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I happen to speak Russian and I have read that infamous interview and here is what I have to say on this whole thing.
First of all he used the word "negr" which is a common word for describing people of African descent. I know in Ukraine for example but in Ukrainian it is more common now to hear on TV the term "temno shkiryi" which means "dark skinned" which is the equivalent of the American term "black." But "negr" is still a very common that does not carry any negative connotation.
When Kovalev talks about his experiences in America he is obviously going to try to give some description of the people that he is dealing with, so he is going to say "tanned guys"....BTW the term in Russian for tanned is "zagarelyi" which literally means burnt, so this is something your google translation will not catch.
There are other terms to be used if he wanted to refer to an African with ill intent, such as "nigg3r" pronounced "knee-gear"
And anyway everything is being taken out of context.
You have to remember that Eastern Europeans have no connection to Western colonization, hence they do not simply give a **** about racial and political issues faced by Americans, the English, the Dutch, the Spaniards etc...So they do not feel the need to be politically correct around issues they have zero relation too just because they happen to share the continent or the skin colour of said conquistador.
Hence me personally when I immigrated to Canada felt and still feel no problem getting into a heated exchange with someone of another race because I do not feel that anything that I might say will hurt my opponent by bringing up some dark moments in history...Hey my oppressor was the Russian and the Polak not the African or the Chino.
I am not defending Kovalev, quite frankly I do not care what he says as much as I do not care much for what Hopkins says, I like both fighters.
But all of you need to step out of your American bubble and try to learn the world around you and how they perceive things.
If my goal is to demoralize my opponent I will use eveyrthing in my arsenal to make him feel bad. I'll call him skinny, fat, *****y, pasty, darkness whatever it is that will upset him. It does not for one second mean that I believe in the genetic racial superiority of one over the other because in this day and age to believe in that concept is to be ******ed.
First of all he used the word "negr" which is a common word for describing people of African descent. I know in Ukraine for example but in Ukrainian it is more common now to hear on TV the term "temno shkiryi" which means "dark skinned" which is the equivalent of the American term "black." But "negr" is still a very common that does not carry any negative connotation.
When Kovalev talks about his experiences in America he is obviously going to try to give some description of the people that he is dealing with, so he is going to say "tanned guys"....BTW the term in Russian for tanned is "zagarelyi" which literally means burnt, so this is something your google translation will not catch.
There are other terms to be used if he wanted to refer to an African with ill intent, such as "nigg3r" pronounced "knee-gear"
And anyway everything is being taken out of context.
You have to remember that Eastern Europeans have no connection to Western colonization, hence they do not simply give a **** about racial and political issues faced by Americans, the English, the Dutch, the Spaniards etc...So they do not feel the need to be politically correct around issues they have zero relation too just because they happen to share the continent or the skin colour of said conquistador.
Hence me personally when I immigrated to Canada felt and still feel no problem getting into a heated exchange with someone of another race because I do not feel that anything that I might say will hurt my opponent by bringing up some dark moments in history...Hey my oppressor was the Russian and the Polak not the African or the Chino.
I am not defending Kovalev, quite frankly I do not care what he says as much as I do not care much for what Hopkins says, I like both fighters.
But all of you need to step out of your American bubble and try to learn the world around you and how they perceive things.
If my goal is to demoralize my opponent I will use eveyrthing in my arsenal to make him feel bad. I'll call him skinny, fat, *****y, pasty, darkness whatever it is that will upset him. It does not for one second mean that I believe in the genetic racial superiority of one over the other because in this day and age to believe in that concept is to be ******ed.
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