Outside the Beltway

The hand taking the measure of Joe Louis’ biceps belonged to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Summoned to the White House, the heavyweight champion of the world was getting a pep talk from the president of the United States, as recounted by boxing historian Bert Sugar.

“Joe,” Roosevelt said, “we need these muscles for democracy.” It was 1938 and Louis was about to defend his title against Max Schmeling of Germany, who had soundly defeated Louis two years earlier.

With the winds of a world war swirling, this fight was portrayed as a match between good and evil, between the forces of freedom and the theory of Aryan supremacy postulated by Adolf Hitler.

For generations, many Americans regarded the heavyweight title as a birthright, a symbol of their nation’s might.

“It was an entitlement from John L. Sullivan on,” Sugar said. “His fans would wave banners that had the American flag on it. When champions like Schmeling or Primo Carnera [of Italy] fought, Ring magazine would refer to them as foreign heavyweight champions as if they were an anomaly who somehow didn’t deserve the championship, were not bona fide champions.”

Today, that designation is turned upside down. It is World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman of Baltimore who is the foreigner in a division where the titleholders of the three other major sanctioning bodies are native Eastern Europeans. And it could be four if Russian Oleg Maskaev beats Rahman in Saturday’s title fight at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center. Maskaev was born in Russia, although he is now a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Three decades before Louis-Schmeling, racists were outraged when an African American, Jack Johnson, became heavyweight champion. Three decades after Louis-Schmeling, there was again outrage when Cassius Clay, holding the heavyweight crown, changed his name to Muhammad Ali and refused to enter the armed services during the Vietnam War.

But now, American flags are being waved in support of an African American with a Muslim name. Rahman’s title defense has been dubbed America’s Last Line of Defense.

It’s a marketing tool by promoter Bob Arum for a fight that figures to be a tough sell. Arum is stretching reality a bit since Maskaev calls himself “a proud Russian American.” But there can be no dispute that Rahman’s heavyweight title belt is the last held by an American. Wladimir Klitschko, holder of the International Boxing Federation title, was born in Kazakhstan and raised in Ukraine; Nikolay Valuev, titleholder of the World Boxing Assn., is Russian, and Sergei Liakhovich, the World Boxing Organization champion, comes from Belarus.

So where is the hue and cry so pronounced in previous eras when America’s pugilistic birthright was in danger of slipping away? “Not that many people care,” Arum said. “There is such a lack of interest in boxing that it is only well-received in niche markets.”

Sugar agrees.

“The heavyweight division is on the cusp of being called off because of lack of interest,” he said. “There are four champions, but I don’t think people even know who they are.”

And even for some of those fans who are aware of the heavyweight shift, many are not impressed.

“They know there are these European interlopers,” said Larry Merchant, HBO boxing analyst. “They know something is going on now, but they don’t want to give up their skepticism. How good really are these guys? How tough are they?”

The current bunch of heavyweights has not demonstrated a high skill level, a colorful style or an ability to excite and dominate, and that’s one reason for the current lack of interest in heavyweights.

But it goes beyond that, according to Merchant.

“Very, very few fighters outside of the U.S. become popular attractions here,” he said. “Outside of a Roberto Duran or a Julio Cesar Chavez, I can’t think of anybody.”

In recent years, American fight fans have shown more of a tendency to look beyond the stars and stripes if there is an attractive fighter on whom to focus.

Lennox Lewis, while not a Duran or a Chavez, became a popular foreign fighter. Born in England, he spoke English, spent his teen years in Canada, fought his biggest matches on American soil, was a skillful boxer and puncher in the latter stages of his career and pleased many fans by finally removing Mike Tyson from the sport with a dominating performance.

Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir’s brother, also became an attraction, but he too worked at it. He learned to speak English, moved to Los Angeles and won support with a valiant losing effort in a title fight against Lewis at Staples Center, the match stopped only because of a bad cut above Klitschko’s left eye.

Wladimir Klitschko, however, has struggled to gain acceptance because of several losses, a questionable chin, an inability to maintain stamina in the latter stages of some of his fights and a bizarre incident after losing to Lamon Brewster when Klitschko blamed it on being drugged or poisoned in some unexplained manner.

For now, America’s heavyweight hopes rest on Rahman, inconsistent throughout his career; James Toney, 37, whose career has been marred by a failed drug test and difficulty to stay in fighting shape; and John Ruiz, whose boring, clutching style is better suited to mixed martial arts than boxing.

“The talent pool is almost empty,” said Arum, who points to the huge financial opportunities now available to young athletes outside the ring. “If Muhammad Ali was 17 years old today, he would be a tight end for Louisville High School. Today’s great athletes envision themselves as superstars in the NFL or the NBA.

“Why would they want to box [in their youth] when they can be a star in high school in other sports, surrounded by cheerleaders? How are you going to convince them to give all that up to go into a smelly gym out of sight of their peers?”

And while the opportunities and financial inducements have grown for American athletes, the end of the Cold War has allowed Eastern European fighters to break free of a system that kept them amateurs in search of Olympic gold and international glory through their productive years.

“You don’t hear about some young American heavyweight dynamo coming up,” Merchant said, “knocking everybody out. There’s no buzz out there.”

And no White House invitations likely to be in the mail.

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Begin text of infobox

Wladimir Klitschko,

IBF champion

Born: March 25, 1976 in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan

Record: 46-3

Knockouts: 41

Last fight: Referee called fight against Chris Byrd in seventh round.

Next fight: Nov. 11 vs. Shannon Briggs in New York (tentative).

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Nicolay Valuev

WBA champion

* Born: Aug. 21, 1973 in St. Petersburg, Russia

* Record: 44-0-1

* Knockouts: 32

* Last fight: Technical knockout over Owen Beck in Hanover, Germany, on June 3.

* Next fight: Nothing scheduled

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Sergei Liakhovich

WBO champion

* Born: May 29, 1976 in Vitebsk, Belarus

* Record: 23-1

* Knockouts: 14

* Last fight: Unanimous decision over Lamon Brewster in Cleveland to take the belt on April 1.

* Next fight: Nothing scheduled

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Hasim Rahman

WBC champion

* Born: Nov. 7, 1972 in Baltimore

* Record: 41-5-2

* Knockouts: 33

* Last fight: Draw with James Toney on March 18 in Atlantic City.

* Next fight: Saturday vs. Oleg Maskaev in Las Vegas.

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Foreign champs

Only 18 of the 69 boxers who have been recognized by one or more organizations as a world heavyweight champion since 1882 have represented countries other than the U.S.:

*--* Boxer Country Organization(s) Time period Bob Fitzsimmons New Zealand Universal March 17, 1897-June 9, 1899 Tommy Burns Canada Universal Feb. 23, 1906-Dec. 26, 1908 Max Schmeling Germany Universal June 12, 1930-June 21, 1932 Primo Carnera Italy Universal June 29, 1933-June 14, 1934 Ingemar Johansson Sweden Universal June 26, 1959-June 20, 1960 Gerrie Coetzee South Africa WBA Sept. 23, 1983-Dec. 1, 1984 Trevor Berbick Canada WBC March 22, 1986-Nov. 22, 1986 Francesco Damiani Italy WBO May 6, 1989-Jan. 11, 1991 Lennox Lewis England WBC Dec. 14, 1991-Sept. 24, 1994 WBC Feb. 7, 1997-Nov. 13, 1999 IBF, WBA, WBC Nov. 13, 1999-April 29, 2000 IBF,WBC April 29, 2000-April 22, 2001 IBF, WBC Nov. 17, 2001-Sept. 5, 2002 WBC Sept. 5, 2002-Feb. 6, 2004 Herbie Hide England WBO March 19, 1994-March 11, 1995 WBO June 28, 1997-June 26, 1999 Frank Bruno England WBC Sept. 2, 1995-March 16, 1996 Francois Botha South Africa IBF Dec. 9, 1995-Sept. 7, 1996 Henry Akinwande Nigeria WBO June 29, 1996-Feb. 17, 1997 Vitali Klitschko Ukraine WBO June 26, 1999-April 1, 2000 WBC April 24, 2004-Nov. 9, 2005 Wladimir Klitschko Ukraine WBO Oct. 14, 2000-March 8, 2003 IBF April 22, 2006-present Corrie Sanders South Africa WBO March 8, 2003-Oct. 9, 2003 Nikolay Valuev Russia WBA Dec. 17, 2005-present Sergei Liakhovich Belarus WBO April 1, 2006-present

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Note: In the first century in which a world heavyweight champion was recognized, beginning in 1882, only five men who were not from the United States held the title.

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Source: wikipedia.org