Tweet
How much has the condition of communities been related to Boxing history?
At the turn of, and early 20th century, the city streets of the U.S. were crowded, violent, ruthless places. Poor immigrants from Ireland, Italy and other nations in Europe, unable to find work, often assembled gangs and other kinds of criminal cliques and organizations making the streets of that era a battleground unlike anything that has been seen there since. During this period you also had a good supply of tough quality White American heavyweight fighters. Most Blacks also lived in tough squalid conditions, but of course were discriminated against in Boxing, so were not as plentiful. In the late 40's and 50's as the U.S. economy begins to develop unprecedented strength, the streets of it's cities become much more quiet and safe. Marciano, ofcourse growing up before, becomes the last great White heavyweight American champ during the secure 1950's.
As the streets of the U.S. grew safer and less tough in White neighborhoods however, they stayed tough in the Black ****** communities, created ofcourse to communally segregate Blacks from Whites. Inferior education, infrastructure etc. lead to a desperate and violent lifestyle that served as the setting for the Black American dominance of heavyweight Boxing during the 1960's, 70's 80's and early 90's.
Now if you look up stats, you'll see that after this period (mid 60's to the early 90's) crime nation wide in the U.S. including in inner cities begin to absolutely plummet. New York, which boasted a murder rate high in the 1980's of close to 2.5 thousand dropped to the 500's, and trends like this were seen nation wide. Urban areas in the U.S. are nowhere near as tough as they were even 20 years ago. Not so coincidentally, the Black American hold on heavyweight Boxing is disappearing and now going to places that are still very tough, Russia and Eastern Europe for example. In the lighter divisions we have seen fighters from Latin American countries become dominant. Big names like Bernard Hopkins and James Toney are hold overs from another era and even Floyd Mayweather, although younger than them, is still a product of 80's and early 90's America (born in the 70's).
Where is the next generation of great American fighters?
At the turn of, and early 20th century, the city streets of the U.S. were crowded, violent, ruthless places. Poor immigrants from Ireland, Italy and other nations in Europe, unable to find work, often assembled gangs and other kinds of criminal cliques and organizations making the streets of that era a battleground unlike anything that has been seen there since. During this period you also had a good supply of tough quality White American heavyweight fighters. Most Blacks also lived in tough squalid conditions, but of course were discriminated against in Boxing, so were not as plentiful. In the late 40's and 50's as the U.S. economy begins to develop unprecedented strength, the streets of it's cities become much more quiet and safe. Marciano, ofcourse growing up before, becomes the last great White heavyweight American champ during the secure 1950's.
As the streets of the U.S. grew safer and less tough in White neighborhoods however, they stayed tough in the Black ****** communities, created ofcourse to communally segregate Blacks from Whites. Inferior education, infrastructure etc. lead to a desperate and violent lifestyle that served as the setting for the Black American dominance of heavyweight Boxing during the 1960's, 70's 80's and early 90's.
Now if you look up stats, you'll see that after this period (mid 60's to the early 90's) crime nation wide in the U.S. including in inner cities begin to absolutely plummet. New York, which boasted a murder rate high in the 1980's of close to 2.5 thousand dropped to the 500's, and trends like this were seen nation wide. Urban areas in the U.S. are nowhere near as tough as they were even 20 years ago. Not so coincidentally, the Black American hold on heavyweight Boxing is disappearing and now going to places that are still very tough, Russia and Eastern Europe for example. In the lighter divisions we have seen fighters from Latin American countries become dominant. Big names like Bernard Hopkins and James Toney are hold overs from another era and even Floyd Mayweather, although younger than them, is still a product of 80's and early 90's America (born in the 70's).
Where is the next generation of great American fighters?
Comment