Fighting for Family and Glory: Hope, Racialization, and Exploitation in a U.S. Boxing Gym

Abstract

Relaying on years of ethnographic research and boxers’ life stories, this article examines how boxers from racialized and marginalized communities hope for family and glory in a Midwestern U.S. gym. Hope for family is embraced by youth and young adults who develop familial ties with trainers and fellow boxers. Hope for glory begins in gyms but ultimately must be sought in competitive arenas of elite amateur tournaments and professional boxing. Competitive arenas, however, exists in sociocultural systems that capitalize on the brutalization and exploitation of racialized bodies as boxing fanatics crave blood, pain, and concussions. In these contexts, boxers’ hope for glory is fulfilled through exploitation—both physical and cultural—of their collective bodies; and hope for glory compromises the relationships and sense of community that are established as boxers pursue hope for family.