How much do race and nationality have to do with boxing

preach brotha


seriously **** this cat and the horse he rode in on.

 

I can honestly say it doesn't matter to me in the slightest.
I'm Scottish but none of my favourite fighters are from here.
I quite like David Haye but aside from him, I don't really cheer-on any fighters from Britain.
I just like watching good fighters in good fights.

 

I dont really care what colour a guy is or where he is from.I have respect for anyone who is prepared to climb into the ring.I do support British fighters when they go abroad or face foriegn opposition but not to a fanatical degree,i just like to see a good fight where both guys give it thier best shot and the better man wins.Last weeks Cotto Jennings fight was an example.I would have loved Mike to have pulled it off but i have nothing against Cotto and was pleased for him when he won.I also wanted Skelton to win but have nothing bad to say about Martin Rogan it was a great fight and full credit to both men.

 

Mayweather snr,or at least he is one while Ricky is paying him.

 

Bull****.
I'm a white, English person.

My top 5 fighters of all time are:

1. A Mexican American
2. A British Muslim of Yemini descent
3. A Puerto Rican of African descent
4. An African American
5. A black British person of Jamaican descent

 

Yeah, because have we have read before it's all about you. Whatever Hoya-UK thinks and does is the status quo.

Give it up bro, just because you may be an exception you can't deny the truth that people will always root for something familiar.

Thus why a majority of sports fans in any given city are fans of the team located IN THE THEIR CITY. It's why fans in Youngstown are drawn to Kelly Pavlik. It's why they always mention what college a guy went too in professional sports here.. creating more ties to a guy.

When no other connection, we tend to fall to race.

It's perfectly normal in every fight, even if not a fan of either guy, you tend to root for one or the other in your mind. You pick a favorite, and you always have some criteria in your mind that makes that choice for you.

 

I just realized last night that race influences who I would like to see win even if the fighter isn't puertorican. And no, I'm not talking about latin fighers in general or blacks. It's not a specific race but sometimes I root for a certain guy because of his race even though there's absolutely nothing I could gain if he won. I'm talking about Mike Arnoutis, I always find my self rooting for him because he's from Greece and I love their history, epic poems and myths. Because I enjoy and respect the Greek culture I became a fan of his since the first time I saw him. That doesn't mean I'm not happy Ortiz won, in fact I do feel happy for him, and I thought he was going to win, but in the moment I was just rooting for "Mighty" Mike.

 

You're saying that I'm a liar, this is your word; "lying", if people don't admit to supporting "thier own", I say thats bull****. You make gross generlizations about "the majority", and judge everyone else by your own standards. Why not just accept that everyone is different, and that plenty of people don't give a **** about racial identity in sport, why would you feel the need to label those people "liars" or "exceptions to the rule"?

Some of what you're saying is sensible, and I tend to agree with it, I don't see why you need to turn it into a personal attack.

 

Good post. We all have choices and minds of our own. I went through hell as a kid and did not pick-up any of that BS from my stepfather. I love the boxing game, but do pull for certain fighters like Tito, Cotto, Juanma. I also will try to catch all of PBF, Oscar, and RJJ. I will try to see Ruiz due to knowing him and growing up in the same city. You have to root for someone you personally know.

 

Good post.

 

It would be silly to say there is no self idifiction in how people chose who to root for in sports boxing included. Think about your favorite sports teams, football, basketball, baseball and soccer for example. You probbly root for them out of some sort of self idefiction. For example they might be the team from your home town. Boxing is not much diffrent. As a Jewish person I admire Barney Ross and Benny Leonard, and I am hoping that the likes of Yuri Foreman, Dmitriy Salita and even Roman Greenberg as well as Ran Nakash can all win world tittles. I also admire and root for boxers from other etinic groups as well. Pernell Whitaker (not Jewish) is my favorite boxer who I am actulaly old enough to have seen fight as an active boxer and not just on you tube video. I am also a fan of Marco Antonio Barrera (also not Jewish).
I guess if I have a point to this is that we are all influenced by who we are and where we come from but we should not be limited by that or anything else. This goes for all sports boxing included as well as all matters of life and human interacition.

 

If that's the case, how come Floyd Mayweather was one of the most heavily criticized fighters in the sport?

 

Seems to me he is also the highest revered though

 

Right, honestly; race has NOTHING to do with which fighters I like or support. Nationality has some bearing. Let me explain; there are four or five active fighters who I'm a fan of. I will favour these fighters against any other opponent.

For example, I am a fan of Cotto, he recently fought Jenkins who is British. I supported Cotto in the fight, and I wanted him to beat Jenkins. The fact that Jenkins was British, would not overide the fact that I was a fan of Cotto first and foremost.

However, if there was a fight between two boxers, neither of which I was a fan of; with one boxer being British, and the other American, I would by default support the British fighter.

As for the race issue, I think in some contexts its perfectly normal, in others it can be quite small minded and sinister.

 

I would like to think it has to do with nationality more so than race. There'snothing wron gwith national pride in boxing just like in any other sport. The Brits should be able to be behind Ricky Hatton and hope Tyson Fury is the next big thing. Us Americans should hope for a heavyweight to reclaim the championship for our country. Mexicans should love their warriors etc. What I don't think there's a place for is racism. I'm american and white. If im cheering for an american, im cheering for an american, I could care less what race or ethnicity he's from.