Even guys like Mayweather and Pacquiao are just whispers in the wind in the sports world compared to guys like Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Lebron James, etc.

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Originally Posted by ElTerribleMorales

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Originally Posted by kingfrnk

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Originally Posted by Rocky Balboa

Boxing more brutal than NFL??? :confused:

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i rather be in a ring with Wlad than be on a field with Ray Lewis.

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plus you only take the hits come fight night, which comes at the most once every 3 to 4 months, not like football which is pretty much weekly

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So boxers don't spar at all? Football is a lot harder on the body, but not even close on the brain, boxers need to stop fooling themselves that its not the case.

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Originally Posted by Taeth

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Originally Posted by ElTerribleMorales

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Originally Posted by kingfrnk

i rather be in a ring with Wlad than be on a field with Ray Lewis.

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plus you only take the hits come fight night, which comes at the most once every 3 to 4 months, not like football which is pretty much weekly

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So boxers don't spar at all? Football is a lot harder on the body, but not even close on the brain, boxers need to stop fooling themselves that its not the case.

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have you ever boxed a day in your life? you don't go all out in sparring, so whoever gets seriously hurt in sparring well unless it's some freak accident, should probably be looking for another sport, and i'm pretty sure that there's a bigger risk for immediate injury in football than in boxing, such as paralysis

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Originally Posted by Taeth

Boxing takes way more head trauma than Football which is also very bad, but not like boxing, the rate of people alzheimers and parkinsons is way lower in football.

The thing is that football and basketball have the best recruiting scouts, they take all the athletes in highschool, and what young kid would rather be a boxer that nobody knows instead of a superstar who is on top of the world? Even guys like Mayweather and Pacquiao are just whispers in the wind in the sports world compared to guys like Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady, Lebron James, etc.

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Exactly. Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali are the most well known in their respective sports, but Jordan is living large with something like a 500 million dollar networth and in good health compared to Ali that's living with Parkinsons.

Not to mentioned the outrageous NBA and NFL contracts. Matthew Stafford the 1st pick in the NFL draft is getting like 42 million guaranteed and he hasn't played 1 down in the NFL.

And paralysis hardly happens in the NFL. It can happen, but I"m willing to bet that there have been more boxing deaths than paralysis in the NFL within the last 10 years. NFL players when they retired have an assortment of injuries, but for boxers like Ali, Hearns, Frazier have serious injuries to their heads and have slur speech or parkinsons or Alzheimers.

It's just more lucrative playing basketball, football, or baseball than being a pro boxer.

Paralysis hardly ever happens, it does occur, but still way lower stats than boxing has for permanent brain damage. ALso if you've sparred a day in YOUR life, you would know that people don't always take it easy sparring, especially if you've ever gotten ready for a competition, sure you are wearing 16oz. gloves, but you still feel it, if the person has any technique or power whatsoever. But you probably shadowbox with gloves on, or you've obviously never done inter-gym sparring sessions or real sparring.

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Originally Posted by Taeth

Paralysis hardly ever happens, it does occur, but still way lower stats than boxing has for permanent brain damage. ALso if you've sparred a day in YOUR life, you would know that people don't always take it easy sparring, especially if you've ever gotten ready for a competition, sure you are wearing 16oz. gloves, but you still feel it, if the person has any technique or power whatsoever. But you probably shadowbox with gloves on, or you've obviously never done inter-gym sparring sessions or real sparring.

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i've been boxing since i was 8 yrs old, plenty of sparring and no way do you hit as hard in sparring as you do in an actual fight, even if an Amateur fight, i didn't pursue boxing as a career or anything but did have my share of Am fights, don't think i can say the same about you though, and for the record, here in PR we basically start out with pro-style training, obviously you start with the fundamentals but we're basically taught a style to move on to pros, that's why PR isn't really huge on the amateur circuit

They all wear pads, it's rugby with protection. I'd love to see them all without all that padding and helmets, they would pussy out of big tackles everytime.

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Originally Posted by Kel

They all wear pads, it's rugby with protection. I'd love to see them all without all that padding and helmets, they would pussy out of big tackles everytime.

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lmao gotta give you rep, but for whatever reason cant lol so i'm gonna have to give you a rain check, but you're dead on ;D;D;D

By the way, all the best American heavyweight boxers are doing sod all;)

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Originally Posted by Kel

They all wear pads, it's rugby with protection. I'd love to see them all without all that padding and helmets, they would pussy out of big tackles everytime.

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And I agree with you. But most Americans don't even know what Rugby is, they don't even understand that American Football is the bastard child of Rugby but with pads. But it's considered the most hardcore sport to them.

This discussion isn't about whether boxing or American football is tougher, but it's boxing hands down. The recovery time for a boxing match is anywhere from a few weeks to months, while the NFL is 1 week.

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Originally Posted by ElTerribleMorales

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Originally Posted by Taeth

Paralysis hardly ever happens, it does occur, but still way lower stats than boxing has for permanent brain damage. ALso if you've sparred a day in YOUR life, you would know that people don't always take it easy sparring, especially if you've ever gotten ready for a competition, sure you are wearing 16oz. gloves, but you still feel it, if the person has any technique or power whatsoever. But you probably shadowbox with gloves on, or you've obviously never done inter-gym sparring sessions or real sparring.

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i've been boxing since i was 8 yrs old, plenty of sparring and no way do you hit as hard in sparring as you do in an actual fight, even if an Amateur fight, i didn't pursue boxing as a career or anything but did have my share of Am fights, don't think i can say the same about you though, and for the record, here in PR we basically start out with pro-style training, obviously you start with the fundamentals but we're basically taught a style to move on to pros, that's why PR isn't really huge on the amateur circuit

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I don't know who you were fighitng with, I know people are tough in PR, but if you sparred with anybody half decent, and they feel like going hard, then you definitely have wars, and the difference is that they don't last 3-4 rounds like an amateur fight, and they aren't 2-3 minute rounds, I've had times where we've gone 8-10 hard rounds with guys. Its obviously different htan a real fight because you don't have the adrenaline going the same, way and you know the fighter and so you feel more comfortable, but we still hit go hard.

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Originally Posted by Kel

They all wear pads, it's rugby with protection. I'd love to see them all without all that padding and helmets, they would pussy out of big tackles everytime.

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maybe you should try playing football, there is no way you can tackle like that if oyu weren't wearing pads, in highschool there were many dislocated shoudlers because your body can't take hitting somebody htat hard without pads, the contact PSI is about 3x as hard as an average pro heavyweight, I believe its around 3500 psi, which is as powerful as crocodile closing its mouth.

Enough about rugby, I'm an American, I know about rugby, and it's like football the same way bareknuckle boxing is the same as today's boxing. Football IS a hardcore sport...the pads only encourage you to hit harder. The forward pass and other football plays also create higher impact collisions than rugby. If you lined up our greatest football players against your greatest rugby players and told them to play rugby or football, we'd clean your clocks....and I'm not talking about just the Greatest English Rugby Players or the Greatest Australian Rugby Players, I'm talking about THE Greatest Rugby Players regardless of what country they came from....that ought to stir the pot a bit ;D

As per the American heavyweights, I think the amateur boxing system just got a little too full of itself and got lazy when it came to recruiting talented young fighters. Not every good American heavyweight is doing something else, there are DECENT American heavyweights who didn't get the training they needed to become good, there are guys out there right now who could have been trained up into something pretty good. Our problem right now is our guys get into boxing too late or they burn out too soon.

A difference between Football and rugby is fitness. Football players are nowhere near as fit. They play for 10 seconds and have a minute break. Rugby players play for 40 minutes straight, have a 10 - 15 minute break and play another 40 minutes.
As football players stop every 10 seconds it gives them time to plan moves and for the other team to set up their defence. In rugby you need to work to get back if you are in defence. You also have to support you own team mates when they get tackled as if you don’t you’ll lose the ball.
Rugby is far superior IMO.

As for the boxing, it is probably true. There is more money to be made in football then boxing. Its only the super star boxers who make more money that football players.

PS
Jonah lomu would have been an ATG if he had played football. Look him up. 6' 6". 125 KG (20st). 100m in 10.88.

To get back to the point of the post, it may be true for the heavyweights and to a lesser extent the cruiser weights, but not true for any weight class below. There are very few players in the NFL who weigh less than 190 pounds. No one fighting at welterweight, middleweight, or super middleweight would have been big enough to play in the NFL or the NBA.

Boxing gyms are hard to come by these days in the states, with the other sports they are shoved down your throat in High School. Unless boxing runs in your family like Mayweather, Roy Jones, Berto you are very unlikely to take the sport up seriously.

Judging by the brawl between Indiana and Detroit i'd say no.

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Originally Posted by Taeth

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Originally Posted by Kel

They all wear pads, it's rugby with protection. I'd love to see them all without all that padding and helmets, they would pussy out of big tackles everytime.

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maybe you should try playing football, there is no way you can tackle like that if oyu weren't wearing pads, in highschool there were many dislocated shoudlers because your body can't take hitting somebody htat hard without pads, the contact PSI is about 3x as hard as an average pro heavyweight, I believe its around 3500 psi, which is as powerful as crocodile closing its mouth.

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It's a good job they are not covered in teeth then they would hurt each other.

What I never understand about these types of statements is it always seems to be exclusively America's problem... As if there aren't any other sports in the world that might be taking away from other nations' boxing?!

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Originally Posted by kingfrnk

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Originally Posted by Rocky Balboa

Boxing more brutal than NFL??? :confused:

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i rather be in a ring with Wlad than be on a field with Ray Lewis.

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give me ray any day of the week and twice on sunday...no way in hell i rather take a punch from a heavy weight than a tackle from a football player...with pads on? please that's not even close...brain damage is far worse than having the wind knocked out of you. Also in the nfl they get fined for helmet to helmet hits ,so there is far less chance of a severe head injury.

So boxing>football in terms of danger, and long term effects.

Just because you get fined for helmet to helmet hits doesn't mean they don't happen anymore.

Tell me football isn't dangerous when Troy Aikman has pads and a helmet on and gets concussion after concussion....it's not because Troy is soft either.

Boxing is dangerous but so is football.

I would love to see these hard ass rugby players try and tackle Barry Sanders or Jim Brown

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Originally Posted by Lyle

Just because you get fined for helmet to helmet hits doesn't mean they don't happen anymore.

Tell me football isn't dangerous when Troy Aikman has pads and a helmet on and gets concussion after concussion....it's not because Troy is soft either.

Boxing is dangerous but so is football.

I would love to see these hard ass rugby players try and tackle Barry Sanders or Jim Brown

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in britain american football is considered lightweight because they wear all those pads unlike rugby when your getting properly hit with no protection.

But often in rugby you get guys that are either the runners and are too short or the defensive liners who are too big.

In the NFL almost everyone other than the QB is built like a monster and designed to hit and hurt an opponent at maximum impact and indeed some of the potential heavyweight superstars of yesteryear have been lost to the sport!!

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Originally Posted by Lyle

Just because you get fined for helmet to helmet hits doesn't mean they don't happen anymore.

Tell me football isn't dangerous when Troy Aikman has pads and a helmet on and gets concussion after concussion....it's not because Troy is soft either.

Boxing is dangerous but so is football.

I would love to see these hard ass rugby players try and tackle Barry Sanders or Jim Brown

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No one said football isn't dangerous, but compared to boxing it's less. When was the last time a player was "hit" by another player and killed or paralyzed? It's been a while. Not saying boxer are killed on regular basis.

Yeah troy aikman had a concussion....but he's still making money from broadcasting...I'll take that hit from lavar arrington that ended troy's career over the hits gerald mclellan, muhammed ali, meldtrick taylor, all took any day...

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Originally Posted by JonesJrMayweather

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Originally Posted by Lyle

Just because you get fined for helmet to helmet hits doesn't mean they don't happen anymore.

Tell me football isn't dangerous when Troy Aikman has pads and a helmet on and gets concussion after concussion....it's not because Troy is soft either.

Boxing is dangerous but so is football.

I would love to see these hard ass rugby players try and tackle Barry Sanders or Jim Brown

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No one said football isn't dangerous, but compared to boxing it's less. When was the last time a player was "hit" by another player and killed or paralyzed? It's been a while. Not saying boxer are killed on regular basis.

Yeah troy aikman had a concussion....but he's still making money from broadcasting...I'll take that hit from lavar arrington that ended troy's career over the hits gerald mclellan, muhammed ali, meldtrick taylor, all took any day...

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boxings always been a bloodthirsty sport hence the reason it isnt seen to be watched by children/women and you dont get daytime fights.

But that in itself is pretty unique. I think lyle was talking in terms of contact sport aggression!

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Originally Posted by JonesJrMayweather

No one said football isn't dangerous, but compared to boxing it's less. When was the last time a player was "hit" by another player and killed or paralyzed? It's been a while. Not saying boxer are killed on regular basis.

Yeah troy aikman had a concussion....but he's still making money from broadcasting...I'll take that hit from lavar arrington that ended troy's career over the hits gerald mclellan, muhammed ali, meldtrick taylor, all took any day...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9RfJwSkMU8

....Id rather be punched than take that, Anquan Boldin had screws and plates put in his face on account of that. When was the last time that happened to a boxer???

That's not a fist coming at you that's a BODY coming at you.

I'm not saying boxing isn't dangerous, but football isn't just a "contact sport" it's a COLLISION sport

Boxing is more dangerous because you have to fight, if you're in the NFL you can be the kicker. ;D

The best American "Heavyweight Athletes" may in the NBA and NFL, but who's to say they'd be any better than the best fighters already there?

The only guy I remember making a transition into the sport was Ed "To tall" Jones. I saw one of his fights probably his first and he wasn't very good and barely won the decision.

If I had to pick one boxing fight or one football game I think I'd probably go with football.

A whole entire season of games versus the 3-4 fights most top guys seem to get in a year?

You'd pick boxing wouldn't you.

When did this turn into a debate about which sport is tougher though? ;)

I thought the topic was is the money in NFL and the NBA taking athletically gifted people away from boxing? ;)

I'm not too sure myself.... I think there a less solid B level fighters now and money is why but I think when you're at the top of a sport it itsn't a lust for money that got you there, there has to be passion for the sport itself. There probably are a number of athletes who would have done very well as boxers but I don't think that it's a big as a lot of people probably think.

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Originally Posted by Lyle

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Originally Posted by JonesJrMayweather

No one said football isn't dangerous, but compared to boxing it's less. When was the last time a player was "hit" by another player and killed or paralyzed? It's been a while. Not saying boxer are killed on regular basis.

Yeah troy aikman had a concussion....but he's still making money from broadcasting...I'll take that hit from lavar arrington that ended troy's career over the hits gerald mclellan, muhammed ali, meldtrick taylor, all took any day...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9RfJwSkMU8....Id rather be punched than take that, Anquan Boldin had screws and plates put in his face on account of that. When was the last time that happened to a boxer???

That's not a fist coming at you that's a BODY coming at you.

I'm not saying boxing isn't dangerous, but football isn't just a "contact sport" it's a COLLISION sport

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C69SNL5IdT4

gimme pads and a helmet any day, vs being hit by a heavyweight... and anquan is still playing..and he's asking for tem million dollars. When was the last time any football player ended up like GMAN? Meldrick taylor? ALI?

I think there may'be a couple of NFL or in the NBA that might make good Heavyweight Boxers or just good Boxers in generally, but it's hard to say. Boxing takes away some great athletes from different sports also so there's a little give and take anyway you slice it.