AFTER an unexpected burst of patriotism propelled me into an impassioned defence of Darren Barker last week, I thought I would now take some time to focus on my number two nation ? in the same way most people have a second football team ? the United States. As a kid growing up, I loved American wrestling, football (gridiron) and, when it was available ? as ours was mostly a terrestrial TV flat – boxing. Therefore it brings me no pleasure whatsoever to comment upon the increasingly parlous state of American boxing. That said, Living the Dream, like life itself, cannot be all party-poppers and balloons, and comment upon it I must.
I should clarify that I am not criticising the US boxing scene ? the land of the free still hosts the vast majority of major fights ? but the lack of homegrown stars within it. Ostensibly, straits are not all that dire; America still has, interim belt-holders excluded, 10 reigning world champions, second only to Mexico, albeit by some distance (the latter boasts 15). However if you rule out WBA ?regular? rulers in divisions where that organisation has a ?Super? champion, that number drops to eight ? Brandon Rios and Austin Trout falling by the wayside ? and only one, the age-defying Bernard Hopkins, can claim undisputed supremacy at his weight.
The lack of star power provides further cause for concern. Of those eight global kings, only Hopkins has crossed over into the mainstream and ?B Hop? is still far from a humungous drawing card. He, like former victim Antonio Tarver ? whose Showtime commentary gig has boosted his appeal ? Shane Mosley and pay-per-view monster Floyd Mayweather, are also in what must surely be the latter stages of their careers. Once-popular Kelly Pavlik is in disarray, Mayweather rarely fights and, ?Money? aside, the biggest draws in US boxing are not American ? Filipino Manny Pacquiao is the sports Michael Jordan and a media darling Stateside, Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto invariably does impressive East Coast business, Tomasz Adamek could likely offload ice to Eskimos if they happened to be passing (inexplicably) through Newark, while young Mexicans Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr and Saul Alvarez are generating huge numbers both at home and in the States ? on TV and at the gate. This is the type of notoriety the unbeaten but unheralded ? outside boxing?s hardcore followers ? likes of Tim Bradley and Andre Ward can only dream of.
So where to search for the new stars American boxing so desperately needs? Don?t look at the amateurs, where a former superpower has been reduced, through gradually depreciating returns, to a minnow on the world stage. The six medals captured in 1996, by a team featuring Floyd Mayweather and Jermain Taylor, are a fast-fading memory, replaced by four gongs in 2000, just two four years later (from the Andres, Ward and Dirrell) and a frankly derisory single bronze, won by Deontay Wilder, in Beijing. For many years, this malaise has been partially explained by the break-up of the former Soviet Union allowing more talented Eastern Europeans a greater chance at participating in major international tournaments, and rapidly-developing countries like China and India catching up. But powerhouse Cuba has stayed relatively strong while Great Britain, a far smaller country than the US both in terms of population and GDP, and with a significantly lighter emphasis on sports, still managed to haul three medals home in 2008.
