Is anyone else getting tired of the revisionist?

Potentially, yes, of course.
Likewise there might have been someone potentially better working in a car factory.
There may have been boxers at that time who were potentially better too !

 

Having "some success" and becoming a professional is a huge difference.

My point to this whole line of questioning is that the reason US heavyweight talent has declined is the same that talent in the other divisions has done the same... gyms closing down, programs losing funding... However, this does not mean the level of talent worldwide has decreased. Regions previously not allowed to compete in the pro ranks, or where the sport took little footing are now putting out championship level talents. This is much analogous to the succession ethnic groups which arrived in waves in the history of boxing in the US... except this is on a global scale.

 

It isn't just or perhaps mainly going into other sports, though. There were a huge number of Jewish-American fighters, including top heavyweights, between the wars. How many is there now? It isn't that they are playing football. They have simply gotten educations and moved into the professions.

 

I agree.
There are many roads of opportunity for people nowadays.

Even a 9-to-5 unskilled job offers a much better standard of living these days than it did decades ago.
And that's such thing as welfare.

I cant discount that opportunities to play other sports may have an impact in some demographics. But it's not the reason.

 

I double dare you to post this in the General forum.

 

lol I just came to this forum, im trying to stay alive! Im too young to die

 

Exhibit A:

3:55
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubUrl4YU2QE[/ame]

Can you count how many jabs johnson throws right there?

And yes johnsons right hand is down, but look what he does with it right when flynn steps into distance with him. He raises it to guard his chin, and then he uses it to clinch. Look how many jabs he can throw in a short time, passed his prime.


And yes, im saying that if old time fighter fought with modern day cameras in a modern day arena, they would look much better. People would have a lot more respect for them, once they saw the high definition film of Louis knocking someone out with a punch in close up slow mo. Jack Johnson would look nimble and quick, unlike what people have seen before. And if knockouts is what modern day fans please, knockouts is what he would give them.

 

They didnt jab?

Jack Dempsey would laugh at that statement. The jab has just gotten worse over time. Only a handful of great fighters utilize it well. But hey, maybe you think Dempsey didn't know how to jab either, lol.

Its one of the reasons I highly respect the Klit bros.

 

Good post. I agree.

 

It's funny how people can seriously make statements about the old-timers not jabbing when every boxing manual and textbook from that era stresses the importance of the straight left lead and the left jab (or jolt, as Dempsey liked to call it).
Going back to the 1880s and further, the manuals taught the left lead as the primary weapon - the same as now.

 

Every acount that I have been able to find of one of Jem Mace's fights suggests that the jab was his primary weapon.

He might have looked more orthodox today than sombody like Corbett or Fitzsimmons.

 

:good And Jem Mace was 1860s !

 

Well, we have guys on this board who think they could have taken Demspey