Has the standards in boxing really declined during this decade?

I reckon we can look to much into it. Don't worry about it.

Quality fighters and fights will always be produced. 108 pounds is great!

 

No, the current active fighters are always seen as a bit lackluster. When they are retired and there is some distance their standing growth. That´s human I guess.

 

There was an article posted here written by Tommy Loughran talking about the standard of boxers being poor in (i think) the 40s! He was talking about how boxers aren't the same 'these days' and that they run rather than box in the centre of the ring.

it was along those lines anyway.

So there you have it, you're completely right. I would like to see more of the boxing technician these days though, i have to concede that.

 

Sokrates whined about the weak, uneducated children of his time ant that they have no manners. That was around 500 BC. Something similar stood at a pillar in Babylon around 1,300 years earlier. Why should these things change?

 

:rofl:rofl

You are a legend.

 

So, twenty years from now we'll be waxing nostalgic about John Ruiz and Chris Byrd and Wladimir Klitschko and Lamon Brewster and Sam Peter ?

 

Only in the heavyweight, Cruiswerweight and Light heavyweight divsions, have we seen a pretty drastic drop in quality.. I think most of the lighter and middle sized divsions are still producing some pretty good fighters and even a few greats. The one thing that will never change about the smaller weight classes, is that they don't reward being a giant oaf on steroids or a fat deconditioned slob... If you want to make money as say, a welterweight, middleweight, lightweight, featherweight, etc. You have to put the necessary work in....Plain and simple..

 

A lot of the divisions are entertaining and competitive.It's the depth of excellent/very good fighters in most of them that has been dropping off.

 

That is another good point as well.

When I was growing up during the 80's and 90's, even some of the journeyman, trial hoarses, fringe contenders and unknown prospects were pretty good in a lot of weight classes. What this era really lacks, as you have basically already said, is a good second and third tier.

 

Standards have definitely dropped. Mayweather wouldn't even be a champion back in the '40s. Hatton's career would end up at 6-28-3. Pacquiao, Marquez and Hopkins might steal a title but soon lose it to a more deserving fighter. Cotto, for instance, wouldn't even be in the top thirty welterweights in the early '60s.

 

People are nostalgic for Lennox and he got just as many unfair criticisms as Wlad. I recall people complaining during Evander's title run because he wasn't a knockout artist like Tyson, now people whine about he's the "Last of the Hard Men". Ezzard Charles was absolutely loathed during his brief but brilliant reign at the top of the heavies. And if people think Wlad and the current heavies get crapped on, read some stuff from Bowe's era. This is just vicious from SI:


A pity they can't sell tickets to press conferences, televise rules meetings or just strap a camera to

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's head (the Rock Cam). Why shouldn't the public get to see the really good stuff? Why does the public have to put up with such third-rate entertainment as last Saturday night's heavyweight fight between

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and

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? If you pay $250 for a ringside scat and have to endure

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's panicky circling for 12 interminable rounds and

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's striking inability to hit a moving target, you should at least get the additional opportunity to accompany, say, the process server as he attempts to deliver

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a civil complaint that prompts a postfight melee.
As it was, everything interesting happened before and after the fight, not during it. The bout itself was supposed to be pivotal in the comeback of

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, who is struggling for recognition and redemption after losing his WBA and IBF titles in a rematch with

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a year ago. But try as he might (and he might have tried harder),

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could not cut off the galloping

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, and the fight instantly developed into a protracted chase scene. Round and round they went. It was so bad, tickets shouldn't have been sold to anybody with an inner-ear disorder.
If all you saw of it was the clockwise action from

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in

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, a fight

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eventually won by unanimous decision thanks to a battering but intermittent left jab, you would be correct to complain.

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, who had no business being in the ring with

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at this stage of his embryonic career (though he was 16-0, he had been a pro less than two years), probably fought the only fight he could, considering that he apparently does not possess the power to harm

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. Still, it would have been more exciting to see him use his hands a little more than his feet.
"I was trying to wait until fatigue set in," said a puffy-faced

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afterward. Well, the strategy worked. Maybe not on

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, but the rest of us were plenty tired of this display by the fourth round.
But who cares about the actual event when there's as much incidental intrigue as this match supplied. There was, of course, the press conference in

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five days before the fight, when

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suddenly went mental and hit

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with what

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called a "hook-cross." Naturally, it engendered legal action (more about that later), but the principal result of that Hash combination was to focus attention on Bowe's year of frustration.
Bowe's ascension to the crown, led by his manager,

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, was nettlesome enough to the boxing establishment that his eventual descent became the game's hot ticket. Forget Bowe's independence of promoters like

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and

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, who virtually run the sanctioning bodies. How about Bowe, after beating Holyfield for the WBA, WBC and IBF titles in their first meeting, taking his WBC belt and literally dumping it in a garbage can? Bowe bore the brunt of the backlash, even though most of it was intended for the irascible

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. Arguably the best fighter in the heavyweight division not now in an

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prison, Bowe was suddenly bypassed in the major rankings.
Ever since he lost the Holyfield rematch in November 1993 he has been, in the words of one promoter, "in a deep, dark place."

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's restoration to power when one of his fighters,

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, beat

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to win the WBC title was a complicating factor, as was

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's unseating of

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recently for the WBA and IBF crowns. Neither

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nor Foreman has plans for Bowe.

And I miss Brewster. A very tough fighter who produced some very exciting wars at the heavyweight division..as a result he broke down rapidly but some good stuff while he was at the top of his game.

 

About Wlad for sure. Ruiz will never be liked but the respect for him will grow when he is retired I'm sure of it. Brewster and Peter will be remembered as hard bangers with good chins who lack technige and finesse, say as decen contenders. Byed will be remembered as a fine technician who hang in with bigger guys with quite some success.

See how some of the 80s hws are "gloryfied" now and they weren't any better than today's.

 

People are nostaglic for Lewis and Tua now...but few were impressed in 2000. More venom from SI:

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, who likes to brag about his "arsenal," courted disfavor once more by keeping the heavy artillery under wraps. He didn't court defeat, because his rifle jab was more than sufficient to discourage

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in their tide fight last Saturday night in

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. But whenever heavyweights battle—and Lewis knows this by now—cannons are the weapons most popular with fans.
So Lewis heard boos again, even though he continued one of the most distinguished reigns in recent history. His decision over

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, who was wildly hyped for his Samoan ferocity (or maybe just his Samoan jabber), was so lopsided that even critics of the

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-based champion must accept the talent gulf between Lewis and his challengers.

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's lunging left hook marked him as the most dangerous contender out there, but he did not win a round past the fourth on any of the judges' scorecards.
This is the best the division can do? But the real question—and it has haunted him from the beginning—is, Is this the best

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can do?......

Does this not read like a recap of the latest Wlad or Vitali fight?

 

Oh, the Lewis-Tua fight was crap, no question.

I blame Tua more than Lewis though. It was a very good win for Lewis, but I do fault him for not giving his all and firing all cylinders, but Tua did nothing to force him to. It was as if Tua got in there and after two or three rounds he just thought "OK, this guy is better than me. I'll just plod ahead and go through the motions and if he keeps boxing me like this and I dont start any real trouble I wont get knocked out".
Lewis did the minimum for the most part, and he really showed what MINIMUM means at times.

Still, I think it's one of Lewis's best wins, an admirable shut-out over a dangerous top fighter. I dont rate Lewis as highly as many on this site do though.