I know this was done for safety but why were 3 rounds shaved off the classic 15 rounder rather than say 5? Was it an arbitrary decision or some reasoning behind it? Second bonus question, do you think title fights will be cut down even more in the next 10 or 20 years or so?
12 rounds was a common fight distance for area or regional titles such as title fights for the NABF and the OPBF while ten rounds was more for basic main events. With 12 rounds already established as a title distance it was easy for the decision makers of the alphabet organizations to choose that length as compared to something shorter.
Due to numerous ring deaths or injuries. The death of Duk Koo Kim at the hands of Ray Boom Boom Manicini in Nov 1982.
As brutal (and long) as some of the London Prize Ring Rules fights were, were there any notable deaths? Or did that come along with the MDQ era?
I'd think for TV formatting, a 12 rounder including 36 minutes of fisticuffs + 11 minutes of between round stool breaks + ring walks/intros and tallying/reading of scorecards if applicable - works out pretty snugly to an hour if they wanted to showcase just one fight. And yeah, 12-rounders in the old days were to 15 rounders what 10-rounders are now, the next step down from championship length. Shaving five whole rounds off the previous championship distance would have been a big leap, and even factoring commercial breaks you're looking at lots of dead air to pad up and kill time if everything is scheduled for ten (aka half an hour of action) or less.
