This is why there are so few world class US heavyweights any more ......

[X]

Apparently this is a guy called Zion Williamson. He is not even a basketball NBA pro yet, though he is being talked up quite a bit.

He is 6'7" and weighs over 20 stone. A bigger guy than Anthony Joshua. Clearly an excellent athlete with superb hand eye coordination.

He is likely to make over $20million a year in the NBA ...... in his first year as a pro! And without getting hit in the face!!

In generations gone by, before the big bucks hit basketball (and before the shameful colour bar in basketball and other US sports), guys like him would have been Fighters.

I'm on no way blaming the guy, not decrying the better opportunities that mainly black, poor athletes get now ...... but this is one of the reasons that the US heavyweight scene is so bare. This will continue now too, unless some freak of nature arises again in America.

Get used to it, I guess.

[Master]

Do not worry, Trump will introduce a colour bar in all other major sports in USA except boxing so that the sport does not suffer.

We still will get Seth Johnson types every now and again.

[p4pking]

His name is Zion? I think we all know who is really behind this.

[powerpuncher]

I think really big guys like that have generally played basketball or football. The main problem is that the people who are 6’2” and weigh around 220 that are choosing other sports.

[Spicoli]

I dunno, I think size can be overrated. That's what she said . But didn't we just watch guy resembling a talc powdered pie eating couch potato beat a 6'7 ex basketball and footballer from pillar to post? Think about it..who's the largest most successful U.S heavy over the decades? Bowe on a couple of nights. Comeback Foreman? There's Wilder at 6'7 and respectfully he can't box. NBA and NFL have that franchise National marketing money and meanwhile the U.S amatuer boxing program is terrible. A lot of kids for the most part run for guns today instead of 'learning' to defend themselves.

[Ron Swanson]

Zion is a freakish athlete, a bigger Lebron James. But, boxing just isn’t coming back here. We don’t have the low income, high cost of living, or crap weather that will drive people into gyms.

US will be down until a new flood of people comes from more miserable countries. The US was built on this, the people have just forgotten it while circle jerking to pictures of eagles.

[Fenster]

There's dozens of American heavyweights that look like Joshua, the difference is they can't fight like him. That old basketball/football theory used to seemingly make sense but maybe consider that America didn't stop producing great fighters the rest of the world caught up.

[p4pking]

I can see that argument. The fact that a huge athletic guy isn’t much good as a boxer coming to it AFTER failing or being average in another sport is no surprise or case for it though, you need to learn the craft. It’d be no different than expecting a great big man who grew up boxing to make a good basketball player starting at 23. If some 8th grade man child is freakishly huge and athletic, of course he’s more likely to play AMerican football or basketball, that’s just a no brainer, and likely the reason there are next to no examples of guys like this who tried and failed to box.

[mikeeod]

The U.S media made a concerted effort to kill boxing in America because they viewed the sport as corrupt and brutal. This effort really started to gain steam after Mancini killed Kim on national television, with some extra push from the Holmes vs Tex Cobb best down/mismatch. It took a while to take hold, but eventually the big guys started looking to football and basketball as alternate choices..

American football is now the new focus of the media as a brutal sport and I imagine that as the NFL caves and changes to suit the narrative, it too will one day find less and less top athletes willing to participate.

[Master]

The U.S media made a concerted effort to kill boxing in America because they viewed the sport as corrupt and brutal. This effort really started to gain steam after Mancini killed Kim on national television, with some extra push from the Holmes vs Tex Cobb best down/mismatch. It took a while to take hold, but eventually the big guys started looking to football and basketball as alternate choices..

American football is now the new focus of the media as a brutal sport and I imagine that as the NFL caves and changes to suit the narrative, it too will one day find less and less top athletes willing to participate.

PPV did not help boxing, making it a minority sport.

[ykdadamaja]

Do not worry, Trump will introduce a colour bar in all other major sports in USA except boxing so that the sport does not suffer.

We still will get Seth Johnson types every now and again.

You mean Seth Mitchell.

[ykdadamaja]

The American amateur programme has not been able to keep pace. There are over 200 million people in America, you mean to tell me that you can't find one guy who is 6 foot 6 and 230 pounds who hits like a wrecking ball and moves like a ballerina?

The programme just has to open up and look for more talent.

I'm sure there are enough men, white, black, or hispanic, who just wants to beat someone half to death for free.

[TitoFan]

The U.S media made a concerted effort to kill boxing in America because they viewed the sport as corrupt and brutal. This effort really started to gain steam after Mancini killed Kim on national television, with some extra push from the Holmes vs Tex Cobb best down/mismatch. It took a while to take hold, but eventually the big guys started looking to football and basketball as alternate choices..

American football is now the new focus of the media as a brutal sport and I imagine that as the NFL caves and changes to suit the narrative, it too will one day find less and less top athletes willing to participate.

I don't disagree about the media having a huge part in killing boxing in the States. But I don't think it was only because they "viewed the sport as corrupt and brutal." That may have had something to do with, although deaths in the ring have occurred throughout the history of boxing. I think another factor that must be included is simply the fact that the U.S. doesn't cater too much to sports they don't totally dominate anymore. It used to be that most boxing champions, especially in the glamour divisions of boxing like heavyweight, were from the U.S. It's easy to cover and hype up a sport when you're dominating it. Once you begin to lose traction to the rest of the world, the shine is off. Why do you think it's been slow for the U.S. to warm up to soccer?

Regarding the NFL, I doubt it will ever "cave". Sure, it will have to make concessions regarding the number of brain injuries being suffered and the corresponding effects on former players. But the NFL is a humongous business in the U.S. and it'll never die. It may turn off some fans (it already has) by changing some of its rules and equipment. But it will just find ways to reinvent itself and continue being the #1 sport in the U.S.

[Ron Swanson]

The U.S media made a concerted effort to kill boxing in America because they viewed the sport as corrupt and brutal. This effort really started to gain steam after Mancini killed Kim on national television, with some extra push from the Holmes vs Tex Cobb best down/mismatch. It took a while to take hold, but eventually the big guys started looking to football and basketball as alternate choices..

American football is now the new focus of the media as a brutal sport and I imagine that as the NFL caves and changes to suit the narrative, it too will one day find less and less top athletes willing to participate.

I don't disagree about the media having a huge part in killing boxing in the States. But I don't think it was only because they "viewed the sport as corrupt and brutal." That may have had something to do with, although deaths in the ring have occurred throughout the history of boxing. I think another factor that must be included is simply the fact that the U.S. doesn't cater too much to sports they don't totally dominate anymore. It used to be that most boxing champions, especially in the glamour divisions of boxing like heavyweight, were from the U.S. It's easy to cover and hype up a sport when you're dominating it. Once you begin to lose traction to the rest of the world, the shine is off. Why do you think it's been slow for the U.S. to warm up to soccer?

Regarding the NFL, I doubt it will ever "cave". Sure, it will have to make concessions regarding the number of brain injuries being suffered and the corresponding effects on former players. But the NFL is a humongous business in the U.S. and it'll never die. It may turn off some fans (it already has) by changing some of its rules and equipment. But it will just find ways to reinvent itself and continue being the #1 sport in the U.S.

Because soccer is awful. The only reason it rules the world is you don’t need anything to play. Have you ever played soccer, dreadful, so everyone quits as soon as they are allowed to play football. Unless they are small, then soccer is still an option since they can’t play big people sports. Not because of media, because it’s fun to hit people. Americans that can play football or basketball will play football or basketball because they are far more fun to play than other sports. Those that can’t play football or basketball trickle to the rest. So the rest won’t ever, ever, get America’s best.

[Master]

The U.S media made a concerted effort to kill boxing in America because they viewed the sport as corrupt and brutal. This effort really started to gain steam after Mancini killed Kim on national television, with some extra push from the Holmes vs Tex Cobb best down/mismatch. It took a while to take hold, but eventually the big guys started looking to football and basketball as alternate choices..

American football is now the new focus of the media as a brutal sport and I imagine that as the NFL caves and changes to suit the narrative, it too will one day find less and less top athletes willing to participate.

I don't disagree about the media having a huge part in killing boxing in the States. But I don't think it was only because they "viewed the sport as corrupt and brutal." That may have had something to do with, although deaths in the ring have occurred throughout the history of boxing. I think another factor that must be included is simply the fact that the U.S. doesn't cater too much to sports they don't totally dominate anymore. It used to be that most boxing champions, especially in the glamour divisions of boxing like heavyweight, were from the U.S. It's easy to cover and hype up a sport when you're dominating it. Once you begin to lose traction to the rest of the world, the shine is off. Why do you think it's been slow for the U.S. to warm up to soccer?

Regarding the NFL, I doubt it will ever "cave". Sure, it will have to make concessions regarding the number of brain injuries being suffered and the corresponding effects on former players. But the NFL is a humongous business in the U.S. and it'll never die. It may turn off some fans (it already has) by changing some of its rules and equipment. But it will just find ways to reinvent itself and continue being the #1 sport in the U.S.

Because soccer is awful. The only reason it rules the world is you don’t need anything to play. Have you ever played soccer, dreadful, so everyone quits as soon as they are allowed to play football. Unless they are small, then soccer is still an option since they can’t play big people sports. Not because of media, because it’s fun to hit people. Americans that can play football or basketball will play football or basketball because they are far more fun to play than other sports. Those that can’t play football or basketball trickle to the rest. So the rest won’t ever, ever, get America’s best.

Soccer is the beautiful game and connects the world. American Football or basketball does not do the same. If it was simply a big person thing then Rugby would be bigger.