TWICE A YEAR OR TWICE A MONTH?

The three most glaring bad habits taught on the mitts are punching from the top down, chin in the air, and the head staying in one place- centered- as the fighter throws combinations. Not turning the shoulder into the jab is another.

I think there is tremendous value if the mitts are used properly; you can come very close to reproducing a fight with the mitts. But in many cases, in my experience, ego gets involved. Too many guys want to be known as great mitts guys.

I didn't see the purpose behind the Mayweather mitt method until I worked with a guy that had spent considerable time in camp with him and we talked about it a lot and I got familiar with using it. I understand the point but think that there are better ways of getting the result.

 

But there weren't many who beat Robinson and Pep in their primes - only two fighters, in fact. Sammy Angott was the only man to beat Pep in 135 fights before Pep fought Sandy Saddler and I think they only ever fought once. And Robinson only lost once in his first 131 fights and that was to Jake LaMotta, who he had already fought once before and who he would beat four more times after that.

 

He looked like he'd been made to work pretty hard when he fell to the floor at the end of the session.

 

ya i saw that, maybe so .. or maybe after a very long workout prior

 

When thinking about the past you have to be very careful about assuming that just because they lacked something we possess, they therefore also must not have possessed something roughly analogous that we lack today.

For example they didn't have television, but they did have much more live theater, vaudeville, and other traveling acts and would have seen far more live entertainment an many people today.

They didn't have tasteless pre-sliced bread in a plastic bag but they often did have fresh baked bread made from scratch on a daily basis.
The modern trade-offs are not always for the better in every way.

 

Where are you getting the idea that old time fighters must have sparred less?

 

You must be kidding... Canelo is small even for a mw. The guy would be a beach ball at 185. Himself said that he is around 165 between fights but it does not mean that it was his correct weight to fight.
Canelo fighting at 178 jesus hahaha

 

It is very unusual for a guy to do anything before sparring, beyond getting loose.

 

No, we aren't talking about Floyd beating 150 more fighters of Gattis' and Bruseles' levels today.

What if Floyd and Ward and Calaghe were put in the circumstances of 40s - 50s, with no current advantages like studying their opponents for months and preparing for them many weeks in camp. No current PEDs/nutrition. Fights every 2-3 times per month, not 2 times per year at best (except first 2 years and 10 times vs tomato cans like today's pros do).

Ray Robinson's loss vs Turpin was his 5th fight in 30 days, and he never trained for that 1st Turpin fight at all.

And that situation wasn't uncommon in old era.

Henry Armstrong while clearly past his prime and having already 140+ fights has fought Willie Joyce, Tippy Larkin, Al Tribuani and Beau Jack in 30 days. Tough schedule, isn't it? Or defending his world welterweight title 5 times in October 39 through 21 days, in 5 different cities.

Today's circumstances make elite fighters far less likely to to suffer a loss, and that's exactly why Floyd, Ward, Ricardo Lopez, Calzaghe, Ottke and other undefeated fighters happened to exist in today's era. Marciano was undefeated, but he was an exeption - he had only 49 fights, and at world level has fought 2 times per year, just like today's undefeated fighters.

Also there's a fact that throughout boxing history there were no fighters that were undefeated operating at world level and having 100, 150, 200 fights, even 60 fights. Which proves that it's practically impossible to achieve.

 

From knowing old fighters who were training new fighters and lots of reading

Did you not grow up around any older people or people who lived through the wars or great depression or old time fighters??

 

I think you're right about this. Many of the old fights (especially during the ND era) were probably little more than exhibition style matches, where the two combatants tried to make it look as real as possible - without hurting each other too much!

 

There are of course no "lost arts"... it's just something people like to say, because they think it makes them sound knowledgeable.

 

Yes, I've made this argument several times. Frequent parrying, regular inside punching while in the clinch, and the big dramatic feints that were more popular in the past seem like some of the most obvious candidates.

 

The more frequent you fight the more odds of losing. Today's fighters at the top are fighting with more money on the line so longer training camps ensure both fighters have the best chance of winning by focusing on a particular fighter longer.