At what point did modern boxers surpass old ones?

Burton and Peck. They can play any character and you'll love or hate the man within minutes of the opening credits.
Brando and Tracy......meh.
But it's subjective I know.

As for Elvis..... absolutely zero passion.
He was a performer.
Willie, JC, Waylon, Kristofferson....
They are the TRUE KINGS OF ROCK AND ROLL.

 

Douglas Fairbanks > Daisy Ridley

 

Less fights (not necessarily less boxing) has allowed them to be in better shape and more focused for each individual fight, yes. If that wasn't the case, guys like Joshua would be fighting 26 times per year.

 

This. Boxers aren't half as skilled as they used to be. A lot of the top champs today would be considered green if they fought in the old days.

 

I've seen too many modern boxers be flabby and out of shape or carrying injuries into the ring for this hypothesis to hold up to any close inspection. The opposite argument holds just as much water, that having to fight more frequently meant that fighters had less time to get out of shape or develop ring rust.

 

Kurt wrote his own songs and played his own instruments. Elvis was a better singer and performer, just like Sinatra, but don't give them credit for other people writing great songs. Kurt needs to be compared to other singer songwriters like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, or John Lennon.

 

Training hasn't changed in a century. Spar, mits, heavy bag, speed bag, run, push ups, sit ups, and jump rope.

Most boxers make maybe 1500 bucks a fight. You can't pay your bills boxing until you get to contender level. But the elite fighters always made good money. Ali made about twenty million a fight adjusted for inflation. Gene Tunney got the equivalent of fourteen million for the Dempsey rematch back in 1927. Joe Louis made the equivalent of seven and a half million for fighting Billy Conn. Marciano made the equivalent of four million for fighting Moore. Robinson made the equivalent of four million fighting Basilio. Jack Johnson's purse for fighting Jim Jeffries would be three million with inflation. Even in the nineteenth century prize fighting was lucrative. Corbett made more than a million dollars with inflation for fighting John L. Sullivan. The elite fighters were always rich and the lesser fighters have always been poor.

 

Come on man, it's a push. Look at the era's critically
John Wayne=Clint Eastwood=Arnold Schwarzenneger
Paul Newman=Tom Cruise=Leonardo DeCaprio
Sidney Poitier=Morgan Freeman=Denzel Washington
Marlon Brando=Robert De Nero=Daniel Day Lewis
Bette Davis=Katherine Hepburn=Meryl Streep

 

Imagine how many bartenders, dock workers, stock boys, and farmhands Joshua could roll thru in a year, squeezing in a Chauncy Welliver, a Liakovich in there.
Hell, he could have 50 fights by now and have broken Rocky's record.

We have ridiculed Wilders CV, but Jason Gavern is an elite compared to some of the 6-33 laborers or the 1-3 soda jerks the pioneers feasted on from town to town.

I'm sure the pre mass media fighters needed to fight often and vs all comers just to make a living.

Modern fighters focus on strict training and top level sparring even out of camp.

Less rds in the ring but following stricter and more advanced regimens. When the money fights come, they're pretty much set.

 

ah so much less fights makes better boxers, I see your point.

This applies to all professions, I reckon I am better than a real plumber cos I only do my sink once a year too.

Hell I'm better than Chris Froome since I only cycle once a month not every day.

mm

 

as opposed to....you dont think his CV is chock with them now?

 

In 18 months, sandwiched between his L and W over Sharkey, Primo Carnera went 27-2, losing to 2 of the 4 decent opponents being on the level of a modern day Nickolai Firtha.

The other 25 opponents being guys with 2-4 or 15-27 type record.

So if you're plumber is unclogging 300 commodes a yr but you are installing a shower, hot water heater, and clearing the traps in your sink on that day, I would have to say you're the better plumber.

 

Actually, most old time heavyweights didn't have any more fights than the moderns. Jack Dempsey 75, Max Baer 81, Max Schmeling 70, Joe Louis 69, JJ Walcott 71, Marciano 49, Patterson 64, Liston 54, Ali 61, Foreman 81, Holmes 75, Tyson 58, Holyfield 57, Lewis 44, V Klitschko 47, W. Klitschko 69.

As for the "modern fighters focusing on strict training and top level sparring even out of camp" is that what Chris Arreola and Bermaine Stiverne were doing? Is a "stricter and more advanced regimen" how Big Baby Miller trains? I think your theory has a few Tyson Fury sized holes in it.

When Emile Griffith was welterweight champ and fighting ten times a year, he managed to get the top three contenders out of the way each year. Keith Thurman is talking about ring rust and how he needs tune ups and maybe he'll fight Spence for a money fight in a year or two.

 

sounds like the runs that joshua, wilder, brook and 3g and co spenjt years compiling.

 

Or the first 8 years that Hopkins was middleweight champ. Or Joe Calzaghe's career barring the last three years. Andre Ward 2013-2016. And how are y'all liking Kovalev's comeback?