Boxing and The Latin Culture

Submitted by Jose Ortiz

How has boxing impacted the Latin culture? Out of the many popular sports in Latin America boxing happens to be one of the most influential, inspiring, and most popular professional sports there are. Many hispanic champions such as Miguel Cotto (shown to the left) who happens to be Puerto Rican are looked up to by many of today's youth and also are seen by many in today's Latin society as a modern day hero but before i continue I am going to first explain what a sub-culture is. Sub-culture is a group of individuals  with a culture which can differentiate them from the larger culture to which they belong to. So to put it in better words for example if you are a die hard football fan who dresses up and puts on makeup and so called "worships" your team so they can win every Sunday or whatever day they may play you are officially apart of an sub-culture. Now when a huge boxing event occurs such as the most recent one Floyd "Money" Mayweather vs Victor "Viscous" Ortiz thousands and maybe even millions of people, black,white,hispanic, or whatever your race happens to be people come together, place bets, surround the television screen if they aren't in attendance at the fight and root and scream at the top of their lungs encouraging for one fighter to beat the other. Some simple rules to the sport are to basically always protect yourself, no low blows, no head butts, definitely no hitting behind the head, and your not suppose to use your elbows when you throw punches. As far as terminology goes you may hear many boxing commentators say: Southpaw, orthodox fighter, jab, cross, left hook, right hook, left uppercut, right uppercut, dip, dodge, parry,fake,Philly shell,cross,boxer,brawler. Basically all the basic fundamental moves of boxing. The values of boxing are pretty simple and self explanatory. To get in that ring,especially coming from a Latin culture to do your absolute best and win or if not win at least gain honor and respect from your opposition at the end of the contest. Some things that aren't really looked for or that is unwanted by particular fans is a loud mouthed cocky fighter who doesn't show respect to other individuals. When it comes to the norms there are actually many people out there who enjoy a trash talking boxer therefore as a fan they root for them from sun up to sun down. But lets not forget there are many of those boxers who stay humble, who really does not do any talking, but instead he or she lets their actions speak in the ring and those are the ones in my opinion I truly respect and root for.

For example Floyd Mayweather is undefeated therefore not only does his confidence build up but also his trash talking and arrogance which in my case is no where near a surprise coming from a guy like him. One other professional boxer that does the same exact thing is Nicaragua's Ricardo Mayorga. Only difference is he talks more trash than Floyd but he is not undefeated and always continues to come up with a lame excuse for why he lost. So to sum it up many people in a boxing sub-culture society loves to hear trash talk. It hypes them up and it hypes up the fight so they feed off of the boxers overconfidence hoping that person would win. Next, when it comes to the Latin culture boxing has basically been ingrained in it. So far Mexico has produced about a little over 100 champions while Puerto Rico has produced about 60 plus. Being part of a Latin culture and a boxer I do truly understand what it takes to be a honorable champion and what the fans look for in a boxer. Tons of individuals in the Latin Culture look for a person who will leave any and everything they have in the ring in order to become great which earns the respect of many even if its a loss. Whenever a boxer steps in the ring no matter where he or she is from that person not only represents his or herself, but they represent where they came from, the struggles they went through just to make it this far, they represent not only their people but possibly a whole country. A great example is Manny "Pacman" Pacquaio even though he is not of Latin Culture, he is one of the best professional boxers in the world who is from the Philippines actually lowers the crime rate in his own country whenever he fights. This is because millions of people as you can see in his country look up to him, they support him, and he represents them any and every where he goes to fight therefore they are more than proud say he is one of ours. So as you can see boxing not only can affect a sub-culture but possibly a whole entire country in a positive way.

Determination

Hardwork

Heart
=Success!