We love the great fighters of the past, but ffs we don't want them back!

On this forum, we bang the drum for the great fighters of history, and rightly so.

We admire their records, and compare them favorably to more recent fighters.

However would we ever want that kind of boxing back again?

To take some examples?

Harry Greb went 49-0 in a single year.

He didn't retire a wealthy man, he dies on teh operating table, at a very young age.

Do you want to see another fighter, put his body through what Harry Greb put his body though, trying to equal his record?

Personally no.

Muhammad Ali fought 33 opponents currently ranked in teh top ten.

Want to see another heavyweight champion attempt it?

Personally no.

I could probably come up with a handed other examples.

As boxing fans we should want to see our champions retire with their health intact, their wealth intact, their brains intact, and the dark records of the past left intact.

 

Give me back the mid 70's to early 80's any day of the week

 

Respectfully - I still long for the past because I am a spectator. I believe if you gave the choice to the fighters whether they could fight as often as then for the money of today they would.

I don’t know fully, either way I hope for the health of the fighter but my detachment is as the respectable viewer who wants to see fights, this is a brutal business and being the toughest comes at a sad price.

 

Brian Neilsen laid waste to an entire division over 67 grueling fights. We can't demand that sort of sacrifice from our athletes.

 

Well.... even today many guys retire with their brain badly beaten, so.... if we go further we should ban boxing all together.

What other options Greb had ?

I actually don´t understand why guys like Fury don´t fight more often... it would mean more money, look at Joshua now, 4 fights in a year, surely he is making more money than ****ing Fury.

 

LMAO!

 

I agree with that. It’s selfish to want to see these guys ( and women ) kill themselves just so we have something to converse about years later.

 

I don't want a modern day Ketchel vs Johnson.

 

The reason for this is the magic number 0. Joshua doesn't have the 0 anymore to protect.

 

That’s why he was known as Super Brian Nielsen.

Half man, half amazing.

 

I prefer my favourite fighters going the way of Bonavena...He died doing what he loved.

 

Massacre as in the fight Dempsey Vs. Willard I wouldn't like to watch now.
Luckily we don't have footage good enough to see Willard's cut.
If I would enjoy watching such things, then I stop being a boxing connoisseur and become a sadist

 

No I don't want to see those classic fighters back, but I would LOVE to go back and see them fight.
In all their glory, blood, sweat and tears.

 

I think I'm more nostalgic for a single belt and perhaps fifteen round. I'm fine with all else.

 

Well firstly you’ll have to pinpoint when you’re criticising & calling out as inferior to today. “The past” is a long time. It wasn’t the same in 1899 as it was in 1935, & 1935 wasn’t the same as 1970.

The present brings us a period where fights simply don’t get made. Where you might see your favourite fighter in the ring once or twice in an entire year. Maybe fractionally more if they’re on the way up. Where smoke & mirrors to protect an ‘0’ take precedence over testing young fighters & giving the public great fights along the way.

I’m sorry if this upsets some people but as a spectator, I have to go with dangerous fights vs no fights.