Boxers Backgrounds - middleclass?

:roll: Way too much is made of the class thing in boxing. Doesn't mean ****. Having a 'hard upbringing' doesn't make one any likelier to have a passion or predilection for the sport, and having less of a rough go of it doesn't make one any less so - that's ******ed.

I don't give a **** about fighter's "stories", I'm really sick of ******s like Atlas and showmen like Lampley shoving it down your throat.

 

Mate I've got to tell you, as the son of two secondary school teachers, they do not earn 40k a year.

 

It makes a difference. A middle class kid is much less likely to get involved with boxing and much less likely to stick with it thru the pain. A poor kid will take it, as that might be the only road out he can find. Personally I think it's inspiring when you hear about someone like Edison Miranda, the Marquez brothers, Duran or Pacquiao who came straight off the street to, in some cases, superstardom just by their own two fists and willingness to put in the work.

 

Toney wasn't deprived, he was a star quarterback in high school. He's probably always been a coddled athlete type. Still tough as nails though.

 

Ali wasn't poor. Lived in a single family home in Louisville. Not rich but probably lower middle class.

 

It's a cliche, it is not a universal truth.

 

10 pound an hour is working class?
i know people who work 12 hours and get paid 30 quid A Day
thats working class mate

 

Neither Hatton, Calzaghe, Eubank or Hamed were middle class.

 

he was known as "lord of the manor". think his parents were countryside landowner types.

 

It's common sense, hater.

 

US and UK have different definitions of 'middle class'. hence, US pols, like Obama, use the middle class in many speeches, whereas in the UK the reference would be 'middle England'.

In the UK, you could argue Cleverly - in the US, he possibly wouldn't count as middle class as he is from (I think) a poor background, but the UK he arguably is because he is a university student. That's not a clear cut definition in the UK by any means, but hopefully it illustrates the subtle difference

 

It does not make a difference. More lower class kids get into boxing, that does not make it something you can pinpoint as vital. It's just statistics, more great boxers are going to be from that kind of background.

Every man has a fighting instinct when it comes down to it, and a desire and pride in their performance. If they don't they should be put down.

 

NO Rich family is going to let a son or daughter get their face smashed in in a boxing ring when they have money to send them to a private school and so on, poor people grow up around violence and so it's natural for them to want to get out of that social economic situation by doing something that channelling a potentially destructive energy.

I wish we lived in a world were boxing was not for money, then we would see who really is a world champion fighter of which there are thousands in reality.