The last great African-American fighter

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Hey Guys, check this article out from Yahoo Sports:</span>
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<h1>Is Hopkins the last great African-American fighter?</span></h1>

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Posted December 29th 2008 at 09:17pm

<h2>By Joseph Santoliquito</span></h2>

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Are
there any African-American boxers who can pick up the torch from
Bernard Hopkins (right), seen here nailing Kelly Pavlik with a right
cross, once the great fighter finally retires? Photo / Ed
Mullholland/Fightwireimages</font>





If Jack Johnson were alive today, he'd be shaking his head in his hands
at the station of the African-American fighter in boxing.



He might assume that it was 1908 again, with the dearth of great
African-American fighters in the sport. So for now, "Papa Jack" will be
left with turning over in his grave at the current state of
African-American fighters.



It's not good.



Want to make a quick judgment? Simply look around the next time you're
sitting ringside at a major fight. Make a mental inventory of the
number of African-American fans you see in the stands and more
importantly how many inside the ring on world-class fight cards today.



Some call it a crisis. Some recognize it as a correctable problem.
Others say that it's just a sign of the times; that the globalization
of boxing has eased out African-American fighters, giving way to
talented Eastern European boxers.



What is certain is that only oneâ€â€￾that's one African-American fighter is
in The Ring's pound-for-pound top 10, Bernard Hopkins. In the February
2009 issue of The Ring, 20 of the 176 fighters rated are
African-Americans.



Compare that to 10 years ago, when in the February 1999 issue of The
Ring there were five African-Americans rated in the top 10 (Roy Jones,
Evander Holyfield, Mark Johnson, Pernell Whitaker, and Shane Mosley).
What's more, 43 of the 170 fighters rated were African-American.



Take a look at the pathetic shape of today's heavyweight division. In
the February 2009 issue of The Ring, not one African-American was rated
in the top 10. Not one. Now go back 10 years ago and you'd find six
(Evander Holyfield at No. 1, George Foreman No. 3, Michael Grant No. 4,
Michael Moorer No. 5, Shannon Briggs No. 6, and Chris Byrd No. 7).



Go back even further, to March 1990, and you'd see that seven of the
top-10 heavyweights were African-American, headed by Mike Tyson (with
one European, Gary Mason of England, who was rated 10th). You would
also notice that 45 African-American fighters of 170 were rated, and
six of the top-10 pound-for-pound were African-Americans, topped again
by "Iron Mike."



"We are in a crisis stage," said Hopkins, who at 43 holds the mantle of
today's African-American fighters. "This change didn't happen in the
top 10 last month, it came gradually. Look at the change, with the
Eastern Europeans in boxing. Look at the champions and titlists, they
are European. African-Americans ruled the heavyweight division. That's
not the case anymore. There is a lack of talent and lack of bright
stars.



"Stars aren't being produced. It goes all the way down to the amateurs.
The average 17-, 18-, 19-year-old African-American kid, they don't make
the Olympics, they turn pro. They turn pro and they're not ready. The
future of the American fighter is in real danger, especially the
African-American fighters. Go into the gyms, you'll see boxers and
trainers, but I don't see someone on the level of Roy Jones, Bernard
Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather, Sugar Ray Leonard. The next two or three
years are going to be very important."



Hopkins said the lure of the streets takes away many potentially
talented African-American fighters. Teenaged athletes today simply
aren't shaped from the same discipline Hopkins had.



"Do you think some kid today who can make quick thousands on the street
is going to wake up at five in the morning for a five-mile run, do
you?" the former middleweight world champion and future Hall of Famer
asked. "That's not going to happen. The attention span of these kids
today is a second. I'm not giving up. I don't think anyone should give
up. There is a problem with discipline over the long haul. The average
inner-city kid, they're not Harvard graduates, they have short
attention spans. But that doesn't mean we should turn our backs on
them. We all have an obligation to go back and get kids involved with
boxing again, the African-American fighter can't give up."



Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward thinks there are plenty of great
African-American fighters today. They're just outside linebackers in
the NFL and power forwards in the NBA. He sees more inner-city kids
gravitating towards football and basketball, leaving boxing behind as
an afterthought.



Plus, Europe has finally caught up. Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton, the Klitschko brothers rule the sport.



"These other countries are more focused into boxing, especially in
Eastern Europe, than the black kids in the inner-city," Steward said.
"Those kids want to be basketball and football players. That's what
they want to do. Latin kids are going into the gyms in droves. It's
just how the sport changes now and it's going to stay that way for
awhile.



"One of the problems we have, and no one wants to hear this, is that
there are no more trainers. We have no trainers in the inner-city. The
kids in Europe are getting a better amateur background and they teach
basics. Our kids don't have trainers who teach anymore. They're
conditioners. The European fighters are more disciplined and focused
than our black kids."



If fighters like Hopkins are the present, then Chad Dawson and Daniel Jacobs are the future of African-American fighters.



Jacobs, a 21-year-old middleweight with a 13-0 (12) record, broached an interesting point.



"African-Americans are much better off (socio-economically) than they
were 30, 40 years ago," said the budding prospect who is one of the
rising young stars in the game. "When African-Americans dominated the
sport, they had their backs against the wall and had no other choices
than to go into boxing. They trained so hard and boxing was all they
had. Maybe that's why you might not find another Bernard Hopkins or
Floyd Mayweather again, because they were very dedicated to the sport.
They trained accordingly. Young people don't commit to boxing like they
should.



"I don't know if it's being sidetracked to the money and the fame. But
I saw it happen to my peers, not just with boxing in general. Back in
the day, you used boxing to get out of the hood. Jack Johnson and
Muhammad Ali had something to prove and live for, but there are so many
opportunities that black kids have today that they didn't have 20 years
ago."



What boxing needs is a great African-American heavyweight that everyone
could identify with, says Showtime boxing analyst Steve Farhood.



"Because boxing is an individual sport, all it will take is one
fighter, probably a heavyweight, to change the perception of where the
African-American fighter is," Farhood said. "The right guy comes along
and that solves a lot of ills."



But Farhood tends to agree with Steward as to where the great black fighters are today.



"If there is a dearth, that's if, it's partly because of the
globalization of boxing. The tradition of boxing in the Hispanic
culture seems to be heavier and meatier than the African-American
culture, at least it does today. The increase of Eastern Europeans and
Latin fighters, the numbers of African-American fighters figures to go
down. I don't think anyone can argue the young inner-city kid is likely
to idolize and NFL player or NBA player (rather) than a boxer. There is
a shallow pool out there, and it's a problem. But I won't go as far as
saying we're in a crisis."



But someone will emerge. Hopefully, someone from the Andre Wards, Dawsons, Daniels, and Peterson brothers out there.



"It's fairly obvious what's going on," HBO ringside analyst Larry
Merchant said. "You usually extract quality from quantity. You may get
kids to occasionally come out, but not in the great numbers they once
did. That's something we all have to accept. Boxing has become more
global. That's one aspect of it. It's no longer part of the social
fabric of this country, part of the mines and the farms and the mills,
with kids using boxing as a way to fight out and up. Inner-city
youngsters don't dream about being heavyweight champion anymore. They
dream about being basketball and football players. They dream about
college scholarships, and that's a good thing."



Dawson leaned heavily towards basketball. He was a very good high
school player. But Dawson received a stern shove in boxing's direction.
If it wasn't for poor grades preventing him from playing in high
school, Dawson would have pursued basketball in college and possibly
tried to play professionally in Europe.



Boxing would have been missing a young star.



"My dream was to go to the NBA, that's what I wanted to do, but boxing
was in my blood," the IBF light heavyweight titlist said. "From being a
little kid, from middle school and high school, I got caught up with
the hoop dream. When I got to high school, you see all the basketball
players with all the attention and all the girls. You see that and
that's what you want.



"I chose boxing as a last resort. My two older brothers were fighters,
my father was a fighter. When I was 17, I wasn't running. I didn't
start taking boxing seriously until I was 23. I would box, make some
money and just blow it. I was able to get by, (but then) I started
getting committed. I was lucky I found my calling. I don't know if
there are guys out there willing to wait until they're 23 to get going,
but I think there is hope for the young black fighters in this country.
I have a responsibility to help."



Somewhere, you'd like to think, Jack Johnson is smiling over the
attitude of Hopkins, Dawson, and Jacobs. They all feel obligated to
give back to the sport that has provided so much for themâ€â€￾so much rich
history.



"I know a lot of young black fighters who don't know who Jack Johnson
is, and that's a shame," said Jacobs. "All I know is that Jack
Johnson's dreams live on through Bernard Hopkins and Chad Dawson. They
live on through me."
Edited by: indianwhite
 

whiteathlete33

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Unbelievable. Stating the pathetic shape of today's heavyweight division. Please. The heavyweight division is better than ever. We finally have real champions like the Klitschko's who are educated, excellent athletes, and can put together a sentence without the use of ebonics. Yep what we really need is another criminal like Mike Tyson in the heavyweight division. That would make all the wiggers real happy. I actually liked Steward but seeing as he is taking the same approach as to where all the great "affletes are" I no longer do.
 
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It's a shame there are so many BRAIN-WASHED White Americans these days: No pride and respect for their own race and culture. They like being pushed around by Blacks and other minorities. Obama's election is the ultimate understatement. See all you guys in 4 years. And praise be to the Klitshckos.
Edited by: indianwhite
 

whiteathlete33

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I just google this clown Joseph Santoliquito's name. He is an award winning sports writer from Philadelphia. It seems to me this guy is either white or possibly hispanic.
 

Bart

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I'd like to say that article is one of the worst anti-white pro-black pieces ever, but in reality it is typical of the anti-white pro black sentiment that pervades sports journalism.
 

Liverlips

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Or maybe blacks just can't hang with white fighters?

This article is the usual pro black-racism found in the American media. The sports media is even more anti-white than the regular media. The one antidote is right here: Caste Football. We can talk openly and freely about the racism we face and the challenges all whtie athletes - boxers included - must face.

Kelly Pavlik, Paulie Malignaggi and Travis Kauffman are carrying on the dreams of Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano.

God bless the white American boxer. God bless the white boxer from any part of the world. We are boxing royalty.
 

Colonel_Reb

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Gentlemen, excuse me while I wipe up the tears that I cried while reading this piece.
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Seriously, what a pathetic, whining, groveling, looking for any excuse they can think of heap of anti-white garbage. The Euros and other whites had to beat the black butts who had the titles formerly. They didn't walk into a bunch of vacated titles because all the blacks signed for NBA teams or had to work on their 40 times for the NFL combine. One thing is for certain, these anti-white"male" writers are threatened big time, which means the blacks and jewish backers in boxing are scared as well.


That makes me very happy! The more pieces we see like this, the more we know we are winning the war, as well as the individual battles.

And when we see this in football and basketball, we will have really done something.
 

SoberWF

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Excuse my ignorance of boxing's current landscape, but what is the state of the American white fighter in all of this? I know white boxers have made gigantic inroads towards claiming many of the weight class belts recently. But are they primarily European fighters? Part of the articles point is American in nature, meaning, "Hey, where are the American title contenders?" Unfortunately, the writer thinks the crisis is that African-American fighters are vanishing. Do white American fighters face the same caste level prejudice as in other American sports? Meaning, are there talented white athletes who are discouraged from going into boxing in favor of other more tolerant venues (i.e. UFC, MMA)? Posters in these forums usually have great amounts of evidence on discriminated white athletes, so I am looking forward to seeing what white American boxers are "getting the shaft".
 

GiovaniMarcon

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... On the other hand, I would venture to say without one iota of hyperbole that Iron Mike in his prime versus a prime Wlad (OR Vitali) Klitschko wouldn't be the bloodbath Mike Tyson victory that a lot of wiggers assume.

I think that either Klitschko could do well in any era of boxing -- even against Foreman or Ali.

This article author is another sad piece of evidence that huge numbers of white men are secretly girls, or eunuchs.
 

Westside

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IndianWhite thanks for posting this important piece, in that it again exposes this dyfunctional logic why blacks no longer dominate boxing. Its the same villians who always undermine us. The white writer or jew. I would better understand this piece coming from a black but it never does. The white/jew sports writer is a new member of the Traitor club, which includes Drunk white fans, White GMs, White Head coaches and owners such as urchins like Jerry Jones. I will now disect this article in the following paragraphs.

The writer states "crisis" why is it a crisis with the dearth of black fighter today? How come its not a crisis with the dearth of whites in the NBA and NFL? This writer should write another piece stating such,but he won't. In fact black writers would do it/have.

This writer states that the boxing is "pathetic Shape." How come its so? Becuase negros no longer can hang at the elite level. If blacks were at the elite level, this piece would not be come out. The writer attempts to explain that the current state of the game is un-natural! F him! It never occurred to him that negros of the 60's and 70's never had to compete against the Eastern Europeans, so maybe their dominace was not real.

The Jew writer Farhood states that America "needs" a black fighter to solve all these ills!. This is an incrediable statement. Why couldn't he say America needs a American Fighter? Just another Jew trying to promote a black Affelet over a white one. What ills, every fan should critique and praise all these White Champions, not say sh.t like this. Ills, as if blacks were pre destined to rule boxing and sports and for Jew writers such as Farhood to give praise. F him!

This writer talks about the "obligation" of getting blacks into boxing. What about the "obligation" to get American whites into boxing, NFL and NBA. For some reason there is no urgency to give whites this same obligaiton.

If Jack Johnson is turning over in his grave becuase the the sorry state of black boxers, Rock Maricano is also pissed due to the lack of White Americans in boxing. This writer convienently doesn't or will not state this.

Regarding Dawson's statements, I have no prolem with. He is black and see reality and states his opinion. He appears to work very hard for his current status and more power to him. What gets me are the whites/jews who attempt to give excuses for black low performance, rather than say, "Hey maybe these White Champs are the goods and back in the day, blacks weren't that good,because the Soviets fighters could not fight professionally.

What is this urge to explain away reality or give "reasons" to the current White Domination of Boxing. With the NFL and NBA its just that the affelets are better, nonsense. With boxing, there are all sorts of reasons/excuses. Enough already!
 
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What a sh*tty article.
1) I do not believe for a second that ALL athletic blacks are dreaming of the NFL. What happens to the other 80% of 15 16 and 17 year old black males that quick high school early therefore never even competing in Gridiron or basketball.
2) How is the lack of black talent in say Middleweight a reslt of blacks choosing other sports. I still watch the NFL from time to time and have yet to see 158 pound middle linebackers.
3) This Jewish writer obviously does not like to see whitemen do well in the combat sports.
4) In the 60's 70's 80' you really had only a half a dozen or so country's that took pro boxing to heart. (none more than the U.S.A.)England, Canada, U.S.A., mabye France and Germany to a much lesser degree. All of the Eastern Bloc countries forbid their fighters from turning pro.
5) Not even the biggest of Jewish Anti-White male nut huggers can seriously believe that a guy like Michael Spinks would get absolutely decimated by either Klitschko. Or fighters like Tyrell Biggs, Tony Tubbs, Pinklon Thomas, or Trevor Berbick.
 

whiteathlete33

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Maybe we could say the same about whites in the past. They were more into MMA, baseball, and strongman that's why they weren't boxing.
 

whiteathlete33

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Come on guys. We have to admit. No white fighters would be champs if the blacks weren't going to NFL. Let the media keep pumping that statement through. I will keep laughing.
 

Don Wassall

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What I've often read about white boxers is that they lost their "hunger" as their ethnic group (Irish, Polish, Italian being the best examples) became more assimilated into U.S. society. There might besomething to that though one can't generalize about every single person ina group anymore than one can offer the ludicrous explanation that "(all) blacks just aren't interested in (every sport in the world other than football and basketball)."


In the case of blacks, maybe they've lost their "hunger," not because of their success in society, but because as a group they've become more dysfunctional, softer, more prone to the easy life be it crime, drugs and/or video games, TV, etc. Most black athletes are pulled out of the ghettos but the ghettos tend to beat down everyone that lives in them in one way or another.


The pool of even marginal black athletes does seem to be noticeably shrinking, and if so that's our best friend because it will make the Caste System ever more extreme anddifficult to keep going.Edited by: Don Wassall
 

white is right

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There has only been one good black dominated era. The early to mid 70's When Ali, Frazier and Foreman were the best fighters and Norton and Quarry were at the second level and you had a bunch of good but flawed guys like Lyle,Shavers and Standner below that. Otherwise the divisions have been weak in the middle and strong on top. I remember the Holmes era was paper thin and so was the Tyson era. Only the Lewis era had depth. And the depth was provided by foreigners. Ie Golota, Tua and Ibeabuchi (before he went batshXt). If I read another Chris Bosh could be heavyweight champion stories I will die from laughter....
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whiteathlete33

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Too much talent coming out lately. Adamek, Froch,Pavlik, and Abraham. They are the next wave of fighters regardless. We will not be stopped!!!! Happy NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!Edited by: whiteathlete33
 

Don Wassall

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white is right said:
There has only been one good black dominated era. The early to mid 70's When Ali, Frazier and Foreman were the best fighters and Norton and Quarry were at the second level and you had a bunch of good but flawed guys like Lyle,Shavers and Standner below that.


Interesting observation as it reminds me of baseball, where black hitters dominated the sportduringroughly the same time period, the mid '60s through the mid '70s. Since then it's been a slow, seemingly irreversible decline with all kinds of excuses and explanations offered except one -- maybe blacks aren't better baseball players than whites, Asians and hispanics. This huge mythology has been built up about blacks as superior baseball players just as it has about black boxers, but the reality is often different from the propaganda.


At their height, blacks were about two and a half times their percentage of the U.S. population in MLB, now their percentage in baseball is a little below their percentage of the population.


So blacks are currently roughly represented in proportion to their population in baseball and boxing; those who proclaim that the races are identical should be joyous at this kind of evidence of "equality"between different races. But of course the realgoal isn'tabout "equality" but about using theBig Lieof black athletic supremacy as part of an overall agendato degrade and replace the whiteworking and middle classwith a Third World one. Edited by: Don Wassall
 

whiteathlete33

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What remains to be seen is whether fighters like Klitschko, Pavlik, and Abraham will be considered "legends" in the future. I mean like in the next 10 years. Will they be featured in boxing games among other things? Also, I don't know if anyone has heard, but supposedly the WBA is reviewing Valuev's win over Holyfield. This is due to the fact of complaints from media and fans. Can they possibly reverse the decision?
 

Maple Leaf

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I think this is the key quote from the article:

"Take a look at the pathetic shape of today's heavyweight division. In the February 2009 issue of The Ring, not one African-American was rated in the top 10. Not one. Now go back 10 years ago and you'd find six (Evander Holyfield at No. 1, George Foreman No. 3, Michael Grant No. 4, Michael Moorer No. 5, Shannon Briggs No. 6, and Chris Byrd No. 7)."

He is saying here that without African American fighters the division must be weak. Africans and Africans living in Europe do not seem to matter to the writer. Of course, this just begs the question: what about other weight divisions, does that same reasoning apply? Why does it matter what racial group dominates? The best fighters rise to the top don't they? Of course the entire premise of the article is that African American fighters are naturally better than everyone else around the world, and they are the standard and without them no one else can make the claim they are the best without beating them. But as we have seen throughout the twentieth century ,and on the twenty-first, that every victory of a white over a black fighter is tainted in some way with a littany of excuses as to why the black American fighter lost. A white figthter cannot simply be better than a black fighter there always seems to be some footnote as to why like as if they were "wind assissted"
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white lightning

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I love seeing these stupid, pathetic writers squirm in their shorts as they try to stick up for the black supermen that they love. Some of these clowns must have posters of these black superior athletes(lol) in their bedrooms. It is so obvious. Their hidden agenda is disgusting. It makes me want to throw up. These clowns insult not only the great european fighters, but also asian &amp; hispanic fighters. I wonder what Pacquio would say to this idiot.


We have made so much progress but this is still only the beginning. We will continue to fight for our culture, our beliefs, our heritage. The European Boxers are here to stay. Deal with it America!
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Edited by: white lightning
 

Amren.com

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whiteathlete33 said:
What remains to be seen is whether fighters like Klitschko, Pavlik, and Abraham will be considered "legends" in the future. I mean like in the next 10 years. Will they be featured in boxing games among other things? Also, I don't know if anyone has heard, but supposedly the WBA is reviewing Valuev's win over Holyfield. This is due to the fact of complaints from media and fans. Can they possibly reverse the decision?

I wouldn't mind the decision being reversed as long as Holyfield fought Wlad or Vitali soon after. Valuev isn't that a good a champ. There's probably a dozen boxers out there that could outpoint him. I noticed that he's now rated 14th on Boxrec.comEdited by: Amren.com
 

Thrashen

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"Or maybe blacks just can't hang with white fighters?"


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Liverlips, change is always hard when it comes to the caste system. Give it time, they'll begin to get frustrated trying to come up with excuses. Remember all the trolls who used to frequent this site the instant a white fighter would lose?

What's wrong guys (and I use the term 'guy' loosely), suddenly you're so silent?
 
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