Can't legends all time beat modern fighter?

Or what if ATGs got the benefit of modern science and competing today? Ever think about that?

I find it best to just compare accomplishments vs thinking about H2H fantasy match ups. Accomplishments are easier to compare.

 

I just think old time fighters were cut from a different cloth. We are not built like those men.

For example, we have been arguing all week about BJS, was he right to call it off, actually did he call it off, we discussed the injury.

I was talking to somebody about it and they mentioned the old days, the black and white days and mentioned JESS WILLARD.

He suffered a broken jaw, broken nose, broken cheekbone, broken ribs and lost several teeth.. most of those injuries were believed to have been inflicted in round ONE.

The fight went 3 rounds.

 

I think the Great Depression cut into the supply of big guys in the 40s, 50s, and early 60s. I think there was another step up after the elimination of smallpox/polio/other childhood diseases, again this was primarily for the big guys. Fighters debuting ~1994 or later they were effectively modern.

I don't think many fighters are getting the kind of advanced sports science support that NFL teams provide. There's a lot of snake oil in that field anyway. The rise of the NFL and NBA have decimated the population of US HWs.

If Ali were around today he wouldn't compete with Fury, he'd compete with Gronk.

The smaller weights are more affected by globalization. I tend to think below LHW they would he competitive/superior because of the hard won experience they got facing off again and again with the other champs, assuming there is a level playing field with regard to rules.

 

Boxing is a stand alone sport that doesn’t keep progressing.

If you were to put together a huge tournament that featured today’s guys vs the old guys of the past, the tournament would yield mixed results depending on how all of the guys matched up stylistically.

A modern fighter could beat some older fighters.

Some older fighters could beat some modern fighters.

 

No fight would last that long now because people other than the fighter would get sued for letting a fighter continue on in such a condition. Plenty of fighters today would continue on with those kinds of injuries too. Joe Smith jr. suffered a broken jaw in two fights and continued on no problem.

Its really stupid to point out a fighter quitting because of an injury as a reason why modern fighters aren't as tough. You're going to sit here and tell me no fighter from those days quit because of a similar injury? Of course they did. But you aren't going to find a newspaper clipping to prove it because it was 80 years ago and nobody cares.

 

How are we build differently today? We still belong to the same species, and genetic evolution in a population doesn't happen so fast, that a significant change can be detected over a period of only a century.

As for the injuries suffered by Willard against Dempsey - well, apparently they weren't quite as serious, as first reported! Not saying, that he didn't take a terrible beating and showed great heart going on after that first-round trashing... but the number of broken bones should be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

Boxing is different from other sports because rendering your opponent unconscious is a method of victory. Now I would expect every category to have improved in boxing: speed, strength, technique, timing etc. The only attribute which may not have improved is toughness and more importantly mental fortitude. Which according to Emmanuel Steward is what separates the ATGs from everyone else. Tough times breed tough men. Easy times breed soft men. Back in the day if you weren't tough you died. If you were mentally fragile you killed yourself. The support structures to help the mentally vulnerable didn't exist. I guess what I'm trying to say is the boxers of yesteryear fought for survival more so than sport. An analogy would be putting a pitbull on steroids (modern) against a similar sized wolf. The wolf is going to win because it lives in the wilderness. It doesn't matter that the domesticated dog is on all the best nutrition and training regime and modern everything. The wolf fights for survival and is hardened from that environment. Also the wolf spars with other wolves.

That's my take on why some legends of the past could beat modern greats. Just my opinion folks.

 

I'm not sure if it mentally or physically but those men from the old days were seriously tough.

Of course there are exceptions but in general I honestly believe we are softer today.

 

Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns all whoop Floyd's arse at welter. Armstrong, Chavez, and Duran beat him at lightweight.

Floyd whoops Lomachenko at 130 or 135. Morales Beats Lomachenko at featherweight.

Jones Jr. Destroys both Canelo and GGG as does Sugar Ray Robinson.

If Parker, Whyte, Chisora, Ortiz, Wilder are top level heavyweights in today's game, hell yeah Ali, Foreman, Louis, Liston etc could compete at the top level today.

 

The only division off the discussion heavyweight size matters no fair to compare Ali to modern heavies.

 

its possible that LL knocks out Ali,,,,

we just dont know for sure,,,

 

Prime Ali is always the go-to example when discussing ATGs of the past vs the best of today's fighters. Well he would have two options now he didn't back in the day: 1. Make the CW limit and rehydrate to the same weight he competed at as a HW (210llbs vs Liston) and take on that division, or 2. Fight at HW and employ modern training methods to come in at 235ish, bigger, more powerful and pretty much as mobile.

It would be highly unlikely he would have boxed in 2021 with the physique he had in the 1960s. Era vs Era comparisons are fun but almost entirely meaningless...

 

I really don't. It's easy to look at kids today with their stupid flat brim hats and brightly colored expensive shoes and think that but it really isn't the case.

 

Neither do I.

Undoubtedly, life was harder (at least for a significant part of the population) 100 years ago - but there's no evidence to support the idea, that this translated into fighters back then, generally speaking, being tougher/more courageous than today. None whatsoever!