Why weren't old time Boxers punch drunk?

Louis was a bit slurry. Guys like Micky Walker, Lou Nova, Billy Conn and many others were all greatly compromised. Robinson had Alzheimers at a young age. One wonders what the diagnosis would be today.

 

It hits everyone differently. Compare Ali and Terrell. Similar ages, similar number of fights, and fought many of the same people. Ali was already a mess by the early 80s and spent the next 35 years steadily declining. Terrell retired and was totally fine for decades, then all of a sudden it hit him and he fell apart over his last few years. Guys like Louis and Robinson were ok for awhile, but then it caught up with them. LaMotta, as far as I know, never seemed to have any significant negative effects. It's almost impossible to predict who will be affected and how and when.

 

You'd probably find quite a few old timers with it back then .With so many brutal fight s there must have being an effect on a good few .plus you have to factor in a lot never lived to a ripe old age to actually show sign's of Brain damage.

 

Don't forget that Joe Louis also suffered from cocaine abuse as well. That most likely help speed up his deterioration.

A fading Louis was punished by Ezzard Charles and destroyed by Rocky Marciano. The Internal Revenue Service gripped him with steel claws and shook Louis until his pockets bled pennies. His personal problems mounted. Wives left him. In one disastrous fling, a paramour got him started on drugs and made pornographic movies while he dozed in "funny land." Another lover led him toward cocaine addiction.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...7ef7d4a/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.18c180d9c406


Joe Calzaghe also admitted to using Cocaine and sometimes struggles to string words together. Hopefully he's kicked that habit.

Last night, Calzaghe, known as the ‘Pride of Wales’, said in a statement: ‘I very much regret my occasional use of cocaine in what have sometimes been the long days since my retirement from the ring.

‘I am fully aware of the bad example it sets to other people and particularly to youngsters and I apologise to my family, friends and fans.

‘It is not a major problem in my life, but it is something which I am actively addressing. Many of the other conversations reported to have taken place simply involve men joshing or shooting the breeze over a drink. While some statements are either untrue or exaggerations I am naturally sorry for any embarrassment their publication may cause to entirely blameless third parties.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1261308/Joe-Calzaghes-cocaine-shame.html

 

Here is Louis and Schmeling in 1973. Louis is 59 and Schmeling is 68. Schmeling is very lucid while Joe is stumbling all over his words. Looking at them you'd think they were the same age despite Schmeling being almost 10 years older.

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Lots of them were punch drunk.

 

Louis seems fine there. He was never a great talker.

 

Surely a LOT more old timers were punchy compared with today's counterparts.

More fights, more rounds, tougher match-ups (meaning less cherry picking and padded records), horse-hair gloves and less safety measures would be reasons off the top of my head.

Because there isn't a lot of footage of old fighters talking punchy doesn't mean it was less of a thing. Typical millennial type thinking that.

It's sad, and this goes for some boxing heads too, but it's discerning for most normal people to hear an old fighter slur his words, so a lack of camera time is understandable. Then and now.

 

I think a lot of them probably were.

 

Correct Louis was never very articulate.

 

Remember that 1987 interview with Jimmy Jacobs... where he refuses to acknowledge, that Boxing can cause brain damage (about 17 min. in)? Very strange!

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Spring water from the mountains, no gmo's and no chemtrails in the sky.

Ahh, bliss!

 

Thanks for posting that. I watched it on Channel 4 at the time but haven't seen it for 30 years !
Incredible the stuff Jacobs was spouting. Complete denial.

 

The OP has a very limited sample of fighters, including one notable fighter who suffered from Alzheimers that may have been exacerbated by blows to the head.

There are far too many examples of old-time boxers with brain damage to mention. Johnny Bratton and Johnny Saxton were both admitted to mental hospitals before their 30th birthday. Wolgast and McGovern had their post-boxing lives destroyed by mental illness, to name just a few.

It may have been overlooked, ignored or misunderstood (see the Jacobs interview), but it certainly did happen.