Do Today's Heavies Have The Same Guts?

Any day now Mr B!!

 

Yep I am not surprised he pushes his agenda in the wrong way

 

I was responding with concrete examples to the question of today's fighters being more pampered or not. It was heavy on adverbs and judicious on adjectives.

My response to the title question was to ask if Magomed Abdusalamov had the "same guts" as those of the glory days. Or how about Shannon Briggs in his fight with Vitali, or Vitali in his fight with Lewis... or just about any guy who gets in there with another 230 pound professionally trained behemoth trying to decapitate him with a single punch? I would say they are a pretty brave lot.

Now, if you want to discuss guts in terms of matchmaking... I might differ from the above opinion at this particular time.

 

I would not generalise personally.

There are hero’s and cowards in every era.

The key difference, is that the old timers had more to loose!

 

There is a built in assumption for many, that old timers have more guts, and modern fighters have better technique.

A good model for turning the theory on its head is the Sharkey Holyfield example.

Jack Sharkey was a more talented all round fighter than Evander Holyfield on paper, but he was a head case.

Yes he had more to loose, and he was extremely ambitious in matching himself against the best fighters of the era, but he just didn’t have Holyfields X factor.

It is not so much the era, as the man.

 

I don't see the point in this thread being limited to heavyweights: is there some larger point that men of a certain size aren't as tough as men of a much smaller certain size of yesteryear?

If the world is a softer place now and people don't have the same heart (the former is largely true not sure about the latter), why would that be less true for welterweights than heavies?

 

"The world" seems to be painting with a very broad brush. There are still a lot of hard places remaining on this planet, even if most of our neighborhoods aren't one of them.

 

Haye basically stubs his toe and quits. Ali fights through a broken jaw, Frazier keeps climbing off the deck against the murderous Foreman and Holy cooly continues to Beat Tyson after having a chunk of his ear bitten off. Lets hear it for the elders !!

 

I was sure you were coming in here for a fat joke. 'These heavyweights have a lot of GUTS alright.'

 

Bert Sugar dropping his cigar was worth the entire price of the movie.

 

It takes guts to get in the ring no doubt, regardless of era. Some have more than others today and yesterday. I do believe having the 0 on the record, prevents us from seeing the top contenders fighting one another. Lots of money to be made or lost, fighting a dangerous opponent, instead of waiting it out for the possible crack at the title.

 

We've had guts, and references to fat guts, but I think we need to go back to Tyson's era, McCall, Thomas, etc for the " crack " period.

 

The old timers had more guts for sure. They had to endure more inside the ring. If an injury happened, they were often out of luck.

But the old timers also weren't as rich, and did not easy access to various vices.

 

Pretty much everything stated here is incorrect.

I just watched a guy basically die in the ring last month and carry on to stagger his opponent in the last round. What more do you suggest he have endured? He seems pretty **** out of luck right now for his display of "guts"...

Old timers without vices should include John L, Bob Fitzsimmons, Stanley Ketchel, Kid McCoy, Benny Lynch... ?