Why can fighters fight at older ages today but not in the past?

I think we will... in fact, there are several boxers active today, who have reached the 100-fight mark.

One only has to look at some recent British and German fight cards - and we find lots of them!

 

Are they making millions per fight? I know there are some journeyman that take every fight given to them and amass 80+ fights in a career.

 

No, they are obviously not... I didn't know, this was a stipulation!

 

I disagree with this train of thought....Archie moore was old, B hop was old, Forman was old, Bob Fitzsimmons was old, Pacquiao was old, Holmes was 40+ when he beat mercer. Its about skill, fundementals and taking care of the body.

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Only read the title. No op no replies nothing.

Combat sports is one of the few sports that have "mileage" and "wear and tear age".

An OG era fought 5~15 times per year, meaning they got hit that much more. How many times do fighters fight these days? If a champ fights 3x or more per calendar year, it is considered extremely active. Lmk how many >32 year old fighters who has 60+ pro fights in the modern era

 

Gotta laugh at this post Memory. Marciano gets slammed all the time for fighting old guys....Walcott, Louis, Charles and Moore. How old was Sam Langford when he stopped fighting? And Willie Pep?

Lots of examples of guys in the old days fighting while old.

 

Fighters in the past had much more grueling careers and resumes. Fighters trained "harder" doing their cardio on concrete and using far more rigid training machines and techniques. Not to mention they fought MORE often for up to 15 rounds. Not to mention medicine was different so recovery was less complete.

Lots of reasons really but no fighter 35+ is considered prime and that still applies.

 

It's not, but do you honestly think a guy that has millions sitting in his bank account is taking a plane to some little town to fight as a last minute replacement? That's what many journey men do. Canelo has a decent amount of fights, but almost half of those happened before he was making huge pay days. If he started his career fighting at the rate he does now, he'd have maybe 40 fights.

 

Age 35 is still considered the absolute upper limit for being in your prime. Even guys who age well are declining after 35. Some guys decline more slowly and gracefully than others. But even guys like Beterbiev and Usyk are past their prime at 36 plus.

 

The actual 'market' for it, and money is one driver.




I'm only just starting my amateur boxing career, now, @63.....

 

It's not just in boxing, you see it in other sports too, so it's not just the fact that boxers are fighting less or the sparring is less brutal, though that obviously is a factor, it just isn't the only factor.

Also athletes are peaking later. Used to be that around 25-29 was your peak years, now many don't peak until 30 or later. I think modern training methods is a factor, athletes take longer to peak because they are peaking to a higher level of physical capacity and so it takes more time to get there and with better recovery, injury prevention and rehabilitation athletes can sustain their peak years for longer and yes in some cases PED's is a factor.

 

This has nothing to do with the statement of yours, that I responded to: I don't think we'll ever see a guy with 100 fight career again.

Do I honestly think a guy that has millions sitting in his bank account is taking a plane to some little town to fight as a last minute replacement? No, I of course don't think so - but what has that got to do with anything?

 

Surgery and rehab are better. If you tore an ACL or herniated a few disks way back, you were cooked.

 

Many factors, but I would say the amount of fights and the wear and tear for sure. A few things to remember about old school fighting was that very few boxers were practicing defense as much as they do today. They were much more aggressive, the gloves were thinner and made of horse hair, and refs didn't stop the fight until boxers were knocked out cold! It's still a brutal sport, but way worse in previous decades!

 

My response was to you asking me if making millions was a stipulation to having 100+ fights. Did I misunderstand?To my point, I haven't seen anyone with 100+ fights since Duran retired. The guys you are talking about probably never been on fights that are televised globally or on any major fight cards. I've heard of long time journey men that have horrible records like 21- 87, but they are not mainstream. They do, however, provide a valuable service to the sport.