The Myth of black decline and Eastern European dominance in boxing

[Citizen Koba]

Very good and accurate post, economic factors seem to have more of an impact than race 100% also culture British culture, for example, is all about having a fight whether at a football match or outside a pub which may be why they have a disproportionately high number of champions and world-class fighters

Economic and cultural factors are the key drivers... say the British (Travellers in particular) or Mexicans ain't necessarily any more naturally gifted than anyone else but both have a history and culture of the sport and have unusually high rate of uptake ... concentration of talent begets more talent of course. Where you got more boxers and more money you get better gyms, better trainers, and so on.


I did a breakdown of #s of pro-boxers per capita by nation a while back, and it showed quite clearly that boxing success in terms of titles at least was roughly proportional to the number of pro-boxers in the established nations. Eastern Europe was top heavy but that's simply because it's represented mainly by a relatively small number of elite amateurs who turned pro without the greater numbers of lower level guys involved in the pro sport that you get in the established pro boxing nations.

For many of course, boxing is simply one of the few routes out of grinding poverty, you can see the relatively high # fighters per capita in Nicaragua or Jamestown, Ghana:

https://qz.com/africa/1541075/these-...ing-champions/

[nubianpiye]

Economic and cultural factors are the key drivers... say the British (Travellers in particular) or Mexicans ain't necessarily any more naturally gifted than anyone else but both have a history and culture of the sport and have unusually high rate of uptake ... concentration of talent begets more talent of course. Where you got more boxers and more money you get better gyms, better trainers, and so on.


I did a breakdown of #s of pro-boxers per capita by nation a while back, and it showed quite clearly that boxing success in terms of titles at least was roughly proportional to the number of pro-boxers in the established nations. Eastern Europe was top heavy but that's simply because it's represented mainly by a relatively small number of elite amateurs who turned pro without the greater numbers of lower level guys involved in the pro sport that you get in the established pro boxing nations.

For many of course, boxing is simply one of the few routes out of grinding poverty, you can see the relatively high # fighters per capita in Nicaragua or Jamestown, Ghana:

https://qz.com/africa/1541075/these-...ing-champions/

Brilliant do you have a link to the breakdown? I'd love to read it. Sharing is caring

[Citizen Koba]

Brilliant do you have a link to the breakdown? I'd love to read it. Sharing is caring

Damn... I think it was a discussion me and Marchegiano were having last year? Lemme try to search it up. I might have even thrown together a little spreadsheet but I think I updated my OS since then so I probably wiped it...

Hold up...

[Citizen Koba]

Brilliant do you have a link to the breakdown? I'd love to read it. Sharing is caring

Ok here we go, got the full table on post #26 but plenty of discussion and some thoughts on the info throughout that thread.

https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=832912

Have to maybe see about revisiting that and getting the data updated for this year. Interesting discussion looking back over it.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

How many Eastern Euros held titles twenty years ago?

Progress- not dominance.

[PRINCEKOOL]

In the professional ranks eastern Europeans are not dominating.

Maybe it is more so in the amateur ranks?

There is no real clear world demographic which dominates boxing.

Note: People in the west these days, seem to idolize eastern European countries 'It is mostly a man thing, a man crush type behavior'. We have all seen the type of behavior I am talking about 'Men crushing on eastern European culture and women'.

This behavior I am talking about is very low in African American's, Mexicans, Hispanics and Latino's I.E they have not adopted this man crush type behavior.

[Citizen Koba]

How many Eastern Euros held titles twenty years ago?

Progress- not dominance.

That's pretty much the long and short of it. At the end of the day we shouldn't be expecting any one nationality ot 'race' to dominate, it's absolutely an individual sport, and the characteristics that make for success in boxing are too varied and complex for any minor genetic differences in human populations to confer any significant advantage.

Where we might see some differences it's more to do with cultures who have a tradtion of boxing or fighting, so there's more gyms and better trainers and more kids getting involved in the sport, but that ain't confined to any one country or region.

[Mammoth]

One of the cool parts about being Native is I honestly think I'm a lot less emotional about fighters than a lot of people around here are.

[PRINCEKOOL]

One of the cool parts about being Native is I honestly think I'm a lot less emotional about fighters than a lot of people around here are.

Native American?

[Mammoth]

Native American?

Anishinaabe, my friend. I got a job that can be boring and little ones who love dinosaurs more than boxing so I spend too much of my time here. I notice certain posters rooting for certain fighters and it gets to be obvious why after a while.

But ain't none of us better than one another just because of race. That kinda shit is foolish.