does anyone honestly doubt that technical skills have gotten worse in boxing?

The best of the sport are still highly skilled, but yeah, on the average, I think it's obvious the sport has done the opposite of your average sport and regressed a lot.

 

Well certainly, if you look at old films of Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Charlie Burley etc. these guys were true masters of finesse and technique, but i'm often struck by the fact that the guys they are fighting in those old films, even if i never heard of them, are often surprisingly skilled and well-rounded. Ofcourse, in those days, a lot more people were boxing, at least in the US, and they fought sooo much more often, against all kind of styles, and were forced to learn on the job. Young prospects were not protected nearly as much in those days, and were thrown with hard-nosed vets very early in their careers. We now look at guys like Jones, Hopkins, Mosley, Barrera, Marquez etc. and say "wow, these guys have got a lot of miles on them" but the old-school fighters finished their careers having fought 4, 5, 6 times as many fights/rounds as these modern day guys have. You can see that in how relaxed and comfortable they were in the ring, in how polished and versatile their skills were and in how easily they would go 12, 15 rounds, sometimes doing so 2, 3 times a month.

 

Boxing isn't as popular these days, and it's not a mainstream sport anymore. There's not as many gyms. Kids have to go out of their way just to train, compared to other sports where they could learn at school.

I look at guys with crazy athleticism like Berto, and wonder why he doesn't even care to learn how to box properly. They just want to rely on their physical gifts now.

 

hogwash

take off the nostalgia glasses

 

It isn't hogwash; he's absolutely, perfectly correct.

 

It shows that these younger fighters need to watch more youtube clips of curley, moore, robinson etc...
rather than roy jones vids

Youtube is the answer

 

Want technical skills today? Look at Mayweather, Marquez, Hopkins, MAB, Andre Ward. Bradley looks like he seems to have well rounded skill set and smart too despite not looking earth shattering, but defensively clever always throwing the right punches while not telegraphing anything

Yes the past has many technical greats, but many who weren't that technically skilled too

 

:happy Best post. Some idiots think fighters of the modern era have some skill advantage over the greats of yesterday just because they were born 20-30 yrs ago automatically they are better. They think because they are physically bigger they are better and confuse having more size equals more skill. Like Homie the Clown used to say "I don't think so."

 

I think this is bs.
Skills get passed throught trainers. If anything it's getting better. In today's world of Internet, commercial world travel, skills and training techniques can be passed on easier an better than in 20th century...

Rose tinted glasses I say...( kids are worse today than before, crime is worse than before, skills are less, etc ) bs

I have to say one thing though old timers used to fight every month sometimes...not like vag Haye and mayweather. Activity levels of these two fannys is truly on ***** street.

 

THIS
:deal

 

Skills sure as hell are not getting BETTER.

Even the supposed "skilled" guys like Khan, Bradley, Ward fight in a grappling, negative, sometimes sloppy style.

Compare that to the 80's when you had guys like Leonard, Holmes, Spinks, Hearns, Hagler, Benitez, Curry, who all had EXCEPTIONAL skills.

 

Timmy in the 80's would probably get lit up by a guy like Hilmer Kenty or Jimmy Paul.