Why do the best white boxers come from Eastern Europe?

[defjaam]

It simply economics. There are no really, really poor Americans anymore. Not starving in ghettos without shoes and shit with no welfare or EBT and shit like that, I mean. Abject poverty.
I've mentioned this many times over the years. Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and Siberia, whatever. You still have incredibly poor people in those conditions, and fighters have historically come from poverty. I'd cite Pac as a perfect example. Absent abject poverty, he may not have been a fighter. It was his path to a better life. So we don't see as many white or black fighters in the US coming from that angle anymore. Very few, actually. I guess you could argue Appalachia is still that way in many parts, but that was never really a source of too many fighters over the years, historically. But there were VERY poor whites (and blacks) in the US at the turn of the last century all the way through probably the '60s and into the '70s, even. Then the welfare state became much more "robust", here.

The USA is the richest country today, but it was also the richest country 50 years ago and 70 years ago. Hence why there could be a professional sports system (including boxing), why people were able to run boxing gyms, have newspapers and all media report about boxing etc etc... The opposite of what you say is true, imo.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

You can see that hes not white. Too much style too be white

He looks like ginger Matt Hughes. Hes whiter than ricer

 

[JoshTehV]

particulary Ukraine.... but in general, it seems like the best white boxers come from Eastern Europe

yes you have great western white boxers like Fury, but it seems like the only great white fighters are those from the Eastern Bloc, is there a reason for this?

Its because their fucking crazy and all raised in a dog eat dog world

 

[Congo66]

How many of these Russian/Ukrainian/Eastern Europeans will end up as 46-0 like Joe Calzaghe?
Tyson Fury is pretty pale, Froch was too and Hatton, Frampton, BJS, Callum Smith, Josh Warrington, Josh Taylor.

Edit - and why are some people here obsessed with skin colour? You can pretty much guarantee who supports Fury and Joshua in the UK if/when they fight won't come down to the way they look.

 

[Seso]

And UK

 

[tweety]

They crush cans until they fight someone with real skills then get destroyed

Same will happen to Loma soon

 

[PHATV]

The USA is the richest country today, but it was also the richest country 50 years ago and 70 years ago. Hence why there could be a professional sports system (including boxing), why people were able to run boxing gyms, have newspapers and all media report about boxing etc etc... The opposite of what you say is true, imo.

There was no child support, EBT, free no-deductible medical, dental and vision insurance, free rent, free utilities, free transportation, free breakfast lunch and dinner at school for kids, soup kitchens, food banks, women with kids homes, homeless shelters or anything of the sort for much of the time you speak of. It was different, trust me. People who were poor, were actually poor. Doesn't exist anymore outside of the hills of Appalachia and even many of them have it figured out, now.
"Poor" people didn't have a telephone, much less a cell phone. It was still that way (plenty of people without a phone) when I was small and I'm not THAT old.

 

[PHATV]

Edit - and why are some people here obsessed with skin colour? You can pretty much guarantee who supports Fury and Joshua in the UK if/when they fight won't come down to the way they look.

This. @Seano has said it before and I think along the same lines. Thinking back all the way through childhood my favorites are all over the place ethnically/racially and it never even occurred to me in my life until this forum, I don't think. Generally, I'm going to pull for a US fighter (I think this is more normal/usual than race), but even that apple cart gets upset from time-to-time and varies. But there is no racial pattern to it for me. Never was.
Starting to be concerned though, as I've enjoyed watching Loma, Kovalev and GGG (among many other boxers of color, but...) currently and in recent years so I might be literally Hitler.

 

[MoreKane]

another thing in general is Eastern European fighters seem better conditioned and better fundamentals in general

 

[mozfonky]

Tougher than America's white fighters these days but some are still not tough enough, I've seen golota, dorin, klitshko and kovalev tank it when it got painful.

 

[Raffen]

Because they are the blacks of Europe

 

[Athenry04]

I read it as Manchester lol.

 

[Bangkok ready d1]

Canelo is the best white boxer today i would say

 

[fanydany]

Yes you are right

 

[SandisLL]

. There are no really, really poor Americans anymore.

read news portals about numbers of homeless ppl in U.S

It simply economics.

It is a bit different.
To become good boxer is not cheap and fast process.
---
I think before some 1955 th maybe boxing irl was more as road out of poverty, still earlier in Dempsey era it was reality.
After some 1956 th amateur accomplishments were also political competition thing.
Promoters quickly picked up how lucrative is to have pro boxer with sound amateur credentials.
Media more informed about amateurs achievments and then this was damn lucrative for pro boxers managers too. Lol, if I will have a guy that is mentioned in newspapers, journals, had been showed up on TV ( TV then was like today power of internet and TV together ).
Era when plenty of notabe U.S pro boxers had sound amateur accomplishments: Patterson, later Ali, golden era with 3 Olympic champions: Ali, Frazier and Foreman in 70 ies.
Ofc this was good thing for boxing to become more popular, youth had examples to follow etc, from ammy till pro.
---
Now too not rarerly high level pros are with highly accomplished amateurs background. If they does come from countries outside of U.S then it is difficult to see this reason. Different stories about their poverty as reason etc.
U.K is not eastern europe, still they does have and did had accomplished pros with sound amateur credentials. U.S pro boxing fans does not recognize role of amateur sport enough to see this reason too.

 

[SandisLL]

Today ofc the same: managers and agents, promoters are happy to have accomplished amateurs, just if someone from U.S, then ppl see: oh, there is boxer A, he most likely fights his road out of poverty ( despite boxer A had been picked by managers because he is Olympic medalist ).
If from another country, maybe people think: ohh, there is some x or y origin money hungry eastern european or guy from U.K. ( despite this russian or U.K guy too was Olympic medalist ).
BTW skin colour does not matter, I think.
U.K does have different colour medalists that now are pro boxers. I do not think that they are poor, just they already proved something before going to pro.

 

[JSN]

Because when you’re from a shithole, getting punched in the head doesn’t seem like such a bad prospect.

 

[mozfonky]

It simply economics. There are no really, really poor Americans anymore. Not starving in ghettos without shoes and shit with no welfare or EBT and shit like that, I mean. Abject poverty.
I've mentioned this many times over the years. Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and Siberia, whatever. You still have incredibly poor people in those conditions, and fighters have historically come from poverty. I'd cite Pac as a perfect example. Absent abject poverty, he may not have been a fighter. It was his path to a better life. So we don't see as many white or black fighters in the US coming from that angle anymore. Very few, actually. I guess you could argue Appalachia is still that way in many parts, but that was never really a source of too many fighters over the years, historically. But there were VERY poor whites (and blacks) in the US at the turn of the last century all the way through probably the '60s and into the '70s, even. Then the welfare state became much more "robust", here.

Welfare was gutted in the 90s, however the point is valid. I believe welfare destroyed many families just by giving an option for the man. Same could probably be said of feminism.

 

[The Penetrator]

Best white basketball players also come from Europe.

I guess most white people in USA probably feel sports are for black people? Maybe, idk...

 

[mozfonky]

Best white basketball players also come from Europe.

I guess most white people in USA probably feel sports are for black people? Maybe, idk...

i don't follow many other sports but whites proliferate in hockey, golf, soccer, probably horse racing and football and baseball. As much as folks might want to deny things, there are differences culturally, physically and psychologically between races, the nature/nurture debate can be applied but it won't explain everything. Same in music, blacks are seen as some sort of savant when it comes to music and dunces when it comes to lyrics, whites are seen as non-dancing and more cerebral. There are plenty of artists to debunk that theory but those ideas are out there and they exist largely in the minds of observers and not in reality. In sports it's a lot more easily visible on a physical perspective. A guy can either run, jump or lift a lot or he can't. however, even in boxing, i've seen plenty of white fighters who were very fast handed, very coordinated and skilled but people back in the earlier eras were convinced that white fighters were nothing but patsies. One problem in the 70's through the 90's was that there just weren't that many good white fighters and you had way more fighters of other races than you did white fighters, so the odds at least were against them. Some of them would get coddled too, Gil Clancy once said that Gerry Cooney's managers destroyed him by being overly protective.