In most sports the current guys are better than previous eras, why would boxing be any different?

I generally agree but

you telling me wilder would beat ali, Holmes, Lewis, Tyson, Holyfield, foreman

Crawford would beat Durán, Leonard ?

charlo would beat Hager?

It’s hard to even say if today’s boxers are fitter, they done 15 rounders, today’s are gassed after 8

 

Bigger athletes have better understanding today and how to train so they don’t look like a Ernie Terrell or Carnera type fighters of old ,they have better balance and speed today at least one over the other . Even a very slow Marius Wach has basic qualities that are more refined coming from a Polish national championship caliber , Valuev would be the worst to use but even then I’d take him over the giants of the eras pre 70”s . The game has also changed , fighters at heavyweight are groomed to hit their peak around 34 or so where that was a death sentence not long ago even in the 80”s times , so the fighters are putting more effort at later stages now .

 

This is very true. I started boxing in the 80's and the local gyms were packed with kids. Nowadays I box for fitness and most of the decent gym's are MMA based. Even our local golden gloves comps are made up of MMA guys that are just working on stand up. Boxing is dead with the youth.

 

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Those two guys said it was the hardest ride they ever done.. Think of how better the riders back then would be on the bikes we have today.

 

Why are you using Wilder and lighter guys ? You bunched a group together of different eras and made it a vs Wilder thing to disprove the thread ? Ha

Going longer only means more pacing. What has more punches thrown 4/6 rounders or 10 round fights ? Ever watch a tough man contest and count the punches in 3 rounds lasting a minute or so ? When you longate a fight they will only have less punches thrown per rounds on average thinking about the 13, 14 and 15 rounds instead of a fast paced fight . Fighters today are wearing more tape , padding and bigger gloves at heavyweight for the most part ,they do not wear 8 oz ones anymore made of horse hair so it is more challenging in that aspect keeping your hands up .

 

Boxing isn't athletics. In no other physical sport would a guy like Andy Ruiz be a multi millionaire.

 

The heavyweight division has over 9 Olympic and national champions which is a record . Boxing has shrunk in the states but is a larger pool of current active fighters now so it’s in a far better position now it’s ever been even with little free tv exposure because everyone watches social media on apps now anyway .

 

Disagree on Maradonna. Great for his time, but there's many better players around right now.

 

wilder was a heavyweight champion today yeah? I’m comparing him to past title holders. Is that not a fair comparison?

same goes for the rest

 

Every inner city boxing gym was heaving in the 70s and 80s, and there were three times as many. Boxing was on free TV in both US and UK in the 70s and 80s.

It's how Bernard Hopkins was able to school this gens top guys like Pavlik and Pascal at about 50 years old. Stand them on their heads.

The fighters of the past were different mustard. It wasn't all S&C, it was technical skill.

 

So true. I live in St Louis and a lot of our boxing programs lost their funding from the city. The MMA gyms get all of the local talent now. I can't even remember our last pro card we had? Probably was James Toney about five years ago. Almost every month the casino's have MMA fights here, never boxing anymore.

 

Truth hurts. It's so sad. I want another Tyson to come along, it's needed, only he's out there playing another sport I suspect and doesn't see much boxing.

 

Because there is dearth in teaching techniques. You have guys like Wilder who has been successful to a point but lacks solid boxing fundamentals which the guys in the past always had.

 

Boxing has changed a lot in the last 120 years or so

Because of this I think it makes it tough at times to distinguish greats of now vs greats of then. In my belief cream will always rise to the top. Take the best of a previous era and they will be good in the current era and take the greats of now and put them in the past and they will succeed in the past

Could boxers today fight 15 rounds? 20 rounds?
Could they do that fighting at the same frequency of the classic fighters?
Could they do it with smaller gloves?
Could they do it with same day weigh ins?
Would they become champion when there were less weights and less belts?

On the other hand could the greats of the past be successful or as successful with today's conditions

NBA players are taller, NFL players are bigger, MLB the bats and the balls have made it easier to hit home runs, as previously mentioned in this thread technology in cycling has come leaps and bounds.

Boxing still has weight classes. A 147 pound man is a 147 pound man. Maybe heavyweight is different but if two welters fought with the same weigh in conditions there wouldnt be the huge difference there is in an NFL lineman from 1950 vs an NFL lineman from 2020. Now say the new school has mastered weight cutting, how would the best 147 guys then do vs the 140 or 135 pounders now who re hydrate to 147?

Many sports have changed over the decades as well

The NBA and NCAA have a 3 point line, a shot clock, and the rules on calling fouls have changed. The game has changed, does that mean the guys in the 80's and 90's couldnt be good now? Does that also mean the guys now couldnt hang in the old game?

Same goes for the NFL where it used to be played outdoor no domes, on grass no turf, more hitting, no headsets, no tablets, etc. Would Tom Brady be as good if he was playing under the conditions of Terry Bradshaw? Would Terry Bradshaw play as good or better under the conditions of Tom Brady?

I think boxing has changed a lot rule and equipment wise which makes the discussion interesting. At the end of the day its two guys with their fists standing across from each other. I dont think time or era has that much to do with it

 

Fighters today are gassing after 8 rounds, barely being able to stand after 12. How are they going to compete against fighters going 15+ rounds, strong.