Pacquiao/Nonito Donaire

Maybe, but I would say that before even Pac and Donaire got into boxing there had to be something they picked up as kids in Genral Santos City which DID contribute to their success as boxers. And like an earlier poster said, that city also had produced other champions like Navarette and that Sonsona kid. This can't be just coincidence IMO.

 

Now do you know of places outside the US where this has happened? Ive lived in BK and yes Bowe, Tyson all lived in BK...(Bedstuy/brownsville neighborhoods i think) but thats like saying alot of NBA players came from NY....ie; Stephon Marbury, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom all grew playing each other. Its not a fair comparison. Its the USA...**** its NYC, their path to success is a whole lot easier. There's alot of poor places on the US but you dont know poor until u hit up a third world country. Thats why I find it more incredible that a place such as GenSan has produced concurrent p4pers.

And I also dont buy this notion that Donaire is from the Bay area and didnt get any kind of influence from GenSan. He spent his formative years there. The first 10 years of your life is the time you pick up ingrained traits, values, and characteristics. He may have honed his craft in SF but thats not to say he didnt get his swag from somewhere else. See its not boxing skills im talking about perse but attitude....that holds as much importance as the technical aspect of it, and like I said before there has to be some sort of inherent fighting culture in GenSan. I hear that area of the PI has Muslim insurgents for the longest....maybe that has something to do with it.

 

Isnt Mexico city the largest city in the world...top 5 at least.

 

Well Detroit is a shithole too, so I don't doubt people there have to fight for every scrap they get. No offense....to shitholes that is.

 

I think there's something to that...where a region produces certain kinds of athletes either through the gene pool and or a combination with their upbringing. This is especially true if the sample population is smaller. I know the 757 area code of VA produces an inordinate amount of world class athletes of all kinds like Pernell, Michael Vick, Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning...and they all seem to be that the explosive fast twitch kind of athlete. On a grander scale you can see how a lot of Mexican fighters fight with that macho approach no matter how outgunned they are....this would be a more cultural influence .

I do think in the case of GenSan, it is rare...being it is a city from a third world country of even which i understand is one of the poorest in the PI. Think about it, it is one of the poorest city in a poor country. And then you got the problem of proximity. It is hard enough for ANY Asian fighter to make it big in the USA, much less from this one tiny corner of a third world country.