By Gerardo Granados: While doing a research I noticed that there are ten Americans champions around at the different weight divisions, of course not taking in account the regular – interim – or any other kind of belts other than the major Championship belt by the boxing organizations. But it is quite intriguing to see how now the bigger weight divisions are now dominated by Eastern Europe countries and the presence of USA Champions have diminished to a point where currently there is only 1 recently crowned Champion who hold one major organization strap above the middleweight division.
Who is the last great American heavyweight Champion? Riddick Bowe must be the one but he retired a long time ago. Who is the last great American cruiserweight Champion? Was it Evander Holyfield? Who is the last great American light heavyweight Champion? Roy Jones Jr is the name that I can recall. Who is the last great American middleweight Champion? Maybe Bernard Hopkins?
It has been reported by the media how Pro Boxing has bigger earnings than Mixed Martial Arts all together so that fighters are turning into MMA can’t be the only reason why Americans are not getting interested to become the next Mike Tyson or Archie Moore.
I don’t think that many professional athletes who are big in size would be interested in prize fighting as a profession, fighters are different and have a different background from all other type of athletes, so why is it that there is a shortage on Americans Champions at the bigger weight divisions? It can’t be for a lack of boxing gyms, good trainers or promotion of the sport. So, could it be that the big boys are losing interest in becoming boxing prize fighters?
Heavyweight: WBC Deaontay Wilder (USA), WBA – IBF – WBO Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine).
Cruiserweight: WBC Grigory Drozd (Russia), WBA Denis Lebedev (Russia) IBF Yoan Pablo Hernandez (Cuba) and WBO Marco Huck (Germany).
Light heavyweight: WBC Adonis Stevenson (HAITI/CANADA) and WBA – IBF – WBO Sergey Kovalev (Russia).
Super middleweight: WBC Badou Jack (Sweden), WBA Carl Froch (UK), IBF CHAMPION: VACANT and WBO Arthur Abraham (Germany).
Middleweight: WBC Miguel Cotto (Puerto Rico), WBA Gennady Golovkin (Kazakhstan), IBF VACANT and WBO Andy Lee (Ireland).
Light middleweight: WBC – WBA Floyd Mayweather Jr (USA), IBF Cornelius Bundrage (USA) and WBO CHAMPION: Demetrius Andrade (USA).
Welterweight: WBC – WBA Floyd Mayweather Jr (USA), IBF Kell Brook (UK) and WBO Manny Pacquiao (Philippines).
Light welterweight: WBC –WBA Danny Garcia (USA), IBF Lamont Peterson (USA) and WBO Terence Crawford (USA).
Lightweight WBC Jorge Linares (Venezuela), WBA Darleys Perez Colombia), IBF Mickey Bey (USA) and WBO VACANT.
Super featherweight: WBC Takashi Miura (Japan), WBA Takashi Uchiyama (Japan), IBF VACANT and WBO Roman Martinez (Puerto Rico).
Featherweight: WBC Gary Russell (USA), WBA Nicholas Walters (Jamaica), IBF Evgeny Gradovich (Russia) and WBO Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine).
Super bantamweight: WBC Leo Santacruz (Mexico), WBA – WBO Guillermo Rigondeaux (Cuba) and IBF CHAMPION: Carl Frampton (GB).
Bantamweight: WBC Shinsuke Yamanaka (Japan), WBA Juan Carlos Payano (Dom. R.), IBF Randy Caballero (USA) and WBO VACANT.
Super flyweight: WBC Carlos Cuadras (Mexico), WBA Kohei Kono (Japan), IBF Zolani Tete (South Africa) and WBO Naoya Inoue (Japan).
Flyweight: WBC Roman Gonzalez (Nicaragua), WBA – WBO Juan Francisco Estrada (Mexico) and IBF Amnat Ruenroeng (Thai).
Light flyweight: WBC Pedro Guevara (Mexico), WBA Ryoichi Taguchi (Japan), IBF Javier Mendoza (Mexico) and WBO Donnie Nietes (Filipines)
Strawweight: WBC Wanheng Menayothin (Thailand), WBA Hekkie Budler (South Africa), IBF CHAMPION: Katsunari Takayama (Japan) and WBO VACANT.
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