Seth Mitchell vs. Johnathan Banks

[Rantcatrat]

Oh that old one. Well if that's the case then the lower weight classes in boxing are losing out to european football or 'soccer' as the yanks name it!

So by that logic Wlad can thank his lucky stars that Lebron james prefers not to get his face punched for a living and Mayweather is undefeated because the Lionel messi' of the world prefer spot kicking?

LW 2 time Olympic gold medallist Vasyl Lomachenko is evidence of whats to come in the future in the lower divisions too IMO. Some of the greatest amateurs ever were smaller EE's.

Laszlo Papp
Boris Lagutin
Aleksei Tishchenko (still active)
Oleg Saitov (The greatest amateur boxer of the 90's)
Jerzy Kulej
Vladimir Yengibaryan

Imagine had these guys turned pro? More Tszyu's and Lomachenko's will come trust me! Problem is these guys are not westernised and don't speak english! A lot of them shun americana too. It's more to do with culture rather than the lack of talent in the smaller fighters! K2 are the catalyst.

Your statement in bold might be 100% correct. I don't know the statistics. Do you?

It's a fact that bigger American athletes now more frequently play football and basketball than they do boxing. Think about it. How many colleges offer scholarships for boxing in the United States? I believe 1 and that's Northern Iowa (could be wrong). How about offer scholarships for football or basketball? It makes more sense to get a free education while playing a sport than it does to bypass the education and play the sport. Smaller guys don't have that issue because they can't play the sport anyway. That's a simplistics explanation for why football and basketball have taken athletes away from boxing.

[Rantcatrat]

The question of whether Americans would warm to a European dominant heavyweight who fought like Mike Tyson is tough. Mayweather is no ferocious terror in the ring. If it is a styles thing, they haven't warmed to Sergio Martinez and there wasn't a clamoring to see Dmitry Pirog here after he outslicked Danny Jacobs. Therefore, it might be cultural. I'm not sure. There's no easy answer.

[El Kabong]

The question of whether Americans would warm to a European dominant heavyweight who fought like Mike Tyson is tough. Mayweather is no ferocious terror in the ring. If it is a styles thing, they haven't warmed to Sergio Martinez and there wasn't a clamoring to see Dmitry Pirog here after he outslicked Danny Jacobs. Therefore, it might be cultural. I'm not sure. There's no easy answer.

They can't relate to them man, I'm telling you. It doesn't matter if it's a slick fighter or a pressure fighter or a power puncher they can't relate to someone not American or at least Americanized. Arturo Gatti born in Italy, grew up in Canada, he related with the Americans pretty damn well. Other than immigrants who got their boxing start in the US, I don't think there's any ability to relate...maybe Pacquiao is the best example of a fighter who can hit it big in the US and relate.

[Rantcatrat]

The question of whether Americans would warm to a European dominant heavyweight who fought like Mike Tyson is tough. Mayweather is no ferocious terror in the ring. If it is a styles thing, they haven't warmed to Sergio Martinez and there wasn't a clamoring to see Dmitry Pirog here after he outslicked Danny Jacobs. Therefore, it might be cultural. I'm not sure. There's no easy answer.

They can't relate to them man, I'm telling you. It doesn't matter if it's a slick fighter or a pressure fighter or a power puncher they can't relate to someone not American or at least Americanized. Arturo Gatti born in Italy, grew up in Canada, he related with the Americans pretty damn well. Other than immigrants who got their boxing start in the US, I don't think there's any ability to relate...maybe Pacquiao is the best example of a fighter who can hit it big in the US and relate.

Pacquiao might be the best, and only really on point, example. Gatti is another example, but didn't he live in NJ for a period of time? American-Polish fans have definitely stood behind Adamek, but then again, he lives in NJ and is Polish. It's not like Adamek is followed by American fans in Tennessee. I can't think of any other recent non-American fighters that have garnered a strong following in the United States.

[El Kabong]

Pacquiao might be the best, and only really on point, example. Gatti is another example, but didn't he live in NJ for a period of time? American-Polish fans have definitely stood behind Adamek, but then again, he lives in NJ and is Polish. It's not like Adamek is followed by American fans in Tennessee. I can't think of any other recent non-American fighters that have garnered a strong following in the United States.

Gatti fought his best fights in Atlantic City, he may as well have lived there I bet he never had to buy a drink there.

I can't think of any huge superstars from other countries that got huge receptions in the states but not by people of the same race or ethnicity. Mexican fighters and Puerto Rican fighters get big crowds on ocassion.