Yes, boxers do tend to come from lower socio-economic communities, and I do believe this accounts for the Jewish prominence in boxing in pre-war 20th century America etc.

However, I’m not sure this notion can be applied to the frum community, as far as boxing is concerned.
Only Ben-Hamo was born into a Charedi community. Salita and Foreman, both coming from ex-Soviet countries (rather than coming from religious communities), could be said to have started boxing out of an under-privileged background.

Salita’s family experienced a lot of anti-Semitism in the Ukraine (where anti-Semitism is still the old style, rather than the new leftist style that we have in the West). The family emigrated from the Ukraine to America, and the first years were tough. With no money, and no English, Salita’s immigration experience was not unlike Jew’s from the early 20th century.

Foreman also started boxing at age 7 in Belarus. His family immigrated to Israel when he was 9, and continued with his boxing, training at an Arab gym (in Haifa I think).

“The first time I walked in, I saw the stares. In their eyes, there was a lot of hatred. But I needed to box; and boy, did they all want to box me,”

That would have been the making of Foreman

Ed: Apparently, facts aren’t what they used to be. See this link for some discussion of the Hebrew name for the name Latinised as Jesus.

Three isn’t a big sample size, so do you think that there is actually a trend toward boxing in religious Jewish communities? Do you have any ideas as to why this might be the case?

I have always thought that the reason that Jews used to be good at these types of sports but weren’t anymore (I was under the impression at the time that there were no longer many Jewish boxers) was related to the change in the general socio-economic staus of the Jewish community. Boxing seems to be a sport that attracts people of lower economic status as well as disenfranchised groups, and when Jews were poorer, and experiencing more antisemitism, they enjoyed quite a lot of success in this sport.

It seems plausible that charedi Jews might experience more discrimination than other Jews at the moment, and might (on average) be less wealthy. If there is a trend toward boxing in this community, perhaps these factors are at play?

I can’t help but posting this clip of 4 old men discussing boxing…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdjblkRkoPU