boxing old. what age is the tipping point?

I think advances in training and nutrition as well as longer time between fights and safer rules ( like no more 15 rounders) have all contributed to sports longevity.

NRL players recieve accumulative damage from getting hammered every week on the field, a boxer has time to recover from his injuries. By the time an NRL player reaches 30 he has had a pretty hard run

 

Nutrition might have something to do with it. Availability of many legal nutritional supplements that have been shown to help maintain muscle conditioning, health of heart and lungs that simply weren't available back in the day. Thinking creatine, glutamine, carnitine etc

Combating muscle deterioration with heavy weights which used to be a no no in many many gyms.

But probably number one is the mental....most 'physical' limitations are actually mental. Sports psychology is a huge industry these days. But seeing a Hopkins do what he does shows another aging boxer that it is possible.

The long recuperation periods definitely help

In league it's starting to happen....a lot of the stuff is again just in peoples minds. I wouldn't object to having Steve Price or Beaver Menzies playing for my team at 35 years of age. BUt still 30 is regarded as a magic number.

Boxing is also much more personal.....remember some guys are shot at 27 or 28 when they should be at their peak..........

 

I still think an elite boxer is basically finished at about 35ish. Apart for Hopkins who else has been P4P after about 35/36/37 etc etc. Roy Jones has been totally finished for the last 3 or 4 yrs compared to his days as a top P4P fighter. Larry Holmes and George Foreman in their 2nd careers in their early 40's were just shadows of their former selves even though they were still competitive in the top 5 or 6 in the heavyweight division at the time. It doesn't look good for Mundine as he is about to turn 34.

 

33.47

 

I've always found the guys that rely on speed are the ones whos careers always end earliest. The wily crafty guys like Hopkins seem to have the best chance to have longer careers.

 

3 consecutive counts of 10.

 

Boxers don't fight any where near as much any more which means they can fight on for many years longer then fighters of past generations have. Back in the 30s, 40s and 50s you had fighters having 80-100 fights before they were 30 in some cases, guys today don't have half as many fights in their career.

 

Saul Mamby went 10 hard rounds when he was 60-61.

 

i secnd this notion

 

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Spot on. :good

 

it has alot to do with punishment that has been taken in fights