Considering the huge success of fighter from hispanic decent over the yrs why dont the countries of spain/portugal produce more good fighters....??? Your men from peurto rico , mexico etc. are on the whole decended from these lands so Ive always wondered why....?? Maybe Spain does'nt encourage boxing at grass roots or maybe in countries where poverty is more prevailent a fighting mentality is more common. I remember a documentry on UK tv a few yrs back & the book that accompanied it "Celtic fists" that profiled the boxers of "celtic" origin from the islands known as the UK , Most of the fighters came from hard poverty stricken backgrounds & the working class backgrounds of the mines , steelworks & shipyards that used to dominate Britain. I personally believe that adversety breeds fighters so maybe I have answered my own question....
Thing is though surely Spain/Portugal in general arent sociallyeconomically better/worse than the UK & we regularly produce decent fighters , Maybe the council estates of uk/eire have more in common with the latino americas than we think...???
I would guess the fighters out of Spain are less likely to be heard of here as they are in the Euro circuit. The latin american fighters are in our backyard and therefore familiar.
Fair enough mate but generally even though Im sure there are good spanish fighters out there , they never make it on the world stage whereas mexicans/peurto ricans do.........Strange....:?
Football (Soccer for the Americans) is the main factor in my opinion. Spain and Portugal are big football nations, with the kids in the poorer areas out kicking ball in the street rather than in the gym punching speed bags. Before anyone has a go, I know that Mexico, especially, has a big football fanbase, but boxing is also very popular. If you go into South America the split is again in favour of football (I know, Freitas from Brazil, and Monzon, Barrios, Narvaez etc, from Argentina. But these are again nations that are geared towards a football-supporting mentality). Panama and Colombia seem to produce their fair share of good fighters, but again I would say football prevails (maybe not the case in Panama, don't really know???). Its the same thing I have been hearing when the question arises of "why are there no decent American heavyweights?", and a lot of people would say it is because all the big college guys are goin into the NFL and NBA. Spain and Portugal are European countries, and haven't excelled themselves in the boxing arena, but football is the main sport in their geographical area. Britain might have a bigger prevalence of boxers, because it is, to a certain extent, the home of boxing, and there is the history there to hold on to. Just a theory though.
too much wine woman and song....too much revelry and lust for living going on, not enough tough gritty shitty situations around to warrant this kind of dedication. I am just guessing of course.
