As of 2015 when you look at the modern day landscape of professional boxing in terms of the demographics of some of it's elite level fighters, the sport has become a more international sport than ever before.
You have champions from multiple countries and territories as it stands at the time of this article, such as the following top current fighters of the modern era, for example:
- Wladimir Klischko (Heavyweight, Ukraine)
- Roman Gonzalez (Flyweight, Nicaragua)
- Gennady Golovkin (Middleweight, Kazakhstan)
- Kell Brook (Welterweight, UK)
- Sergey Kovalev (Light-Heavyweight, Russia)
- Terence Crawford (Super-Lightweight, USA)
- Guillermo Rigondeaux (Super-Bantamweight, Cuba)
- Shinsuke Yamanaka (Bantamweight, Japan)
- Carl Frampton (Super-Bantamweight, Northern Ireland)
- Andy Lee (Middleweight, Ireland)
- Miguel Cotto (Middleweight, Puerto Rico)
- Canelo Alvarez (Middleweight, Mexico)
- Manny Pacquiao (Welterweight, Philippines)
As you can see, just from listing some of the current top crop of professional fighters around in 2015 (with many more omitted from the above), it is very clear to see how many countries are now churning out top quality fighters.
This is in contrast to how in the past in the early days of boxing and indeed throughout a large portion of the 20th century, where the United States dominated the noble art.
This simply is not the case anymore.
There are a few schools of thought behind this, with many pointing to how in fact the amateur sport has progressed in countries outside of the USA in recent times, while the American's have not been producing as many top amateurs as they once did.
This could be a very logical argument when you stop and think about it for a minute. Take Ireland for example in 2015 at amateur level.
The country for such a small island has had phenomenal success at amateur level over the past decade or so and in turn, Ireland has now (currently) two top level professional world champions - Andy Lee and Carl Frampton (who boxed for Ireland as an amateur).
Both were highly successful amateurs for that matter, coincidence? I think not.
It perhaps is a metaphor in how boxing has progressed into such a global sport in recent times, where often a quality amateur pedigree goes a long way.
Pretty much the majority (for the most part) of our initial list of modern day top fighters as of 2015, have had rather stellar amateur careers.
This is further illustration to the trend you are seeing of champions breaking through from all over the globe, in every continent on Earth.
It's great to see for the sport, as despite how patriotic we all are wherever country we are from, sports like boxing transcend geography in truth.
Boxing is a sport that no matter where you're from, who you are or what your background is, that inspires respect due to the difficulty and adversity faced by many of it's protagonists.
It's a sport where a poor man can become a rich man, it's a sport that still to this day taps into a primal part of the human psyche - a sport that exhilarates sports fans.
The ring is the chamber of truth, where passion often has a funny way of trumping conventional logic.
It's no wonder why it's become such a global sport as the years have gone by, as it brings people together on so many levels - no matter where their from.
The sweet science speaks a universal language.
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