Deprivation Breeds Fighters

​I recently accepted a position at a boxing gym and it has led me down a path of research looking into the sport and the ebbs and flows of it over the years. 

One trend that I keep stumbling across is the idea that deprivation breeds fighters. In the case of boxers, those individuals who don’t have much in life tend to fight because that is about all they can do given their current circumstances. 

In the early 1900’s the majority of champions were first born immigrants who came to this country with nothing. Jewish Americans, Italian Americans, and Irish Americans dominated the championship division. Then it went to African Americans and in more recent decades, fighters from former Soviet Union countries have really made an impact on the sport. Combine that with those fighters from Mexico, Puerto Rico and other countries where the living conditions are sub par and you can begin to see the trends that I speak of. 

The great Marvin Hagler once said that “It's tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5 am when you've been sleeping in silk pajamas”. Comfort kills motivation. Deprivation feeds it. 

I do not think this idea is unique to sport. When times get tough for us, we have a choice to make. We either fight our way for a better future or we accept our current state and continue to live on that way. 

States of deprivation look different for everyone. Your rock bottom may be different than mine but at the end of the day, we only have one choice to make: TO FIGHT! 

Chris