“Vanilla Thrillas”: Modern Boxing and White-Ethnic Masculinity

Abstract

From 2002 to 2004, Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward fought three boxing matches. The Ward—Gatti bouts produced a discourse that was never monolithic and oftentimes contradictory, yet many fight fans and journalists asserted that the match-ups hearkened back to a time when “White-ethnic” fighters ruled the ring. The manner in which these contests captured the imagination of even casual boxing fans revealed how modern conversations about race and masculinity operated not only within boxing circles but in American society as well. Though some critics charged that the fights were excessively violent, most boxing fans saw the contests as fantastic theater and urged the sport’s authorities to reward the pugilists. For White fans, the “vanilla thrillas” provided symbolic affirmations of collective masculinity that simultaneously indicated lingering racial resentments.

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