What classifies you as an American fighter?

[$partacus]

Actually, I am asking this question because a lot of Europeans are bad mouthing Americans and discrediting their history in the sport.

I know what thread you read that in, but you fail to mention the American posters who said that the British heavyweight champs are not ethnically British and started the whole thing.

[Check]

there is no realy way to classify one american or not, unless you look at the legal way, which is via citizenship.

boxing wise, the way i would classify a boxer would be as the following:

if born and raised in US - of course = American
if came to US as a child and came thru US systems = American

if came to US as an adult (18+) then you can lean to not being American (boxing wise only).

For just about everything else - the best gauge is their accent, if they sounds american it normally means they are (as they would have had to come to the US at a young age)....


PS - you may get a fighter who was born and raised in US but represents another country at Olympics, but that means jack ****, just exploiting an opportunity.

That's is how I look at it.

I know what thread you read that in, but you fail to mention the American posters who said that the British heavyweight champs are not ethnically British and started the whole thing.

Yes, that's where my post came from. I think the same holds true for any country. It just chaps my ass for people to say African Americans aren't American(they probably think the same about Mexican Americans). If I was African American I would be irate about that. Some posters really don't understand how diverse of a country the United States is.

[MidnightSpecial]

if they claim america and live here i will accept them. if clottey, agbeko, or anyone else from outside the US want to come over and become an american citizen i will claim them. **** it. i feel my country can be a land of new beginnings and if you love my land as much as me you have just as much right to claim it as your own

[The_Demon]

whatever nationality a fighter says he is,then he is.

[Syf]

Fixed. I got a few of my thoughts mixed up.

ah word.

Well to answer your question I think an American is an American by act of will and choice. People come from all over and want to join our little socio-economic experiment and we let them in, depending on the results of a few academic tests and such and perhaps a bit of bureaucratic red tape, and from then on they are American.

As to who will be more widely accepted in a highly public arena like boxing? Well dialect is very important. I think that is what holds Pacquiao back from being the true superstar he could be in the states. If he had someone like Bruce Lee's command over the English language, Pac would be bigger than Floyd in the states.

[XviciousX]

Berto was born in Florida: http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php...uman_id=283680

As a matter of fact in a recent RING Magzine interview he said he went to Haiti only recently and that was his first.

[Seiko]

You were born in america

[Check]

You were born in america

What if you only lived in the country you were born at for only a few years? If we only go off by where you're born that means Lennox Lewis isn't British, he's Canadian.

[Hyde]

What if you only lived in the country you were born at for only a few years? If we only go off by where you're born that means Lennox Lewis isn't British, he's Canadian.

Lennox Lewis was born and raised in London what are you on about? He moved to Canada as a teenager but then later moved back to his home country of England as an adult.

[Check]

Lennox Lewis was born and raised in London what are you on about? He moved to Canada as a teenager but then later moved back to his home country of England as an adult.

I could of sworn he was born in Canada. Okay, well then what about David Haye? He was born in Cyprus and if we only say you can be such and such country only if you were born there that means he wouldn't be British. I think you have to say if someone has lived in a certain country he is from that country. Agreed?

I'm not on anything, just wanted to know what people felt since some people don't consider African Americans actual Americans.

Edit: I guess Haye wasn't born in Cyprus according to boxrec. Either way you get what I'm asking about.