By Mark Hepplestall: Over the past 5 years there has been a steady increase in the quality of boxers and the crowds they draw in the European countries, this also coincides with a decrease in American boxing and the crowds they draw, this may be due to the lack of an American Superstar now that Floyd Mayweather Jr is on and off retired.

Firstly there is a total Eastern European Block on the Heavyweight division, the division owned by the Ukrainian Klitschko Brothers fighting out of Germany. These guys sell out football/soccer stadiums every fight which can range from 30,000 to 50,000 while the opposition American heavyweights are failing to sell out 10,000 seat stadiums. Long gone are the crowd pleasing days of the Tyson’s, Ali’s, Holyfield’s and Joe Frazier’s, now the unpredictability of the heavyweight division is thwarted by the genetic size and skills of the Klitschko Brothers cornering the Division. The greatest prospect for the USA would have to be the defected Cuban Odlanier Solis who fights out of the USA now. Soon fighting against Vitali Klitschko in Germany Solis possesses little chance of winning due to his awful conditioning, long gone are the days and skills that defeated David Haye, now if he lasts more than 8 rounds it would be a miracle.

Secondly the Super Middleweight division is dominated by the Europeans. The best fighters in this division have always been from the UK with Joe Calzaghe, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins and Nigel Benn being the best names. Notable mention to Roy Jones Jr who has had a total of six fights at super middleweight and is best rated at Middleweight where he was almost unbeatable, so is not in the list of best super middleweights of all time. Now the division is dominated by Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler and Lucian Bute from Canada. The best is probably Carl Froch fights anyone, anywhere and is a breath of fresh air in the division were the champions refuse to fight outside their hometown/nation e.g. Mikkel Kessler undefeated in Denmark yet found out in the USA, Abraham undefeated in Germany yet destroyed everywhere else, Lucian Bute fighting out of Quebec, Canada and lastly Andre Ward refusing to fight outside Oakland USA. Froch is trying to set up a bout in Wembley Stadium co-headlined with David Haye which could sell 100,000 seats. Showtime have tried to make a new Superstar in this division through Andre Dirrel and Andre Ward. However people dislike Andre Dirrel’s tactics and his possible refusal to fight Andre Ward, while Andre Ward has refused to leave Oakland when there are boxers such as Froch only fighting one fight in his home city out of four making himself look like a paper champion when compared to the new road warrior in Froch.

Thirdly attempts have been made to make a new American superstar in the Light Welterweight division through Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley now that the British superstar Ricky Hatton is firmly in retirement; however these two boxers are massively over-hyped when compared to the more deserving boxers such as Maidana and Khan. Amir Khan has been billed as the new P4P challenger for winning the WBA title and defending the title against the very dangerous Marcos Maidana. Now set up to fight McCloskey and then if all goes well there will be a unification bout with Timothy Bradley. Bradley looked awful in his victory over Alexander but his style does make for ugly fights as scene in his previous few, Bradley’s promoter seems to be cashing in on Bradley by feeding him to the hungry Amir Khan. TheRing.TV. did a pole on who was the best Light Welterweight in the division resulting in 70% agreeing on Khan.

Honourable mentions include “Golden Child” Daniel Jacobs who can come again and would have been a good prospect if he didn’t get sparked out by a very good Dmitry Pirog.

Overall it looks like the Glory days are over for America, all the big fights are moving to the European countries, the days of the best Heavyweights coming from America are over, let’s hope that the other divisions can stay competitive.