Why do so few good boxers come from Africa?

Why do so few good boxers come out of rual Mongolia???? Posted from Boxingscene.com App for Android

Cause they are to busy trying to find food to eat and not get eatin by Lions and Tigers to worry about boxing There aren't tigers in Africa

Cause they are to busy trying to find food to eat and not get eatin by Lions and Tigers to worry about boxing lol stereotypical American view of Africa, all based on the Lion King... :) Africa is a continent but the various nations have quite a few boxers who fight for other countries, as well as those in Africa. We should remember too many of them would get robbed by judges, Clottey might've had a couple more big wins if he were from US. Cameroon Sakio Bika Hassan N'Dam Carlos Takam Ghana Joshua Clottey Nigeria Sam Peter Raymond Olubuwale South Africa Frans Botha Kaizer Mabuza Thomas Oosthuizen Chris Van Heerden Zimbabwe Dereck Chisora I'm fairly sure there are many more if you look them up.

Africa isn't a country. Africa has about 54 countries in it. Of those 54, about 3-4 have any serious interest in boxing. Of those very few countries, they've produced many boxers (South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria). End thread.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21180321 Bukom, a small neighbourhood in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, is busy, noisy and somehow special. For some reason these few blocks have produced some of Africa's finest fighters - among them, five world champion boxers. Why? There is something strange about Bukom. It's a poor place, but nothing out of the ordinary in this part of the world. The people live crowded together and, in little shacks, under tin roofs, there are men, women and children at work - making and mending. Others sell goods which spill off the wooden tables into the street - motorcycle chains and fishing nets, fried fish and rice. Azumah "The Professor" Nelson does not live in Bukom anymore. The winner of three world titles in the 1980s and 90s, he became a national hero and he's widely considered to be the greatest boxer ever to have come out of Africa. These days he lives in another part of Accra, in a large house behind high walls with a swimming pool in the compound, a gym and an outside bar. But he remembers his childhood in Bukom. Azumah Nelson - one of Africa's greatest boxers - grew up in Bukom "Bukom is like survival of the fittest," he says. "When you are a child you need to find food for yourself, you need to struggle for yourself to get something to eat and get money. It makes you tough.... Sometimes you just fight. Fighting is nothing, it's not any big deal." Boxing is built into the culture of Bukom. If two men or boys are arguing in the street, people tell them: "Don't argue. Stop talking. Just fight it out." There are posters on the walls advertising upcoming bouts and others paying tribute to the local champions: Ike "Bazooka" Quartey, David Kotei (they call him DK Poison), the "Professor" of course, Joseph Agbeko, and Joshua Clottey. The fighters are neighbourhood superstars and national heroes. I stop for a chat with a few old men sitting outside a bar and ask about Clottey. And they point to a young man sitting at the end of the bench. His name is Michael, a boxer himself and the brother of the champion. There are lots of boxers in the Clottey family. Emmanuel (welterweight), Judas (middleweight) and Joshua Clottey, former IBF welterweight champion. And as I chat to the people of Bukom, along comes Joshua himself, ambling down the road on the way to the gym. "You have to be strong no matter how young you are", he says. "If you are not strong and you go to that area, they will beat you." His mother, Memunah Ansah, thinks it might be in their genes. "I'm a dancer and an active woman", she says. "So maybe that's what transferred to the kids." The next Azumah Nelson? As well as the fight culture that exists in the neighbourhood, there may well be other reasons to explain the strange success of the boxers of Bukom. Dr Claire Haworth, from the Institute of Psychiatry, at King's College London, is involved in one of the most important studies into nature and nurture - using twins to investigate the way that our genes and our environment influence the way our lives turn out. She thinks that from a genetic perspective, there are at least two possibilities. "One is that there is something special genetically about this population and the other possibility is that the culture and environment that these people are in just draws out the genetic potential." Traditionally, the men of Bukom were fishermen, navigating the coastal waters in long, wooden canoes. It was, and remains, tough work and it may be that some traits common to fishing and boxing have been concentrated in the population, traits like strength, speed and stamina. Of course, genetic potential is no guarantee of success and no-one has ever become a world champion boxer without thousands of hours of training. There are boxing gyms scattered across the neighbourhood - Napoleon Tagoe runs one called Will Power. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Behaviour is just as heritable if not sometimes more heritable than physical characteristics” Claire Haworth King's College London It's dark inside the building which is little more than a warehouse at one end of a brick yard. There is a roof of corrugated tin and the windows are without glass. There's a ramshackle boxing ring in the centre of the room and a few punch-bags at one end. In the shadows at the back there are children as young as eight, punching each other hard - to the body and to the head. Napoleon Tagoe looks and sounds older than his 39 years. A former fighter in the cruiserweight division, he's heavy now and much of the muscle has gone to fat. His speech is slow and slurred and one eye is glazed over with white, the result of a punch, years ago, that took away most of the sight in it. "I want to produce somebody who'll win a world title for me. I'm number one! I know how to do it," he says. And Tagoe hopes that man will be Albert Mensah. The 29-year-old is lean and fit and the sweat pours off him as he trains. Continue reading the main story Find out more The Why Factor is broadcast on BBC World Service on Fridays at 18:30 GMT Listen to The Boxers of Bukom via iPlayer Listen via The Why Factor download More from BBC World Service "I want to be a world champion" says Mensah. "I am training every day. To be a somebody... you have to train. Always training." For Mensah, determination is the key. And Claire Haworth says that, even in this, genes may play a role: "You would have to have that determination to achieve in such a tough sport and in such a tough environment." "One possibility is that there are genetic influences on how motivated you are, how determined you are," she says. "There's an idea that there are genetic influences on what we call 'grit'... One of the most surprising findings in behavioural genetics is that behaviour is just as heritable if not sometimes more heritable than physical characteristics." Bukom delivers a perfect set of circumstances. Poverty and the motivation to escape it. Role models who prove it's possible and a culture that approves of fighting. There's a genetic heritage that has built strength and speed into the population and an infrastructure that's grown up to help make the most of those genes. Very few will make a living from boxing. Fewer still will make it to the top. But you do wonder if one of the children in the dark at the back of the Will Power gym might, one day, return to Bukom a hero. Interesting that one place they do have a boxing culture produces lots of talent. Most reasonable answers have been covered. Lack of boxing culture and infrastructure are the most important to me.

Does Corrie Sanders count? >__>... Seriously though it's a lack of a healthy boxing culture in most cases. In many cases it just takes a few very good fighters to capture interest and even if it's that city, they start developing a good boxing tradition. Tere's a lot of poverty in Africa so the chances are smaller for one to not only take up boxing, but also be good...OR be successful/popular. I mean honestly, if they thought boxing would be a money maker they would find the funds... There's just neither the interest or volume of good fghters in most of the countries. It's not like athletics are dead there.. IMO (may sound a bit ignorant here) but boxing requires a bit more than most sports. It's not enough to just be good.

Because we haven't organized enough rock/pop concerts in their benefit,that's why.We took everything away from these poor people and we can't even guarantee them a single Boomtown Rat's tour? It's an absolute disgrace.

The level of stupidity here is unbelievable.... The sports are just not popular over there, period. Yes Africa is probably the poorest continent overall, but trust me, if there was a worldly interest for boxing, they would have many champions. Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey were the best boxers to ever come out of africa I believe. Soccer is the worlds most popular sport people, and it is so because it is the cheapest to play.China is has the dilemma of communism and little interest in the sport as well.

Roger Mayweather is on crack and has no teeth and he's still a successful trainer. That's no excuse. Roger Mayweather is a 2 time world champ;That trainer i mentioned with the one eye never amounted to anything in boxing.And if i`m not mistaken he damaged his eye when he was boxing which is another indication that he was a boxer of low quality.

The reasons so few good boxers come out of Africa is cause of lack of good training facilities and lack of good trainers partly as a result of extreme poverty. 2 years ago i was watching a vid on Youtube about a training facility in Ghana and not only was the facility,dirty dungeon like and lacked enough training resources;but one of the trainers at the facility was a former boxer who was blind in 1 eye. Roger Mayweather is on crack and has no teeth and he's still a successful trainer. That's no excuse.

The reasons so few good boxers come out of Africa is cause of lack of good training facilities and lack of good trainers partly as a result of extreme poverty. 2 years ago i was watching a vid on Youtube about a training facility in Ghana and not only was the facility,dirty dungeon like and lacked enough training resources;but one of the trainers at the facility was a former boxer who was blind in 1 eye.

Cause they are to busy trying to find food to eat and not get eatin by Lions and Tigers to worry about boxing

Cause they are to busy trying to find food to eat and not get eatin by Lions and Tigers to worry about boxing You sound just like them racist who talk bad about Africans.FYI Africans have modern looking areas and middle class and high class neiborhoods.

Nigeria used to churn out heavier guys: Sam Peter, Ike Ibeabuchi, Herbie Hide, Dokiwari, Izon. Not sure about Afolabi, Akinwande, they got Nigerian roots. But not so much recently.

The fighters are the ones who make boxing big, boxing does not make the fighters. If you have successful fighters coming out of a country then the sport becomes popular. The reason why boxing is popular in Mexico is because we have a history of successful champions that have made the sport popular and people actually become interested in watching the fights because they're exiting fights to watch. It is not common to see a boring fight between two Mexicans. It's hard to become a boxing fan if you see two guys dancing around the ring..

lot of ignorant comments as i figured would be made. soccer is much more popular in africa,but ghana has had some great fighters i believe south africa to. Yeah boxing just isnt big there. I mean why is boxing huge in mexico but the majority of south america produces very few top notch boxers, its just not as popular as it is in mexico and puerto rico. Sure theres a few guys now and then but not like mexico and PR.

dont forget about baby jake

Cant tell if you're trolling. 2.33 + 2.33 = 4.66 + 2.33 = 6.99 So he's pretty much right when he said between the country and the continent there is 1/3 of the worlds population. Maybe you misread his post. Edit: You made me waste my 3000th post. I wasn't trolling but I misread his post. I thought he said 1/2.

Clottey, who I honestly found to be a very good boxer. Mathebula?

What are you on about? If the world's population is 7 billion you would divide it by 2 ( not 3) which would give you 3.5 billion ergo 2.3 billion is not even close to half of the world's population. Cant tell if you're trolling. 2.33 + 2.33 = 4.66 + 2.33 = 6.99 So he's pretty much right when he said between the country and the continent there is 1/3 of the worlds population. Maybe you misread his post. Edit: You made me waste my 3000th post.