When did the modern era begin

I've always considered July 4, 1919 as the start of boxing's modern era. The torch was passed from the hand wheeling Willard to a combatant whose tactics could be applied to what has come since. (Granted, Dempsey may not have been the first of his style, but he popularized it in bringing heavyweight boxing into the Golden Age of Sports.) Heavyweight predecessors of Dempsey's brought the development of the sport up the evolutionary ladder. This is just a reflection of the mindset I had from when I first became a fan.

 

I agree with Duodenum. Dempsey brought along a new way of fighting at least in the HW division. Boxing was rather constipated for lack of a better word as far as technique went. A lot of clinching and wrestling and posturing while waiting to land a good blow which explained how fights were scheduled for 20+ rounds. Could anyone imagine Ali/Frazier I scheduled for 45 rounds as was Johnson/Willard I? Dempsey changed Boxing into a more action packed free swinging bobbing and weaving milieu and the fans went wild. If fighters fought like Willard and Johnson et al post Dempsey they would've been booed out of the arena or disqualified for lack of action. I'm not saying that the old way was ineffective or unscientific. It just wasn't entertaining anymore. Boxing had to adapt and evolve with the times. No more 45 round fights(At least in the HW division). Bigger gloves, different rules and more action and I feel Dempsey was responsible for this.

 

Because with Marciano retired, the caveman era has ended.

 

Gans Nelsom 1, was a good Wrestling strap.
Jack Johnson vs Jim Jeff was other.
Jeff vs Sharkey was wrestling evey time they got a hold of each other.
Tommy Burns used it vs Moir,
Burns vs O'Brein was other match.

Hell I dont think it ended until the 1930's at the LEAST.

 

Then definitely the 30's. Dempsey and Tunney were the first, but it was only the 30's/40's that actual gloved boxing technique instead of constant swinging became mainstream.

 

It is not something you can pinpoint.

For example if you had a mid 19th century bareknuckle fighter with reflexes like Roy Jones then he is still going to get a long way under the curent ruleset.

In some ways the gloved fighters of the 1880s might have done better under a modern ruleset than those of the 1900s because they were fighting four round bouts to get round the legislation rather than twenty round bouts.

Combination punching has been around since at least the 1860s as has every punch except the left hook. The left hook came allong in the 1880s.

 

Well i was mostly talking about heavyweights.

 

if jab and a rigth hand he can knock the other guy out. it is possible maybe not the top game but the toughness would really show.

also lets remember that before, gloves were to protect the hands and to taper less cuts I.E. providing us with a more interesting fight becuase they would trade more and last longer.
but the bigger the gloves got the more you can use them for defence. people forget that gloves are a key aspect to boxings defence instead of just offence.

with the ability of staying inside ones barrage instead of trying to get close to the other guy by fients and taunting, you can actually counterpunch. where as before you looked for an opening from a distance, threw your gambit, clinched and repeat.
also very old school almost martial art type moves and target like heart punches and armpit uppercuts are no longer effective due to the size of the glove.

 

Mondoza would be the first imo. Thats when it all started in regards to tactics.
Before Mondoza, it was all out brawling, but Mondoza jab, feited, and used his legs.

 

The 1930's-1940's is when every top fighter really starts to look "modern" to me; i e modern fundamentals in terms of stance, guard, movement and punching. I voted for the 1940's because there were some top HWs in the 30's that didn't look that advanced, and even the best ones lacked a bit in movement. But after WWII just about every top fighter looks sophisticated, even among the HWs.

If you look at Walcott and Charles, they look distincly more sophisticated than most of the champs before WWII. And of course then there also were Moore, Robinson and Pep at lower weights.

 

Tunney's stance was by no way primitive, but don't you consider Haye's to be modern?

(Tunney was, of course, somewhat of a pioneer and probably the most developed HW of his time, but what I feel he lacks in modern terms is a lack of of upperbody movement and that his guard is very low)