Classic Fans, Who Still Follows the Sport, When did you Stop?

My point about the many divisions and sanctioning bodies... is that I largely ignore that part of the game. I couldn't care less, who are recognized as champions by what organisations. I just want to see good boxing - and I count myself lucky to be around today, where I can watch most of the big fights, either live in the comfort of my living room, or soon after on YouTube.

Yes, this is a great time to be a boxing fan!

 

I agree to an extent. It's true those guys back in the day had to fight more often to eat but I would argue that it wasn't beneficial to the fighters at all. Look at how many of those guys ended up with dementia/CTE from fighting so often. In some cases guys didn't have hardly any amateur fights and learned as pro's which is why you see so many losses on a lot of those guys records. Today's fighters are typically moved a lot slower which I agree is more frustrating for the fans but it is without a doubt better for the fighters development.

I think the point you are making is more about generational toughness than true skill of fighters. Today's guys benefit from better health awareness, diet, training and amateur programs. Fighters from the old days had to be grittier because of circumstances no different from my Grandfather who grew up during the great depression and fought in WWII was 1000 times tougher than I was as a kid growing up in The 70's and 80's.

 

Fair point.

I suppose any time is if you're enjoying it mate. My son loves the current scene far more than any old footage. Then again, he won't even watch a repeat of any fight he's seen, it's just not his thing...whereas, i've watched Don Curry's KO of Milt the Stilt at least 520 times.

 

You see ? I bet you don´t have that many brothers and sisters.

 

There yo go !

"The best-known baby boom occurred in the mid-twentieth century, sometimes considered to have started after the end of the Second World War, sometimes from the late 1940s, and ending in the 1960s."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boom#:~:text=The best-known baby boom,and ending in the 1960s.

This is something that is NEVER talked about, and it had probably something to do with it. Kids everywhere ! More kids getting into boxing.

 

Hmmm,

I would venture that the likes of Greb, Armstrong, Moore, Langford etc. saw a level of development, skill and achievements that today's fighter just isn't going to replicate. Yes, there is the inevitable health damage that comes with being punched in the head multiple times, but the bravery, fight and skillset that such conditions stimulate is undeniable to my mind. Simply put, the more time that you're tested under fire, the more battle-ready and hardened you are, as well as the greater likelihood of your ability to be composed and perform in adverse conditions.

There are ample nutritional benefits and less wear and tear that today's fighter benefits from - this much is true, but in terms of average skillset, combined with the relative lack of in-ring exposure to a multitude of styles, fights, conditions to overcome, the heart that makes a fighter swallow his own blood in order to stay in the fight that he wins is seldom seen today. Arguably, Greb, Charles and Armstrong all have a 1 - 3 year run that is greater than most fighters' careers.

The irony is that in the search for greatness, to prove one's testicular fortitude, the truly legendary fighters often suffer irreversible damage to sit amongst the absolute elite. Boxing is truly a sport that you pay for greatness with your life - even in the case of a Floyd who's relatively unscathed, there's a byproduct of the dedication and physical commitment to the sport - it may not show for 20/30 years if he's lucky, but it's there.

 

You make some good points but I will still say that every era of the sport has it's pros and cons and there are certainly fighters today that could compete in any era with success. I've been involved in the sport as a competitor and as a fan my whole life and with every sport, there are advancements and setbacks.

 

I don't know, if you're joking - or actually being serious!

A baby boom at a time, when the world population was less than 1/3 (after WW2) of what it is today, surely doesn't mean, that more babies were born back then, compared to now... with the result that in the decades that followed, more young men were getting into boxing than today.

 

But mum's huge family of 14 is unusual for then- or any time. My dad has one brother and one sister- as do I.