Are modern boxers really fitter than in previous eras?

Looking at the numbers, it seems like WW1 stunted the rapid growth of boxing, that had taken place since the start of the century. Number of fights per year basically stood still during the war years, but once it was over, the worldwide activity almost exploded! From 8,000 bouts in 1918 to 31,000 just 5 years later… before reaching an all-time high of almost 47,000 in 1930 and 31 (in 2018 it was just under 26,000).

WW2 not just stopped the increase in worldwide activity but caused a severe reduction. During the war years (40-45), the number of fights from the early 30s was more than halved - with the size of the worldwide talent pool suffering pretty much the same fate. No doubt the two wars (especially WW2) robbed us of many potentially fine fighters. How many is of course anybody's guess.

 

Even fighting at a slower pace, and longer fight will still place greater demands upon your stamina.

 

The problem is we'd expect the records to be less complete the further you go back too, so the numbers are all pretty meaningless in terms of a long term trend.

Rapid growth is pretty indistinguishable from the records rapidly getting more complete.