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Because we play Golf here.... And stream video games. 
Why do the best white boxers come from Eastern Europe?
- Thread starter MoreKane
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Until they meet a Mexican or Latino.
Then the train generally ends there. Canelo/GGG, Lopez/Lomachenko.
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Does that mean Zurdo is going to derail Beterbiev?
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Hahaha
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Canelo can more than likely trace his roots back to Spain and I would personally would guess to the Basque region in the North. Who are known to have red hair and have celtic ties/origins.
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Eagerly awaiting Usyk vs Ruiz.
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It's not hard to see the convergence...
Early American boxers from disadvantaged migrant backgrounds...
African American boxers from disadvantaged backgrounds once they got more a chance...
Mexican boxers... etc etc
Eastern European boxers from...
And yes you can argue individuals came from this or that- but the broad spectrum of society & opportunity (and I'll get back to that) creates the environment. How many kids who have a real shot at an easy ride to college because their parents read & were educated & had middle class jobs... how many choose boxing, even if they are good? Fucking zero point one %.
But kids who have fewer other role models, or choices or even spaces to go that they get attention at- they end up in a boxing gym. Or worse awaits them. And they follow through because other avenues are unrealistic.
You can pretend it's race but that's stupid. It's to a large degree economic, to some degree opportunity and to some degree knowledge- did you land in a place with enough boxing nous to move you forward. USA, Mexico have that in some areas, Soviet states & Cuba developed it deliberately through govt, anywhere else you're in pot luck of finding a good gym or overcoming not having one to start. They had a really thorough amateur coaching apparatus you can't begin to fathom in USA. They used to test every school kid for potential. That stopped but the hundreds of thousands of paid coaches at city & state level- literally a good paid govt job, they remained. And they still bear that fruit.
50% economics to make getting punched in the head worthwhile. 40% knowledge base. 10% variables.
Early American boxers from disadvantaged migrant backgrounds...
African American boxers from disadvantaged backgrounds once they got more a chance...
Mexican boxers... etc etc
Eastern European boxers from...
And yes you can argue individuals came from this or that- but the broad spectrum of society & opportunity (and I'll get back to that) creates the environment. How many kids who have a real shot at an easy ride to college because their parents read & were educated & had middle class jobs... how many choose boxing, even if they are good? Fucking zero point one %.
But kids who have fewer other role models, or choices or even spaces to go that they get attention at- they end up in a boxing gym. Or worse awaits them. And they follow through because other avenues are unrealistic.
You can pretend it's race but that's stupid. It's to a large degree economic, to some degree opportunity and to some degree knowledge- did you land in a place with enough boxing nous to move you forward. USA, Mexico have that in some areas, Soviet states & Cuba developed it deliberately through govt, anywhere else you're in pot luck of finding a good gym or overcoming not having one to start. They had a really thorough amateur coaching apparatus you can't begin to fathom in USA. They used to test every school kid for potential. That stopped but the hundreds of thousands of paid coaches at city & state level- literally a good paid govt job, they remained. And they still bear that fruit.
50% economics to make getting punched in the head worthwhile. 40% knowledge base. 10% variables.
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Not really if you look at it on a broader spectrum. But yes Mexico especially has fantastic sophisticated coaches as Nacho Beristain. Love his coaching approach. Combine that with the warriour and hard work mentality and you get winners. Same with Russia. GGG really is a bad example as he fought Canelo post prime and by many estimates still won the first fight. Lomachenko is now also past his prime at 33 esp. in lower weight classes and imo he went up a weight class too much. Still Lopez is also a great boxer.
But if I would have to single out one important influence for the development of boxing it would be former USSRs scientific approach to studying and training boxing in the 1950s. That created a ton of new training approaches now backed by critical thinking at university level. It created the cuban boxing style and by that influenced the latino countries a lot in moving away from pure sluggers to technical masterclasses. Roberto Duran may be THE perfect embodiment of both. Ferocious like no one else to the point you would have thought he is posessed. A training motivation out of poverty that was unparalelled and that combined with a brilliant fight iq and technical ability. Both Duran and SRL changed tactics several times in their legendary fight with Duran getting not only the upper hand in damage but outsmarting the fox Leonard.
