With all the Americans are stupid sillyness aside....I don't think it was so much on they were not appreciated it has to do with marketing and promoters...lack of cable TV etc....If there was PPV or HBO/Showtime in every home back then like today American audiences would have seen more of them to actually appreciate...

Also back in the day when Chris was in hisn prime we had our own stars on the rise and the HW scene had Tyson, Holyfield etc.....

Today they woukd be both huge stars