HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS-NO MORE AMERICANS

Over the last decade, the United States have been watching the world change and our country too.  Some of the changes in the US have been good and some has been bad.  Let’s take a look at some of the changes:

• The US is occupying a nation that is in the middle of a civil war.  The Pentagon vowed it will never fight a Viet Nam style war again, but here we are again stuck in another country’s internal conflict. 
• The USA Basketball Team has found out that the world has caught up with them talent wise. No more hastily throwing together professional national teams.  Now USA Basketball has regrouped with the goal of winning it all.
• The border patrols are working overtime because illegal immigrants are scurrying across the borders.
• Our security agencies have everyone’s phones tapped to fight terrorists.
• The Twin Towers are gone.
• Profanity on musical recordings.
• Thirty percent of the country is made up of minorities.
• Since the 1960’s, minorities in our country have went from poor to working class to millionaires to billionaires.
• Our infrastructure is crumbling.  Roads and bridges need much repair.
• Stem cell research.
• The middle class is shrinking.  In the future, there will be the rich and the poor!
• Our president George W. Bush has turned a trillion dollar surplus into a billion dollar deficit. Smart man!

BUT WORSE OF ALL WE LOST OUR THIRTY PLUS YEARS STRANGLE HOLD ON BOXING’S HEAVYWEIGHT BELTS.

Oh well the streak is broken!!!

Yes the Eastern Europeans now control all of professional boxing heavyweight belts, so much for “Rocky 4”.

Long live the new kings of the heavyweight thrones!

What happen to the American heavyweights?  There could be a lot of reasons but lets have some fun with this topic!

The United States have a lot of heavyweight people who could qualify for the heavyweight crown thanks to McDonalds, Burger King, Papa John’s Pizza and any other fast food establishment you can think of.  Well you know that Americans are now the fattest people on the planet, according to the world’s leading experts on global food consumption and diet.

Joe Fan: “Hey Mike, if we are the fattest people on the planet, why we can’t develop decent heavyweight boxers anymore.”

Me: “Options my man!”

The young men of today have options.  First let’s look at education.  There is a zillion ways you can get in school and the government will be happy to pick up the tab for a few years until they can pay it back.

Why wait years in a smelly gym getting punched in the face, waiting for your manager and promoter to make something happen.  Often times you have to pass the school of hard knocks before something happens.

Our most talented heavyweight athletes are football players. They are running backs, linemen, tight ends and linebackers.  Colleges and universities can afford them scholarships in track and field as javelin, discus throwers and shot putters also.  Don’t forget forwards and centers in basketball.

These young athletes can go to school, make passing grades, graduate and have the possibility of gaining employment in a decent company or turn pro in their desired sport. 

You have to remember Americans like a good belly laugh too.

There is nothing better than a fat comedian.  America is loaded with comedy clubs and you can count the fat guys in the nightclubs that are making America laugh.  Cable TV is full of heavyweights comedians like Larry the Cable Guy, Cedric the Entertainer, etc. These guys are making millions and laughing all the way to the bank.  The most important thing, they are not getting punched.

Let’s not forget the Arts, particularly the RAP industry.  Now how many fat ugly gangster rappers have you seen in you lifetime.  Biz Markee, The Fat Boys, Fat Joe, and the list go on.  These guys get on MTV and BET and claimed that they are from the streets and they fight in the streets and whatever.

But these jelly bellied guys are taking another easy road.  They kiss up to record executives, get a break and they earn millions of dollars.  Carry guns.  Start fights with folks in restaurants with their entourage backing them up.  Once they get thrown in jail or shot, they get “legitimized” as true thug ghetto rappers, even though a lot of them graduated college and lived a middle class life like Ice Cube.

Don’t forget the computer and tech industry, where the big boys can sit at a desk all day, talk to computer customers over the phone explaining which plug goes into the wall socket.   They develop new computer software for the public’s consumption.  They make five to six figures and still have enough money to keep their girth up.

Don’t forget the martial arts.  Instead of getting a fist flying at you at one hundred miles an hour, a lot of our portly athletes are in Japan becoming Sumo wrestlers.  Japan has our heavyweights from states like New Jersey and Hawaii getting rich off the sport. These heavies make five to seven figures in fights and endorsements. 

The joys of being a heavyweight in the land of the rising sun!

The Ultimate Fighting Championships also gives those few who are wrestlers and martial artists a chance to strut their stuff for some good old American greenbacks.

Joe Fan:  Damn Mike, I didn’t know.  Do you ever think we will win back a heavyweight boxing championship again?

Me:  Yes we could.

But just like the NBA, NFL, USA Basketball and the Ultimate Fighting Championships.   The boxing heavyweight system in the US needs a feeder system like the NCAA to recruit college athletes for the sport of boxing and give these athletes the option to graduate and continue into the ranks of professional boxing.  Organized sports have become more sophisticated.  All these professional organizations have minimum wages, collective bargaining and organized labor (Except for The Ultimate Fighting Championship).

Until American boxing organizations organize from top to bottom.  America may lose it strength in holding it position in the other weight divisions.  Our best hope is to convince the college and universities to look at boxing as a legitimate money making program.

Most colleges on the Division 1A and Division 2 are struggling to make money in athletics.  Boxing is an exciting and inexpensive sport that can aid some of those athletic departments with additional funding and boost our boxing gyms nationwide with fresh and well educated talent.

A win win for both parties!  Think About It!

KEEP YOUR GUARD UP, ORGANIZE, AND KEEP ON PUNCHING!