Why are there no great white-american boxers?

[bigsmoothh]

imo they are smart to adapt or try other sports, boxing is a contact sport and not everyone has the luxury to have fast evading moves especially white people. however there are some exceptions, last exciting brawler i liked watching was kelly pavlik.

[Real King Kong]

What about andre ward?

[Joe Beamish]

OP is talking about white-americans not white-europeans.

White fighters in America would rather fight in MMA it would seem.

I've given several reasons, above. The cultural one is significant; gyms are dominated by black and mexican-american fighters. Whites either aren't welcome, or don't feel welcome, or are keeping themselves away to some extent. It's not in their culture to the same degree by any means. Greatness in boxing requires early involvement. White American kids are busy doing other sports generally.

[Mike D]

Given what he did, there's nothing left for white American boxers to prove.

[IMG]https://media.*****.com/media/O5NyCibf93upy/*****.gif[/IMG]

alright...i've finally been broken, I couldn't even keep a straight face while reading this

[Tony Trick-Pony]

OP is talking about white americans not white europeans.

White fighters in America would rather fight in MMA it would seem.

The fast twitching remark just said whites. So I went with it. I mean white American or European, if you're going to say one race doesn't have a certain ability, that just means the race. If Kovalev was wearing all camo with a deer strapped across his hood, you wouldn't doubt his Americanness until you heard him talk. Point being, that point sounded about race which isn't exclusive to a place.

But true. They would rather fight in MMA.

[Joe Beamish]

The fast twitching remark just said whites. So I went with it. I mean white American or European, if you're going to say one race doesn't have a certain ability, that just means the race. If Kovalev was wearing all camo with a deer strapped across his hood, you wouldn't doubt his Americanness until you heard him talk. Point being, that point sounded about race which isn't exclusive to a place.

But true. They would rather fight in MMA.

I stand by the point that white athletes don't demonstrate "fast twitch." Little guys sometimes do, but it's just not a white quality.

This is not the only reason that white americans are almost totally absent from the elite group of boxers -- and have been for at least 60 years. But it's a factor.

The bigger reason has to do with the cultural, racial divide in the US. Boxing gyms aren't a white reality, not part of the culture in any vital way.

[////]

Boxing tends to draw from environments developed enough to have gyms but poor enough for options to be slim.

Eastern Europe after communism. American ******s.

Too poor and you don't get many quality boxers per population (Africa).

Too wealthy and people move on (white America after WW2...) or treat it as a hobby (Chris Algieri etc)

I tend to see Britain and Japan as the exceptions because they have a historical emphasis on ceremonial combat sports and their interest in boxing doesn't seem to wane as much with wealth.

We will see if Mexico retains its interest in boxing now that its birth rate and economy are relatively stable and normal professions are flourishing.

It's true, you'll see "fast twitch" in the smaller white guys sometimes. You don't see it much above LW. Calzhage had that quality, though without any power.

Loma is quick and twitchy, but well trained, knows where to move his feet. The former soviet system is robust.

Everyone has fast-twitch muscle fibers. The exact ratio varies a lot genetically but it's not clear-cut along racial lines. For ex east Africans tend to have very low ratios while west Africans have high ratios.

We kind of treat "black" as a race in America but there are racial divisions within the black population that are pretty much as dramatic as those between Europeans and Asians.

[Sup]

We got that American Ninja Warrior doe.

Real man's sport.

[Joe Beamish]

Boxing tends to draw from environments developed enough to have gyms but poor enough for options to be slim.

Eastern Europe after communism. American ******s.

Too poor and you don't get many quality boxers per population (Africa).

Too wealthy and people move on (white America after WW2...) or treat it as a hobby (Chris Algieri etc)

I tend to see Britain and Japan as the exceptions because they have a historical emphasis on ceremonial combat sports and their interest in boxing doesn't seem to wane as much with wealth.

We will see if Mexico retains its interest in boxing now that its birth rate and economy are relatively stable and normal professions are flourishing.


Everyone has fast-twitch muscle fibers. The exact ratio varies a lot genetically but it's not clear-cut along racial lines. For ex east Africans tend to have very low ratios while west Africans have high ratios.

We kind of treat "black" as a race in America but there are racial divisions within the black population that are pretty much as dramatic as those between Europeans and Asians.

Most African-Americans are of West African descent, hence the high incidence of "fast twitch" in black American athletes. Again, it's not a common trait among whites of any geography. Which is why (for example) white sprinters are only rarely competitive at the top level.

Again, the cultural, socio-economic factors are even greater. There are many ways to become a great boxer besides having fast twitch muscles to a high degree -- but those are a big, big help in boxing particularly.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Most African-Americans are of West African descent, hence the high incidence of "fast twitch" in black American athletes. Again, it's not a common trait among whites of any geography. Which is why (for example) white sprinters are only rarely competitive at the top level.

Again, the cultural, socio-economic factors are even greater. There are many ways to become a great boxer besides having fast twitch muscles to a high degree -- but those are a big, big help in boxing particularly.

So blacks are better at running around the ring? Hahaha. Sorry. Couldn't resist.