Things would probably be better for American boxing if American fighters were given the superstar, hero treatment reserved for foreigners?
For the last few years, boxing writers have bombarded fans with talk of the Eastern Bloc?s invasion of boxing.
?They?re taking over,? they?d say. ?They work harder, fight braver, are willing to take on all comers. They?re gonna own this sport.?
Well, those waiting for the takeover are still waiting. And the tsunami of former Soviet Bloc athletes blasting mainland America is, really, more like a mid-sized surfer?s wave.
Yes, opening the doors to the East has brought lot of new talent to the professional ranks. But there?s no real invasion and, certainly, no takeover.
Russia?s Sergey Kovalev did well for himself and accomplished a lot, even becoming one of HBO?s ?go to? draws after the network pretty much chased away most of their other high-end talent. And, of course, Kazakhstan?s Gennady Golovkin and the Ukraine?s Vasiliy Lomachenko are elite-level players and extreme media darlings, drawing nothing but fawning praise for everything they do.
The rest of the ?invasion,? though? There are a few talented non-main eventers sprinkled around the US outlets, like Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, some intriguing second-tier characters, and a bunch of ?bloc? fighters of varying levels that have settled into the European scene.
None of them have done much to revitalize the American fight scene. Even ?draws? like Golovkin and Lomachenko only produce respectable numbers when compared to the other paltry numbers of the here and now?and that?s after years of mega-hype and non-stop elevation from networks and media.
What COULD revitalize the American fight scene, however, is if the media and networks worked to hype domestic talent as much as they have done with foreign talent. Some may say that Golovkin and Lomachenko are special fighters and deserve the extra push. Yeah, okay, but Terence Crawford, Errol Spence, and Mikey Garcia are also special fighters?just as entertaining, just as accomplished, and willing to ?take on all comers.? Plus, in terms of raw numbers, they have done just about as well as ?GGG? and ?Loma? when it comes to drawing power (when given equal platforms).
So, where?s the overblown, almost embarrassing, hype about the top US talent? Why do these American standouts not get the same superstar treatment from network suits and media keyboard slappers?
There could be a racial component to it. Historically, the media has regarded white fighters as harder working, more courageous, grittier battlers than African American fighters. This ?Eastern Bloc Invasion? plays right into those stereotypes, especially in an era where business talk has become a bigger part of public boxing discourse. Maybe the idea?even if subconsciously?is to embrace those who fit the profile of what ?purists? see as ?real? fighters. Also notice that when Mexico had several high-end fighters competing in the US, drawing solid TV ratings and selling out arenas, there was never any talk of a ?Mexican Invasion.?
For the longest time, the talk was that African American fighters weren?t exciting. They boxed too much, were too defensive, didn?t engage enough. That talk endured in the era of Floyd Mayweather and Bernard Hopkins, but it?s just not the case anymore. Spence, Crawford, the Charlo brothers, Jarrett Hurd, and Deontay Wilder are all elite-level/main event-level talents with aggressive mindsets and brutal finishing power.
The American fight scene is jam-packed with quality domestic talent at the moment, maybe more so than at any point in recent boxing history. But none are embraced by media or pushed as aggressively by the networks as the now two-man ex-Soviet Bloc invasion of Golovkin and Lomechenko. And, frankly, boxing?s hardcore fans and ?purists? are also complicit in this snubbing of America?s finest.
It?s hard to say how much better off the US fight scene would be if there was a concerted effort to amp up the push given to the country?s homegrown best. But it?s safe to say that things would probably be better for American boxing if American fighters were given the superstar, hero treatment reserved for foreigners.
