15 rds. or 12rds. ?

15 is the truer test, for sure.

 

They need to go back to 15 rounds. Those were the championship rounds. Twelve is just too short, and sometimes you feel an incomplete feeling nowadays when you see a fight and the action is good and the guys are really starting to dig in only to think that another three rounds would really resolve things. The safety argument I don't buy into too much. Since they cut it to twelve there still have been ring deaths and the like, unfortunately. With boxing there is always that chance. Anyway, the boxing commissions are much better with safety at major bouts nowadays, so for that reason I think it would be ok to go back to 15 rounds. At the very least, add a 13th round. An odd number of rounds would reduce the chance of draws and debatable decisions(well maybe not) Also the number 13 and boxing? Perfect together.

 

More chance of a reduction in the 12-round title bout limit than a return to the 15-round days.

 

12 x 3 =36 min Fight
11 min between Rds for Commercials & replays
6 min for Introduction
7 min for Conclusions
Total 60 mins

12 rds was really done for Home TV purposes with "safety" as the excuse.

 

15 rounds without question for title fights.

 

The 15 round limit sorts out the men from the boys, the true test. In closely fought battles it often became a battle of will and heart , more than skill once it hit those late late stages of a gruelling fight. Guys like Holmes, Marciano, Frazier, Sanchez, Pedroza, Armstrong, Monzon, Pryor, Arguello, Pintor, Fenech, they loved them late stanza's and were true greats there.

 

15 obviously

 

Emile Griffith and Carlos Monzon were the masters of the 15 rounder. Eah knew how to pace themselves so that they saved their best for the championship rounds, especially Monzon. Ali was a great 15 round fighter as well. Getting back to Monzon, he was a truly unique case as far as 15 round stamina was concerned, being since he smoked cigarettes even while in training.

 

15, no question.

 

15.

 

It doesn't matter, if you can't get it done in 12 you'll never get it done, and yes there used to be KOs in rounds 13-15, but a fighter can up the pace in 10-12 just the same as they could 13-15, if a fighter says 'if only I had 1 more round in a 12rounder' they should have started turning up the heat earlier and they'd be saying the same in a 15rounder most likely

 

15 is obviously better. Ali would have retained his title vs Spinks if it had been 12, I think. Comical.

 

This is it. Even if there was some kind of safety issue, it'd be much better to make fighters weigh in a couple of hours before the fight to stop all this rehydration that's going on.

 

In the interest of greater safety, a return to the 15 round limit would be highly beneficial. How? Simply by virtue of requiring improved physical conditioning. Also, the use of harmful performance enhancing substances which offer a competitive advantage over 12 rounds may become a liability over the greater championship distance.

Too many controversial decisions have tainted boxing during the 12 round era. The restoration of the championship rounds would provide for more conclusive results. Some have argued that judged sporting events do not constitute true competition.

Boxing dropped off the map as a mainstream sport when the championship distance was abolished. That SRL-Hagler was only a 12 rounder was devastating to the credibility of boxing in a way which wouldn't have been the case had it been for 15 rounds. (If Mike Spinks had been awarded decisions against Holmes over 12 rounds, the popularity of boxing would have skidded even faster.)

My apologies to any of you who have come to expect incendiary volcanic rhetoric from me on this issue, but I'm kind of run down at the moment, and simply lacking the energy necessary to generate my usual sort of tirade on the subject.