Could the change in roadwork be behind the emergence of SHWs?

It's one factor. Not needing to worry about 15 rounds is another. PEDS however are the main culprit. Fighters who would normally be lanky pack on added muscle to look like Swarzenegger.

I frankly miss 15 round championship bouts. So much about boxing today has been watered down.

 

Everyone was doing PEDS in the 80's and 90's. I am sure it's still status quo and has become a quasi science. You have to look at ALL the top hwts closely as they are all suspect in this regard. This is why the size of today's hwts cannot be compared to the distant past where there were no PEDS to use. Many of the tall huge hwts today would be tall and lanky without PEDS. Put Buddy Baer on PEDS and you have would get a WK type appearance.

 

You're talking out of your ****. Many of the heavies of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s were just naturally big men. And with proper nutrition and an informed approach to weight training, it's really not hard to put on muscle without PEDS at all. No reason whatsoever to believe that they would be all be lanky but for PEDs.

 

Again I was there you were not. PEDS were rampant in those days. PEDS allow weight gain, improved muscularity. All due to being able to recover quicker from workouts. Take PEDS away from any athlete who benefited from them for years and what do you see? A more ordinary physique, more body fat, less muscularity. Seen it a dozen or more times.

 

PED's were around and being used in weight lifting/body building since the late 1940's. They most likely made their way into major professional sports in the 1960's. If you are going to start pointing fingers, you might want to aim it back a few decades.

 

It did not hit mainstream and it was not a true science until the 80s and 90s where it hit the boxing scene big time.

 

I'm genuinely interested--where do you mean when you say you were "there"? Which large boxers did you witness use drugs?

 

Just understand PEDS became rampant in boxing in the 80s and 90s. I assume in all sports but I was only close to boxing.

 

Don't be coy with us, Perry!Do you have names? Did you see any well known boxers with peds?

 

Bingo. My thoughts exactly. They should return to the 15 round format, unless there's irrefutable proof that those extra three rounds are hazardous to the health of a fighter. At the same time I think at least 10% of the fighters purse, matched equally by the promoter should go into a retirement fund which can also be accessed if health issues arise.

 

Lets say up to the late 60's as a generalization, Heavyweights used to be about 14 stone plus during the next decade, the 70's there seemed to be a growth spurt where to generalize once more 15 stone plus became the norm, then in the 80's and 90's the fat undertained heavyweight was not uncommon, as youngsters they may of started off lean and mean, but something went wrong along the way,

One very interesting theory i read many years ago was this 60's 70's - 80's and 90's growth spurt had a direct correalation with the expansion of Fast Food outlets throughout the west, this was backed up to a degree by the fact that these national population growth spurts were not noted in global regions where the Fast Food Conglomerates had not (yet) established themselves Like Asia or India

The clincher being that cattle was, with ever increasing regularity, being given 'Bovine Enhancement Drugs' to Beef them up and increase herd prices, and when people tucked into their beefburgers they were ingesting trace elements of the Bovine enhancement drugs, Boxers aside, the general western populations have followed this growth spurt trend, some people who may be a natural 12 stoner are now waddling about at 18 stone, Man ****s are a growing trend, Diabetes is seemingly on an unstoppabe march, The Common Factor that has been gathering pace since the late 70's globally... ? The Theory was pointing a definate finger.

 

I doubt it, personally. Athletes in other sports where size is a competitive advantage also grew substantially larger during the second half of the 20th century.

 

I don't see why he should name anyone. It's patently obvious that some of the physical transformation in certain heavyweights was gained by methods Buddy Baer and Ernie Terrell couldn't even dream about.

It's rife in all sports, and hey presto people are getting huge in them, too.
You're only knocking Perry because it's a slight on modern fighters. But it is undeniable.