Black belt in any martial arts represents only experience and nothing more.
A black belt can be that geek in your school or that scary asian kid in your school. A black belt can be many types of different people. But how good these black belts are is dependent on how much effort is put in. I practice every day. I'll probably be able to beat a fellow black belt who sits on his ass all day watching television and only coming to class once a week without practicing on his own.
Likewise, I'm only 1st dan but I can almost guarantee you I can beat some 2nd and 3rd dans and other higher ranking people. Why? Because effort is the key. Most of the time someone with a 4th dan+ is probably not going to be someone you'll want to mess with. But at any dan, it's all about the man, not the belt.
I don't believe in belts actually. Especially in an age today when belts can be taken advantage of as commercial leverage.
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