why can't boxing fans get with the times?

Boxing isn't black and white like other sports. Power, speed, size, and strength don't guarantee victory. We've seen relics from different eras WAY PAST THEIR PRIME like Foreman and Hopkins beating the younger, more modern fighters, and I'm talking elite, modern fighters. How in the hell would they deal with a prime? This isn't track and field where records regularly broken. Nutrition or even peds even with that dont guarantee greatness.Prime Vitali lost to an old Lewis he wouldn't beat a prime Lewis or Ali. He had trouble with Byrd as it is. Ali had Byrds defense, speed, but with a much better punch and jaw. Ali one of the best combination punchers ever. Ali wasn't intimidated by Foreman he wouldnt be vs Vitali.

 

I don't know **** about bodybuilding but Schwarzenegger looks much better than todays bodybuilders and I'm sure there are even some who are into the sport and agree with me. And it's the same with boxing of course there are great boxers today but the skill level in boxing is declining. It's the same with bodybuilding bigger isn't always better

 

Perfect example is Hopkins vs Pascal in the rematch. Look at the clinic he put on against Jean or even Pavlik ..Sure these guys were strong but they couldn't box worth **** !

 

Size has definitely made a difference in heavyweight boxing. 'Big' fighters like Liston and Foreman aren't big compared to fighters like Lewis and the Klitschkos. Lennox Lewis was far bigger than Foreman but had way more aspects to his game. The best fighter we've seen, and certainly not somebody who would fall for the rope a dope

I believe the late 60s and 70s saw a new wave of heavyweights who offered more than those of past fighters. Nevertheless, Lewis is above those guys in head to head ability. He had it all. Lennox would make light work of the older greats like Louis, Marciano and Dempsey in a head to head fight. I don't dispute their greatness because they dominated their eras and that's all that can be asked of a guy, but Lewis was effectively weight classes above those fighters

 

It truly baffles me when people say past champs would have a chance against today's superheavies.

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You know nothing about bodybuilding or football, nothing.

 

Do you honestly believe that it Hopkins is NOT using some kind of PED or other enhancement like blood doping to stay competitive vs younger opponents? Something the old timeys most likely didn't have unless they had access to a time machine or extra terrestrial intelligent life. If Hopkins didn't have any kind of "equalizer" he would be retired IMO. So there is more adversity in modern boxing than in the old days. Not only do you have to beat your opponent, you have to beat his pharma or (cough-cough) strength and conditioning coach.

 

It's also not fair to assume that certain skills can just be transplanted from one era to another without being affected by the environment of the times. A great inside fighter would still have some success today, but not as much, due to modern refs' allowance of what would in other eras be considered excessive clinching. This is besides actual rule changes like the neutral corner on knockdowns that weren't around in Dempsey's time.

 

Bodybuilding is a wholly subjective 'sport' at the whim of whatever the judges/magazines/supplement companies think is currently in vogue. Boxing is partly subjective but mostly results based. Of course comparing eras is a whole lot more subjective but still to some degree debatable in terms of pure facts and performances. For example, a bodybuilding fan could claim Arnie or Zane or Coleman as the best of all time, simply based on an appreciation of their physique, though hardly any of the bodybuilders prior to the 1990s would earn their pro-card today, including Arnie. One couldn't convincingly argue that Max Baer was a better fighter than Wlad Klit just because he was more entertaining.

 

It would be interesting to see how the younger Hopkins would have fought those fights. Today's Hop is one of the craftiest canniest fighters around, something which I think is mainly to do with his age and his extreme longevity in the sport. I think he'll always be leagues ahead of the above two guys, but it's a little deceptive to look at his performance now and extrapolate that backwards into some super era that never was. There are always age-defining guys in every era, but for every Hopkins there are a dozen De La Hoyas.