A. M. N. TSHIBANGU
OPEN ACCESS
new-born brings with him into this world, chiefly in the form of
general predispositions and potentialities rather than specific
traits (Arroyo, 1975).
In the field of medicine, Dr. Eugen Jonas, a Czecho slo vakian
psychiatrist and gynecologist, found that a child conceived
when there is an opposition of the sun and any larger planet (i.e.,
when the sun and the planet were 180˚ in longitude from each
other) has a much greater chance of suffering birth defects,
miscarriage, mental retardation, and other factors which nega-
tively affect his health (Arroyo, 1975). It is not unsound to
expect that such a child be disadvantaged in the practice of
boxing.
Elements
Reading Arroyo’s book Astrology, psychology and the four
elements: An energy approach to astrology & its use in the
counseling arts (1975) may help one learn what follows about
the elements: 1) Every individual is composed of all four ele-
ments (F ire, Air, Water, and Ear th ) and cann ot exist if even one
of the elements is missing, for he would be totally devoid of the
function of the related energy both psychologically and physi-
cally; 2) After the Medieval-Renaissance theory of the four
humors (choler or yellow bile, blood, phlegm, and black bile)
which was related to the elements of astrology, when these four
humors were mixed in exactly the right proportions in an indi-
vidual, he would be healthy and have a well-balanced person al-
ity, while a slight predominance of one humor or element
(whic h we all have, according to our natal charts) affects not
only a man’s physical characteristics but also his complexion
and temperament; 3) The elements most emphasized in a natal
chart b y planetary place ment and the element of the Ascendant
show what energies one is capable of utilizing rather easily in
his o r her everyday li fe, as well a s i n what real ms o f exper ien ce
one can participate naturally and spontaneously; and 4) Ele-
ments that are lacking emphasis in the chart reveal an attune-
ment which must be consciously cultivated and developed in
order to afford the individual the minimal participation in that
field of experience required for a full and well -rounded lif e .
It is not hence unsound to expect that boxing practice may be
influenced by the predominance of any element (which we all
have, accor ding to our natal ch arts).
Zodiacal Signs
The zodi acal signs are the twelve primary patterns o f energ y
resulting from the combination of the four elements and the
three vibrational modalities: 1) cardinal (Aries, Libra, Cancer,
and Capricorn); 2) fixed (Leo, Aquarius, Scorpio, and Taurus);
and 3) mutable (Sagittarius, Gemini, Virgo, and Pisces).
The four elemen ts are rel ated to the zo diacal signs as follows:
1) Fire (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius); 2) Air (Libra, Aquarius,
and Gemini); 3) Water (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces); and 4)
Earth (Capricorn, Taurus, and Virgo).
Thus, the element ‘Earth’ in the ‘fixed’ vibrational modality
results in the zodiacal sign of Taurus, for instance.
Astrology as a Tool for Identification of Boxing
Talent
As astrology enables a person to determine the type of activ-
ity in which his or her life-energies can flow with the greatest
ease and satisfaction (Arroyo, 1975), used properly, it can help
an individual to develop a greater degree of self-reliance and
self-confid ence: so often , a person feels d eeply that h e has spe-
cial abilities in a cert ain area, for example, bu t the lack of con-
fidence or trust in self may make it difficult to act upon this
feeling (Arroyo, 1975).
Fro m a standpoint of interest for the boxing coach we are, we
expect astrology be used as a tool for identification of the can-
didates more advantaged than others to boxing practice, in the
case that we have too numerous candidatures to deal with.
That has strengthened our desire to point out whether or not
boxing performance is influenced by the 12 zodiacal signs (Ar-
ies, Leo, S agittari us, Lib ra, Aquari us, Gemini , Cancer, Scorpi o,
Pisces, Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo) and/or by the 4 elements
to which the 12 zodiacal signs are relat ed.
Thus, the aim of the present article is not to provide the
reader with a proof of astrology’s validity: the article is aimed
to provide the coach with a parameter that relate to success in
boxing practice.
Material and Methods
The subjects enrolled in the present study are the World top
100 male professional boxers, BoxRec.com ranked, and retired
in the period of time lasting from the beginning of professional
boxing practice t o March 26th, 2013.
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 program has been used in the
analysis of data gathered from BoxRec.com, the web based
databas e, about the boxers.
BoxRec.com failed to show the day of birth of one of the 100
boxers. We have thus dealt with the 99 remaining. The 99 box-
ers have been split into their respective zodiacal signs. The
boxers falling into the different zodiacal signs have been
grouped according to each of the 4 elements related to the signs:
that resulted in 4 groups, each composed of boxers pertaining to
3 different zodiacal signs.
The number of all victories pulled together and all losses
pulled together, the number knock-out (KO) victories and KO
losses, as well as the number of draws made it possible to
compute 1) non-KO victories and non-KO losses as well as 2)
all matches fought pulled together for each boxer.
For each boxer, as a function of all matches pulled together,
percent ages have b een computed : per cent ages of 1) all victories
pulled together, 2) KO victories, 3) non-KO victories, 4) all
losses pulled together, 5) KO losses, 6) non-KO losses, and 7)
draws.
For each boxer, career length h as been co mputed sub tracting
the debut year from the retirement year .
Regarding the boxers concerned by the present study but
dead on March 26th, 2013, life span has been computed sub-
tracting the boxer’s year of birth from his year of death.
As a function of each zodiacal sign and as a function of each
element, for each variable taken into account, it has been noted
the number of the boxers concerned and it has been computed 1)
a mean, an d 2) the variance about th e mean.
For each variab le t aken in to acco un t, the d ifference s bet ween
the means have been examined for significance, considering
both boxers number and the variance about the mean.
The number of values in each sample being less than 30, and
the data being presented not in the form of measurements but
taking the form of percentages, we felt uneasy to assume that
the popu lation variances wer e equal (Par ker, 1979). Testing the
significance of the difference between two means by the Stu-