Top 10 white heavyweights

I think he was talking about the past, as in most of boxing history.

 

Yeah higher distribution of fast twitch muscle fibers in black people, thats fact. White people have better strength-stamina(which is a SINGLE trait). Every "race" has different traits and advantages that were developed to deal with their environment.

 

For this generation of heavyweights, poverty is not an explanation for black Americans making it farther than whites. Most black Americans are middle class and it shows a lot in who the recent black American contenders were. Byrd, Williamson, Brock, Breazele, Washington (half Mexican), etc. are not products of poverty.

Things were different if you go farther back.

 

Thats not true, which genes influence which athletic trait has been determined and the prevelance of these genes in different population has also been studied. Obviously there is alot more that can still be learned, but there is definitely a genetic difference in ethnic groups that relates to different sports. Thats just the result of different ethnic groups having adapted to different environments in different ways

 

Yes it is to some extent, however what also plays into it is the fact that boxing is simply a more popular and more accepted sport in black culture than it is in white culture. And yes those cultural differences do exist, I would know because i am part black and part white and i grew up in the US

 

Do you have any links to studies?

Americans in general are very very genetically diverse, especially black people. So genetic differences aren't gonna hold a lot of weight for athleticism on a population basis in comparison to individuals.

Maybe Kenyans are better suited to run long distances than others, but that environment and gene pool is irrelevant to American black people.

 

Agreed.

 

Not on hand but its on the internet, been a couple years since i took excercise science classes in college. Maybe if i find an old textbook i'll take a picture. But i see your point about AMERICAN black people alot of american black people are not of 100% african ancestry. Either way I didnt say black people necessarily make better boxers, because boxing takes a variety of athletic traits and psychological ones. But when you isolate a single athletic trait or ability like sprint speed there are differences.

 

There is such thing as up regulating genes for size, which basically means if a certain population gains access to excess food, protein, etc. they get bigger. It's not as relevant for white and black Americans, but for first generation immigrant Mexicans, for example, a lot them are a lot bigger than their parents and are now influencing the heavyweight division.

 

I do not think that it is a racial advantage.

I think that it is more down to a small population in Africa who live at high altitude.

It is also down to culture.

I have ran in South Africa twice, and the work ethic among the local amateurs is incredible!

 

Who are you talking about here? Andy Ruiz Jr.? Chris Arreola?

 

Those two, Gerald Washington (sort of), and Eric Molina at heavyweight. Gilberto Ramirez and Chavez Jr. at 168 are both big guys. Chavez Jr. is much bigger than his dad.

 

Cooney gave Holmes all he could handle and was arguably winning the fight at some point. Had he had better ring IQ he may have won,it was a fight or so too early for him. He also fought Spinks poorl;y and wasted punches ,he didnt know how to fight correctly like a big Hw. as for his rankings..he would beat many guys you have ranked over him. Marciano wouldn't get near Cooney at 6'6 or so who also had decent in fighting with those short shovel like punches. People just dont want to hear it.

Cooney had enough skill and was certainly more polished than most of the guys you have,it just so happened ppl rank him on the Holmes fight which is ridiculous being Holme was a tall elite technition himself who had great ring IQ.

 

I agree which is why I think I was the only one that had Cooney in the top 10. But with the list based on things like actual career achievements and historical status as well as h2h, I couldn't really put him above any of the other fighters I have above him but I still wanted to find a place for him because I thought he would have done well in match ups with quite a few of them.

 

Agree with this. The best Italian fighters were Italian-Americans. Why? Because they pitched up in the US with the clothes on their backs and needed a way to put food on the table. Poverty = determination aka a fire under one's ass to escape one's circumstances as well as greater numbers of that poor generation actually becoming boxers.

If I understand it correctly, the folks of eyetie descent are doing pretty well for themselves in the US right now, and therefore there seem to be much fewer that opt to get punched in the face as a way to make a living.