If 15 Rounds Had Never been Scrapped..?

There may be some severe injuries along the way. To bring back 15 rounders - in other words, real title fights - the whole rug would have to be shaken out. And by that I mean, get rid of all the sanctioning bodies and streamline the sport to one champion. My reasoning is that when you have 4 'champs' looking for work, the top 10 is picked apart leaving no one around that has gained enough experience to contest a lengthy bout against the world's best. I remember when fighters had 30-40 bouts before going for the ultimate prize and they were ready. Today fighters under 10 fights are going for it. Do you think they're ready for 15? Moreover, I see the sanctioning bodies making more allowances such as allowing a fighter who lost their previous bout or lost 2 previous bouts or hadn't fought in a year and that seems to be OK. Those novices or poor challengers are just not ready for 15.

 

You got fans today claiming a 17-3 guy (Loma) is an ATG. He’d be fighting eight-round undercard bouts in previous eras.

Someone ‘cleans out’ a division by beating a bunch of guys with 15-20 fights, SMFH.

 

As far as which fights change, the first that comes to mind is Bruno-McCall. Bruno barely held on to get the 12 round decision. He almost certainly gets stopped a round or two later if that's scheduled for 15. Don't see Bruno pacing himself for the 15 round limit working very well for him either. That guy was not built for 15 round fights.

This wouldn't be a change in the result, but I think Andre Ward wins without as much controversy in the first Kovalev fight. Ward looked stronger in the later rounds of that fight, and probably would have swept the last three rounds if it was scheduled for 15.

Toney-Tiberi may have changed as well. Toney wasn't at all prepared for Tiberi's pressure that day, and looked beyond worn out at the end of 12. Tiberi may have gotten the nod with the extra 3 rounds to work with.

 

Some on this very site claimed Loma would've beaten
Duran at lightweight when he was 15-1.
I suppose in some alternative reality he could.
Certainly not in the one we live in lol.

 

If fights were still 15rds , there certainly wouldn't
have been any controversy about Chavez vs Taylor #1
or Leonard vs Hearns #2 for starters.
Heavyweights would be more focused on endurance
skills and technique instead of bulk and power, (Though
most don't use their physicality anyway, they don't seem
to know how)
Would have more ring death..... A bad thing.

 

It would really highlight how stupid it is to "build" a fighter to 25-0 with 24 kos and 28 total rounds and claim that he deserves a title fight.

 

There would be less controversial decisions and judging would be noticeably better. But it would be horrible for the fighters and moving to standard 12 rounds for fights of import was the morally correct thing to do.

 

A lot of 15-rounders may have gone differently if scheduled for 20, 25 or even 45 as in Jack Johnson’s day.

 

Chavez-Taylor is the obvious one, assuming Richard Steele let round 12 end. But then, if he stopped it the same way in round 12 of a 15 rounder, would the controversy be the same?

 

15 rounds today? In addition to the excellent points already mentioned, I recently found out that Ngannou was installed at #10 by the WBC when he fought Fury.

Can anyone imagine him going 15 at an old-school pace?

 

Also, if fights were 15 rounds, I think there would be even less fights happening, if that's possible.

 

Hagler v Leonard

 

It would be interesting to look at all HW bouts for the belt(s) that ended in a 12 round points win; in their 15 round version...
Where do I start?
Holyfield Vs. Bowe 1 and 2, Wilder Vs. Fury 1, Lewis Vs. Mercer...