While Mixed Martial Arts is not?
Damnit, can a Mod fix the title?
Because they are better at boxing than other people?
Moved to the Game Room.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
No. Why would that be? Why were the Irish or the Italians once the best boxers, when they aren’t any more?
In general, dominance of particular ethnic groups in particular sports can be accounted for by cultural reasons. For whatever reason, boxing is more popular among black kids in urban areas than mixed martial arts are.
People with lower economic backgrounds tend to gravitate towards rough professions with the chance of making it out of poverty. In the US and some other countries, that tends to be blacks.
But if you look at the list of current boxing champions, there are many boxers from eastern Europe, Mexico, Japan, Thailand, etc. i think it’s fair to say that southeast Asians dominate the lower weight classes. The super heavyweights are often black but recently we’ve had several Russian champions.
First of all, boxing is not dominated by Bjack men or even black men. As this page of current champions shows, boxing has a mix of races and nationalities that is only equaled by the Olympics.
One thing can be said about the history of boxing, though. It’s a brutal sport that chews up its athletes. The ranks of top boxers tend to come from whichever racial, ethnic, or national group that has few other equivalently good options for ambitious young men. If you are poor and striving you’ll do the worst work across the board, and if that work has opportunities, even vague ones, for fame and fortune, all the better.
MMA championsalso come from around the world.
My guess is that a lot of perception bias is rolled into this question.
Ninja’d, but that’s because I brought the links.
Blacks were hindered from championship boxing until the mid century.
I’m sure the great English, Irish, Gypsy and Jewish bare-knuckle fighters of the old English prize-fighters ring, 100 rounds plus, pre-boxing, could wipe the floor with most people, but black men were rare in Britain then and more of them might have enabled them to dominate the foolish sport as they do boxing now.
Tom Molineaux, ‘Black Ajax’, was beaten by Cribb in 1811, but they were both too old and past their prime.
So? Are they hindered from participating from lower weight classes now? In the lower weight classes, are Asians better than blacks? Why would that be?
For about 30 years, yes Black Americans did dominate the Heavyweight boxing scene.
But since early 2000, we have had a Hispanic American, lots of East Euros, a couple of Black Brits and one white British Boxer (Tyson Fury).
So this question is about 15 years out of date.
Yup, there was a time why people wondered why Jews were so dominant in sports, especially in brutal sports like boxing. And then, as now, the speculation often went in bigoted directions.
Economics.
Due to being disproportionately poor and trapped in ghettos, blacks are more likely to become involved in sports that don’t require expensive facilities they don’t have access too. So, they end up in sports like boxing and basketball instead of swimming since they have access to basketball hoops & fists, but not large swimming pools.
As said, economics.
I honestly don’t see this as an inherently bigoted question; it’s a matter of noticing patterns and being curious about them - like wondering why Kenyans dominate marathon running (I don’t know if they still do) or why Soviets (Eurasians and Eastern Europeans) used to dominate wrestling.
I’m not a sports scientist obviously but my observation is that from time to time sports can be dominated by particular groups because of social and economic factors. Last I looked, though, black fighters no longer dominate the sport the way they once did. But in the 1970s and 80s, they arguably were dominant in the heavier weight classes. African Americans probably got into boxing because it was an opportunity and there were boxing gyms in the neighborhood. It didn’t require a lot of money to take it up as a hobby.
By contrast, in MMA, white competitors were dominant in the US most likely for related reasons. There were more white athletes in college wrestling programs and more white suburban kids taking up karate and tae kwon do (and then later Brazilian jiu jutsu in the 1990s and 2000s). And just as black athletes are no longer quite so dominant in boxing, opening it to people of more diverse backgrounds, black athletes are starting to more frequently become champions or elite competitors in MMA. Now you’ve got fighters like Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier are the two light heavyweight champs, and don’t be surprised to see Jones take a shot at the heavyweight shot. Meanwhile Tyron Woodly and Demetrious Johnson are two champs in lower weight classes. And a number of other black athletes have been competitive as well. MMA’s no longer a sport for wrestlers from the heartland and suburban thrill seeking bad asses from Southern California.
It’s not an inherently bigoted question. But bigots tend to jump to the conclusion that dominance of a sport by any particular ethnic group necessarily means there is a genetic component to it. Then they use that as evidence that there must be a genetic component to other abilities or behaviors.
Nobody mentioned genetics before you did. Talk about jumping to conclusions…
Regards,
Shodan
Yes, bigots do that, but it’s okay to be naturally curious about patterns that you see in real life. That’s not bigotry. I abhor racism, but I don’t like objecting to racism that doesn’t exist either. We’ve been programmed to avoid questions that have anything at all to do with race when it’s better to just address a question with factual responses.
Are you denying that this is a frequent allegation?
Someone else brought up the fact that this may be regarded as a bigoted question. I explained reasons it may be perceived as a bigoted question. I did not say that the OP or any other post was bigoted, and specifically said the question was not inherently bigoted.
It appears that you’re the one that is jumping to conclusions.
Here’s a list of the 2016 Olympic boxing medalists
Pretty diverse group of countries and ethnic backgrounds
It was not mentioned in this thread until you brought it up.
So, no.
Regards,
Shodan
Why shouldn’t it be brought up, since it is pertinent to the OP as an explanation advanced by some people?
And you haven’t answered my question about whether you are denying it is a frequent allegation.
And what “conclusion” are you claiming I am jumping to?
If you are going to respond to this, please answer all the questions clearly.