Quote Originally Posted by AC-Cobra
Quote Originally Posted by TitoFan
I've always enjoyed the international flavor of this forum. It is British in origin, but also has plenty of U.S. representation, as well as boxing fans from other countries. There's been several threads on international rivalries, some that I've started, most that I've participated in.

Not only that, we have several veteran, knowledgeable posters, who obviously do their homework and are well-schooled in the history and facts about boxing. And as is to be expected, many of these aren't shy on posting their own P4P lists, with certain authority, I might add.

So, although I'm not a walking boxing encyclopedia, I have been around the forum for about a year now, and like to do my research as well. For example, I've chronicled fairly well the statistics that lead me to believe that the great Mexican fighter, Julio Cesar Chavez, although great in his own right, has had his legend overblown with the outrageous numbers that come with fighting tomato cans well into his 40th fight. Not to take away from the man, but facts are facts.

Anyway, it occurred to me that my own little island, Puerto Rico, has seen its share of great champions over the years (not that Britkid has seen it fit to include any of them in his top 50). But again, that's what makes boxing so subjective. To me, any list that omits Wilfredo Gomez, Wilfredo Benitez, or Felix Trinidad.... is a little suspect. But that's only my opinion.

But back to the subject. I did a little research of my own, and found something quite fascinating.

I looked through the numbers of past and present boxing champions by country (Boxrec). Then I looked up the population of some of these countries. And lo and behold.... some interesting facts.

Using a little statistic I'll call "Champions per Million People", and looking only at countries that have had at least 10 world champions over history, I arrived at the following rankings:

1. Puerto Rico: 6.32 champs per million people
2. Panama: 6.19
3. U.S.: 1.31
4. Dominican Republic: 1.12

and so on and so forth....

Other notables on the list:

6. Cuba: 0.98
7. Mexico: 0.73
10. Australia: 0.60
11. England: 0.59
14. France: 0.48

Just some interesting facts I wanted to share with the forum.

Great thread nice research

Peurto Rico and Panama have astounding records here, but I wouldnt say that the gap between them and other nations is as great as the figures suggest, if there is even a gap. The USA definitely deserve to be tied top at least, even if many cases can be made against the benefits their fighters receive over others (easier mass publicity, money to entice title holders etc)

P.S You couldnt have fiddled it so England was above Aus no? Damn you
LOL..... CC back at you, AC-Cobra.
Actually, it's amazing how close it was between those two countries. England has the greater number of champs at 35 (Boxrec) vs. Australia's 12. But when the populations are factored in, Australia edges out England by that slightest of margins.

As far as the U.S., it has had the largest number of champions by far (390, according to Boxrec). But again, given its vast population, it works out to a little over 1.3 champs per million people.