Many people claim that it has, but few explain in terms of specific techniques. I've read some opinions on the matter here and there, generally things such as slipping punches, shoulder rolls, and escaping clinches are less commonly mastered. Your thoughts.
Generally speaking, you dont see fighters who are well rounded complete fighters that are masters of all styles of fighting. You now see guys who are good at just one thing, and its really hard to judge how good a fighter is, because they can be matched so favorably. For instance we see Pac knocking guys down easy, but he hasnt been in with a real good boxer in some time, so it would be interesting to see how good he really is at dealing with a little dimension, since hes "supposedly" improved so much. Its also the very reason a guy like Hopkins can still fight. He can pick the fights that allow him to fight within his limitations.
I think training has definitely devolved. The emphasis is now on strength and power as opposed to speed and conditioning. IMO, this is a backward step. Number of official fights is definitely a devolution, particularly between the contenders. This is brought about largely because there are so many titles, that it is more important not to take hard fights and lose than it is to fight and be tested against the better fighters, since undefeated fighters always eventually get their shots nowadays, because there are so many belts. And once getting a belt, champions never fight as often as they do as challengers, meaning that the best fighters dont fight each other as often because it is rare for champion v champion fights or interweight fights even though in older days, these guys would have just been contenders and no big deal would have been made. This is a definite devolving in my opinion. The other devolving of things have been in rule changes such as outlawing fighting in the clinches or wrestling, making gloves and rings softer, stopping fighters. These are all devolving, in the sense that the fighters practice and use less skills and fight in softer conditions, although obviously there are reasons for some of these things. Obviously this is a devolving because if the two fighters fought to their own rules, the older fighters would be allowed to do things that the newer fighters are not and the newer fighter would find these things tougher to deal with. I think those changes pretty much cover the devolving of boxing.
Guys like Floyd and Ward are obviously very technically skilled. But I for one would like to see them stay in the pocket more. I think Ward's head movement against Abraham wasn't as smooth as I would like. Still displayed some excellent skill, though.
Infighting has gone way, way back. This is understandable though as it just isn't scored like it used to be. In the UK you are basically wasting your time throwing punches at 6 inches unless your name is Hatton. Feinting has gone back. Feinting as it was originally conceived (pre-Ketchel) seemed as much about trapping as anything else. Sometimes this would take 3 or 4 or 14 rounds to set up. You just don't have time for that in the modern game over the shorter distances...when was the last time you saw a really good "lazy jab"? I would say these are the two biggies.
Many fighters these days just don't fight often enough, and don't spend enough time in the gyms learning the craft.
I wouldn't necerssarily say technique has devolved as such? When I watch guys like James Toney, Floyd Mayweather - they use amazing techniques and look as good as any when they're on top of their game - an absolute joy to watch as far as technique and the way they do things - I could probably name you quite a few who impress me just as much but haven't the time now as am at work but I just don't see how technique can devolve as such - once the techniques are out there then they are out there forever - you can only really build on them?
Generally technique has dropped off especially the last 10years or so. At the top, skills are still elite for most, although there are elite fighters with clear limitations. But generally defense has devloved the most, especially head movement and in many cases simply keeping the hands up, dropping hands is fine for some when it's part of their style and set trapping but not for a Katsidis and Hatton it isn't. How many can actually slip a jab and counter while stepping inside these days? No one the Klits have fought and that's why they've had so much success
I think that because of the safety equipment added (thicker gloves , underglove wraps , gumshields ) fighters allow themselves to take more risks which results in defensive techniques which are much less applicable in reality . The same accusation can be blamed on the prohibition on kicks , elbows and knee strikes . Also , due to the decline in the number of rounds fighters tend to be less economic from the start.
Fighters today have forgotten how to twirl their fists, wax their mustaches, lean backwards constantly and dance around like grown fairies... Also, they have forgotten the importance of all movements being in straight front to back lines, forget anything lateral...
Boxing technique has nosedived over the past 20 years. Guys like Pascal, Maidana, Pavlik, Berto, Alexander, and JM Lopez would struggle to be top 10-15 fighters in their divisions in the 1970s and 1980s, due to their respective mixes of the over-physical, the under-skilled, the under-conditioned and the mentally fragile.
