Parallelism In Boxing

It was blood, bold and resolute, and it was an American sport. The sport of boxing had been played in Europe since the eighteenth century. It was not until the twentieth century when boxing became an American sport. At this time all Americans, regardless of race and financial status, could box. Any American athlete with a talent for boxing could make a sufficient amount of money that was enough to be successful. With technological advancements and increased political interest, boxing became increasingly popular in the twentieth century, and then declined in the twenty-first century. Corresponding to these peaks were also the growth and fall of faith in the American Dream. The parallelism in the two was no coincidence. Boxing was a vehicle for success in the past, and reinforced ideologies of the American Dream.
During the formation of America, most immigrants had left countries plagued with stout wealth disparities and some form of caste system. If a person in these foreign countries were born poor, it was …show more content…
In this particular photograph, Ali towered over his opponent, Sonny Liston, in victory. He stands alone, with only the crowd. Boxing was an individual sport. There were no teams, only one-on-one battle between the two fighters. The individualism of boxing related with American individualism. "Americans grow up with the expectation of becoming independent early on and are rewarded heavily for personal achievements. And, as you’d expect, the ideology has much to do with the country’s roots". In boxing, athletes like Jack Johnson, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson were praised for their feats as an individual warrior. These athletes became like heroes, which in terms of culture anthropology was a way for society to transmit the idea that individual accomplishment was a positive aspect in this culture. In a way, boxing became a metaphor for American 's belief in the right to succeed as an individual