Fighters getting over the hill at a young age

And that's why he was well schooled enough to get by way past his best years and weight as a fat slob ;-) :good

Sounds punchy now, but even at his best he was a mumbler.

 

The thing is though, all the evidence points to weight cutting being a problem, and fighters campaigning at their natural weight having longer, more successful and less damaging careers.

So surely someone would take heed from it and just do what's natural. If you're walking round in the low 150's, you're a welterweight, regardless of whether you weigh in at 143 or 147.

Losing the last three lbs won't do your body or your mood any good, when you could just be chilling out during the last week of training and doing some fine tuning.

Like Froch said in Fight Camp 360 - I can eat on the morning of the weigh-in, then when Dirrell missed the weight he had to go and sweat his balls off whilst Froch went about his routine.

 

i think there are a variety opf reasons these days

fighters less skilled so take more beatings, more flush shots
fighters losing condition eg hatton not living the life

back in the day there were far more fighters so only the very toughest got to the top and stayed there. i think theres maybe 4/500 pro boxers in uk today but in 1940's there was 10,000 so stands to reason the standard would be so much higher.

someone 'delicate' eg dirrell would never get near to top of the game as he would be found out long before he got to the top.

ive rambled a bit there but thats a few thoughts

 

All fair points.

Especially the one about Dirrell.

I really don't get why an Olympic medal should get you the proverbial free meal in the pro ranks. You've proven that you're a top amateur boxer, well done. But the two sports are completely different, from skills to mindset.

 

Great post.

 

Check out how this Olympian was matched.

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=21795&cat=boxer

Think he fought Olivo on his debut, or at least early! There's a faded legend in Guty Espedas in there. Patchy as **** and matched with complete disregard to an aesthetically pleasing record and/or easy development, but talent showed through and at one point he was the lineal Flyweight champion of the World

 

because press and hype allows them to sell alot of tickets

 

Luke, do me a favour. On me iPhone so can't post but check out the footage of Wilbur 'Skeeter' McClure Vs Luis Rodriguez on YouTube. McClure was a gold medallist and a brilliant amateur who was chucked in at the deep end of some truly perilous middleweight waters. He was a contender, nothing more, nothing less.

But watch him operate against, IMO, one of the 25 greatest P4P fighters ever. The amateur setup at the time allowed him to fight and perform as he did, and quickly. He wasn't brought to the 'top' or a strap with 25-35 fights, and he never reached the pinnacle because he wasn't good enough. He won some, lost some.

But watch him. He was ****in' ace. Nowadays they'd make him appear to look nigh on invincible, cut to 154 for a strap, then one at 160, 30-0 now with the usual names, a smaller ex-champ here, a 'name' here, a title from a guy that isn't all that but has also got a nice '0' and media hype because of it (remember how great Dawson was supposed to be?!) and before you know it you have a guy who is a contender in a harsher, more competitive era lauded with the plaudits reserved for those who put in much more graft to get there!

 

Fidel LaBarbas record was amazing.
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=12310&cat=boxer&pageID=2

 

****ing hell

I know, as I've said a few times it doesn't sit well with me that a lad gets European title money for his second fight against a scrub who I'd have half a chance with.

Doesn't do the lad any favours either.

Will do tomorrow, I've got half an hour spare in the morning.

 

Theres another. Both he and McLarnin were nails for having a series that early into their pro careers. LaBarba is another who went on to have massive, ATG style success without being Molly coddled. The amateur system today rarely breeds fighters that can step it up quick.

But alas, the illusion can still be conjured. Beibut Shumenov for example. What an amazing feat! What, he's a contender within ten fights and two losses were sidestepped?

Still, his competition has been commendable. If promoters did this with more amateur prospects we'd separate the wheat from the chaff pretty easily IMO.

Lomachenko will be an interesting one to watch. He has a style totally suited to the pro's and a wealth of amateur experience. Test him quick against fighters more well-versed in the pro' game than he might be used to seeing and he'll find himself quickly (or won't) and have him fight fairly often IMO.

Gamboa has been brought along well, even if it could've been condensed into a year or two :yep

 

You'll only need half an hour Luke, I thinks there's ten minutes or so on both fights. I promise that you will enjoy the footage immensely, technical war (and I mean WAR) at it's finest ;-)

 

Duran also showed how he could come back from some awful showings. He had that inside him. Post-Leonard II through Laing, Moore, Hearns, Hagler and on to Barkley, he was written off in his day more than once, not surprising considering he'd already had a great career at 135. His technical ability was great enough that he could turn the clocks back time and again, and his pure fighting ability allowed him to keep coming back, he simply wasn't fussed who was put in front of him. Post-Leonard II he was patchy, but showed his greatness nonetheless. Fighting once a year against (probably) less than stellar opposition? He wouldn't be thought of the same way he is today.

Imagine what the 'net would be like if those events were transpiring today! He'd be killed off and cussed, Laing would be claimed as one of the ATGs of British boxing, Duran 'glass jawed' after losing to Hearns, Hagler 'an overrated **** flap' with all sorts of mentalists claiming he was outboxed and scoring the fight to the Panamanian, and Duran would be 'The G.O.A.T' after another miraculous career resurgence.

 

Yeah that would have been crazy, the same for Hearns, he would have been a P4P monster after Cuevas, a hypejob after Leonard, a monster after Duran, a glass jawed fraud after hagler and barkley and then he would have been robbed scandalous after leonard 2.