Where are the American Heavyweights?

Where are the American Heavyweights?
By Steve Kim (July 7, 2008)

Every Monday afternoon, Teddy Atlas - trainer and color commentator for ESPN2 - sees a group of young men that he believes has the skill set and athleticism to be standout heavyweights. Unfortunately, it's not inside a boxing gym, but at Hofstra University, which is used as a training facility by the NFL’s New York Jets.

Atlas, who is listed as a 'Special Assistant Coach, Boxing' in the Jets media guide, was brought in by head coach Eric Mangini and general manager Mike Tannenbaum last year to work with their players once a week to teach them the rudimentary skills of the sport to aid their hand-eye coordination, conditioning and mental focus. Years ago, many of these American footballers would've made their way into a boxing ring before ever stepping foot onto the gridiron.

You see now that as the heavyweight division has more and more of an Eastern European slant, this country’s best athletes have been gravitating more and more to basketball and football throughout the years. The heavyweights of yesteryear are now more likely to be shooting guards and outside linebackers.

Atlas sees the athletic ability of the players and wonders what could've been.

“I see some of these guys I work with and if they had started early enough, some of them could be good prospects to be fighters, especially as it turns out to be the big guys, heavyweights," he says. "Some of them pick up very fast athletically and they have the athletic abilities where they obviously would've been good candidates- if they were inclined - to be successful in boxing. You never know truly until you get into the mental areas to find out how they would take that athleticism inside such a pressure place as a ring, where you have to make choices under pressure, difficult choices, even more difficult choices than you have to make on a football field, where you have other people around you.

"You never really know that true promise, what that prospect would really be until you get him into those places, and like I said, taken what they've learned technically and what they have physically and applying it in the practical terms of facing another man throwing punches at you. But definitely, from just the simplest aspects of it, the athletic aspect and the physical aspect, those guys, you look at them and you say, 'Yeah, if you had them early enough and had a chance to get them experience and a chance to get the emotional background that it takes to be good in the ring, hey, you'd probably have something."

This Saturday in Germany, Tony 'the Tiger' Thompson takes on Wladimir Klitschko, the consensus choice as the sport’s best heavyweight. Thompson, a late bloomer who began boxing at the ripe age of 27, is considered the best American big man - and he isn't given much of a chance of beating Klitschko. Beyond him is a cadre of old heavyweights who are no longer in their prime and a few select prospects who are still relatively unknown and unproven. There seems to be no middle ground; either you're a has-been or a never-was.

Where have you gone Earnie Shavers, Jerry Quarry, Jimmy Ellis and Ron Lyle?

Is it that simple, that America's best young athletes (especially the ones who weigh above 200-pounds) are just more interested in other sports like football?

"I don't know if we’re losing more to football, I think there's a combination of reasons why we're not getting those athletes in boxing," says Atlas. "First of all, there's just not as many gyms to entice them as there used to be years ago, there's not as many trainers, not as many teachers around. I think there are a lot of reasons for it. I don't think there are scholarships to college - I think that's a big reason, I don't think we look at that enough. A lot of these kids, their parents are pushing them, their parents are encouraging them when they're young, whether it’s baseball, football, basketball, golf, whatever it happens to be. Now, I know some of these sports are safer than boxing, but football's not safer than boxing. As a matter of fact, it's a lot less safe if you really get down to the honesty of it.

"A lot of these parents push them and say, 'Hey, if they become good enough, it can pay for their college education.' They're not even thinking about the pros. And maybe a lot of these parents would be more prone to letting their kids go towards boxing in certain areas if they knew there were scholarships. Where, 'Hey, you like boxing, fine, it can get you through college.' That's not the case. So I think if there were scholarships that could be rewarded to kids going to college with boxing, like there used to be years ago, there would be a better chance of that bringing more people to the sport and obviously more athletes to the sport."

Thompson, who is born and bred in Washington D.C., admits that his focus growing up was on other sports. "Definitely a football player," he says. "I was supposed to be a Washington Redskin, linebacker or defensive end."

He believes that the risk-vs-reward ratio for this sport simply doesn't match up compared to other sports.

“But that's boxing's fault. From our amateur system to the pros, nobody wants to go through the headaches that you have to go through with boxing to get where you need to be," he states. "We're the only major sport, we don't have any pension, we don't have any retirement, no health. We don't have anything. So if you pretty much don't become a champion of some sort - and even when you're champion - you don't make as much money as you should to balance off the health problems you're going to have later on in life."

Interestingly enough, Thompson believes that the future of the heavyweight division is not as bleak as many make it out to be, with fighters like Chris Arreola, Kevin Johnson and Malik Scott representing the next generation of American heavyweights.

“I don't think it's in dire straits as a lot of people like to say. I think we have a lot of young up and coming heavyweights and I think once they start fighting each other, fighting the upper level, people will start to recognize them again. I just don't think we're doing a good job of showcasing the younger heavyweights, that's all."

Interestingly enough, there are two separate factions hoping to find would-be heavyweights from the NFL scrap heap through a reality-TV based format where athletes who don't make the cut for Sundays are then turned into boxers. Yeah, I know, you're probably having visions of Ed 'Too Tall' Jones and Mark Gastineau. As they say, you play football, you don't play boxing. It's a whole different realm picking up an incoming blitzer than it is to face an incoming right cross.

But athletes from other sports have always had an interest in boxing and will continue to migrate over to the squared circle as their career options dwindle. The latest football player to delve into boxing is former Michigan State linebacker Seth Mitchell, who was listed at 6'2, 255 pounds during his playing days in the Big 10. Right now the 26-year old Mitchell has a mark of 3-0-1. Thus far, he looks more like a linebacker trying to box than a boxer who just happens to be a former linebacker.

This transformation (should it ever occur) will take time. The large majority of world-class boxers begin their careers long before they hit puberty. It's become second nature to them. For guys like 'Mayhem' Mitchell, it's like learning a second language after the age of 40. The learning curve will be much steeper, and as he goes up the ladder, he will face huge disadvantages in overall experience.

In an era where heavyweights are now routinely over 240 pounds (Joe Louis fought in the 190's, Ali in the 210's), the overall athletic ability of the plus-size behemoths has also gone to another level. It isn't just the running backs and linebackers (who usually weight in the range of 210-240) that would have a chance to be successful in boxing.

“I have D’Brickashaw Ferguson," says Atlas of the Jets left tackle, "who was a top draft pick a couple of years ago and he's very athletic, he's very smooth. I joke around with him and call him 'Silky' because he's so smooth and he's a big man. I'm guessing he's about 6'4, 6'5, about 275-280 pounds. And he's got no problem moving in a fluid way. I got a couple of the linemen, and I would say that you're right, I would agree with you on the whole, that the linebackers, the running backs, those guys, I've even had a couple of good tight ends, too, but I would say yeah, that on the whole they would make better candidates.

"But some of the linemen are so big, they're not quite as coordinated, not quite as gifted in the areas you need them to be to be a heavyweight prospect. But some of them are. Nowadays, bigger guys are more athletic than they used to be years ago. I mean you got big guys that are running 4.6, 4.7, in the forty (yard dash), which is remarkable when you're talking about a guy who is 290-pounds and 6'7.

"So the bigger guys are more athletic than they used to be years ago."

Unfortunately for boxing, most of them are not partaking in 'the sweet science.'

HOW HEAVY?

One of the mistakes that seems to be made on a consistent basis in facing the Klitschko brothers is that most fighters feel the need to pack on extra pounds in facing them. The logic being that the extra girth is needed to deal with their size and strength.

But BB Hudson, who is in charge of the strength and conditioning of Thompson, says, "We're going to come in where we're going to come in. The main thing is just to be in shape. I don't care if you're 300,400 pounds, if you can move it, then we can use it. My motto is, just train the weight that you're at."

If 215 is your optimal weight, it shouldn't matter if you're opponent weighs over 250-pounds.

"Right, you gotta find out the best weight for the fighter, where the fighter feels best. To get him down below, to get him above, that's not going to make him feel good in the ring. As long as he's feeling good and we're all comfortable around his weight and he's in shape, that's the weight we're going to go at."

Hudson says that Thompson has a strong work ethic, something that isn't always attributable to a lot of other heavyweights in this era.

"I don't think they're less disciplined, I think they don't like to work as hard and they feel, 'Because we're heavyweights we can get away with it.' They always make the excuse as far as, 'We're pushing around 250-pounds.' Well, y'know what? The guy who pushes around 250-pounds the best is the guy who's going to win the fight, in my opinion."

Hudson's regimen includes resistance training, plyometrics, core strengthening and sprint and distance running.

"We do weights, but it's how you do it and we do a lot of 'phase training'. It's basically done within the phases of the camp," he explains. "You don't want to be in the last week of camp pounding a lot of heavy weights; that's going to slow you down. It's all done through phases."

Hudson adds, "He's going to be in great shape."

PRETTY RANT

I read with great amusement the latest childish rant from one Floyd Mayweather Jr. about HBO and their announcers being 'racist' in an interview he conducted with David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press. I don't think anyone should be too outraged over what was said (except perhaps the offended parties he besmirched) because let's face it, this isn't John Carlos, Tommie Smith or Jim Brown we’re talking about. If it were, then perhaps we should give his comments further thought.

We should all consider the source here.

Yes, I agree with him, HBO's announcers do have a bias. They happened to like fighters who aren't bores inside the ring, and boorish outside of it. Which is their prerogative. But just because they like boxers who are more inclined to be offensive and partake in entertaining battles than defensive specialists who safety-first their way to victories doesn't make them Roger Metzger. But the stark reality is that this network’s announcers have been cheerleaders for his cause (some much more than others) in pushing the propaganda of Mayweather being the modern day Sugar Ray Leonard, which of course is a huge exaggeration. But this is also the same network who, for at least 15 years, has continually pushed the likes of Pernell Whitaker, James Toney, Roy Jones and most recently, Mayweather, ( all African-American individuals) as being the best fighter in the world in succession.

What's interesting is that the most critical of the HBO crew just happens to have the same complexion as he does - Emanuel Steward. So in Floyd's eyes, is Steward just some Uncle Tom sell-out, then? Or perhaps is he just stating his opinion like Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant? Which of course just happens to be his job.

It's easy to dredge up Mayweather's 1999 complaints of receiving 'slave wages' in comparison to the contract that Naseem Hamed had with the network, but that's a cheap and easy comparison in which pundits will pile on Mayweather. In retrospect Mayweather may not have been as off-base as many believe if you look back at Hamed's performances on the network and his eventual ceiling and upside. And just because somebody is compensated into the millions, doesn't mean they themselves aren't the victims of bigotry and prejudice. Mayweather still retains the right to complain - you just wish it wasn't something so obviously manufactured because of his jealously over the acclaim lavished on fighters like Manny Pacquiao and Kelly Pavlik in recent months.

But when statements like the ones that were recently uttered by 'Martin Luther' Mayweather are made, they only trivialize the real problems that plague our society today. Racism is alive and well - perhaps it's much more subtle and covert, but it certainly exists - but comments like Mayweather's only cause more divisiveness where none is needed.

HBO's announcers can be maddening, I've had plenty of issues with them, trust me. But they are not racist - they just don't particularly like Floyd all that much. They finally see what I've been saying for awhile. But this has nothing to do with the color of his skin.

But perhaps this is poetic justice in many ways. HBO for years has been an enabler to him (from phony, made-up story lines on 24/7, to extravagant license fees to face the likes of Henry Bruseles and the like) and they pushed him as the face of boxing post-De La Hoya. Now this is what they get in return. It's like that couple who raises dobermans or pit bulls and they tell you how these are actually kind, obedient animals who would never hurt anyone. Till one day it bites the hand off their newborn child.

Well, they created this monster, now they've got to deal with it.

But the thing that is most disturbing about Mayweather's interview with Mayo was how he and Lampley are in the same strip clubs together. C'mon, that has to be some sort of man-card violation, isn't it? Why throw him under the bus like that? Especially in light of the fact Lampley has been his single biggest advocate (sans Max Kellerman, who hasn't done that many Mayweather events for HBO) on the network. But what does his personal life (which made headlines last year and ironically enough, because of an ex-girlfriend that happened to be African-American) have to do with anything?

Did he really have to do him like Diddy did Shyne or Kobe did Shaq?

Now, THAT was wrong.

FINAL FLURRIES

I'd have to say that Kendall Holt-Ricardo Torres II is the best 61-second fight I have ever seen....How many dead bodies were on the latest edition of 'Solo Boxeo' on Telefutura? Like I've said before, that had more zombies walking around in it than Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video.....So I guess Rafael Nadal is the top dog in tennis now.....I read Ross Greenburg's reaction to Mayweather’s comments. Boy, he really stood up for his troops didn't he?....OK, will Dave Smith 'the Sports God' take away Mayweather's 'Man Card' for his violation of the code? Listen in tomorrow to 830AM (in SoCal) when he's on with Roger Lodge from six-to-ten in the morning and again in the afternoon from three-to-six in the afternoon......

For Questions or Comments
E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com

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