Is inside fighting becoming a lost art?

Its not just them though to be fair EVERYONE balloons up whether it be 10lb or 15lb

 

True, not being harsh on them. I do thinkthey weren't great examples though.

My point is that skill level has diminished because most fighters allow more training time for cutting weight. They also don't fight as regularly.

 

I wouldn't say so. If you take the fight in question, Khan fought poorly inside while Peterson was very good, all his success came inside. Some guys are just better at it than others and Amir Khan is one who really needs work in that area.

 

Does anyone have any good fights they can recommend to watch, where I can see some top inside fighting?

 

chavez vs rosario

 

There is no disputing the regression of skills in boxing. Of course there are exceptions, but on the whole there are less complete fighters then in any era of boxing history.

- There was more participation, more gyms and better trainers. Lack of great trainer is so obvious to see. There is a huge vacuum. Some fighters only just a couple of decades ago might have had two great trainers in there camp. Now you can count the number of great trainers in the world on your hand.

- The talent pool was much deeper. Even contenders had skills in their repertoire that champions don't now. Georgie Benton was one of the most skilled guys. In this era he would be a multi champ in the P4P rankings. back then the talent was so deep he couldn't even make his way to a title shot.

- Natural ability now is the end product. Before it was just a foundation. The SKILLS were the end product. You have more guys who are talented, likes of Khan, Dirrell, Pascal etc. But not skilled. They wouldn't get anywhere near the top just a couple of decades ago.

Someone like Hector Thompson. One of the baddest mofos to step into that squared circle. He would run riot in today's era at lightweight and light welterweight. But he couldn't then because guess who was ahead of him? Roberto Duran and Tony Cervantes.

- Like Flea says. fighters are not fighting enough, so there skills don't develop. By fighting less they stunt their growth, this cannot be denied. Experience of fighting very regularly and getting educated from fight to fight, made fighters completer, more rounded. Defeat didn't carry the same stigma, there was a process. It is harder and harder to produce a great fighter.

Someone like Sergio Martinez is considered special these days. But how would he get on in an era where the there was just so much to compete with. He would be ordinary.

Joey Giardello
Holly Mims
Spider Webb
Johnny Bratton
Rory Calhoun
Johnny Sullivan
George Benton
Gil Turner
Willie Pastrano
Dick Tiger
Henry Hank

You know what that was? a brillient middleweight era, but guess what. It was considered weak, lol. Just look at the depth of talent there compared to now, the varying styles, the toughness, the skill, the well roundedness.

And i can do that with so many divisions. Which had more well rounded skillful fighters, inside technicians then all the weight divisions today put together. Just look at Harold Johnson's' era at light heavyweight for example.

 

Agree with all that.

In short....

1. Too many titles (at all levels, domestic and international)

2. Too many weight divisions (10 is adequate, not 17)

3. Too many fighters being paid big bucks to fight bums

 

I think this highlights what Slip and Flea have been saying. Neither are great fighters but it shows how far the sport has fallen in a short span.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Zn9KbWjeo[/ame]


Both utter cocks, and Lou Duva atsch

 

Jukebox Timebomb. Arguably one of the best Zimbabwean heavyweights to fight in the 1980s. His fights with Black Tiger and Bonyongo Destroyer were perhaps some of the fights that occured in Zimbabwe in that period.

 

Meh, I preferred Hitler The Killer ;-)

Slip, you had me at George Benton. I mean...apart from pure handspeed there's nothing Floyd does better than him.

That MW division was one of the best, but it wasn't an exception. There have been so many stacked divisions. Nowadays we have three or four good fighters and it's 'wow, what a division'.

I made the case the other day that Sergio would've struggled with, for an easy example, Mundine. At best that would've been his level IMO.

 

In all seriousness is there any footage of this era available? Interested in it, apart from the incredible ring monikers it was obviously a competitive era.

 

Oh, and for great era's; post-Foster until Spinks moved to HW. The likes of Kates, Bennett, Rossman, Mwale and so many more would be considered amongst the best fighters around today.

I like Jean Pascal (and he is a gent' in person) but he wouldn't have cracked the top 20 in that era. Dawson would struggle as well. B-Hop, as great as he is and skilled as he is, would've had no chance of being the main man in that, or any number of LHW era's.

 

if i remember correctly wasnt pacquiao doing ok on the inside vs MAB in their first fight?

 

Pacquiao was just swarming all over him. Don't remember any 'genuine' inside fighting though.

 

half the people ive sparred with in the gym seems to have no inside fighting ability, like I can stand close and throw punches in combonations keep my head moving and I hardly get hit even though Im standing only a couple inches away from guys, wtfs that about.