Fighters Were Better In The Old Days Because.....

* They fought with more frequency, and suffering a loss didn't automatically mean that a fighter stopped being a viable opponent for others to face.

* The fights were shown on free TV. Up until the 90's fights of significance were shown on Wide World of Sports, Sports-world and the like, so it was easier to follow a fighter's career and attempt to emulate it if so inclined.

* Better trainers back then, although there are some good trainers around these days.

 

I won't say fighters were better, but elite champions were better because they had to fight frequently to keep economically solvent in times of smaller purses.

eight weight classes and one champion per weight class means a guy who kept an iron grasp on the division really was the best in the world his size, or knew how to avoid the styles that would give him problems.

same day weigh ins prevented size dichotomies to some degree, some fighters rehydrating ridiculous amounts.

I'm going to say it, less nonsense static strength training when everybody knows you have to be able to MOVE. Watch Basilio Saxton II and show me two welterweights who can throw that much leather and stay that busy on the inside without slowing down ... okay, maybe Pacquiao.

Gamboa has lost more titles than he's lost rounds, I don't even know where these titles are coming from. They just don't mean what they used to. Having said that, the early 80s was a pretty good time for boxing, too. I'd say that's the time when athleticism and technique were both still prevalent and as good as they were ever going to get.

 

I agree, this is a really excellent post and point, the shoes in particular are something i have never thought about.

 

I have a slight theory on how it is possible this might be fixed, or at least improved and here is as good a time to debut the theory/solution. But what about if the four main world organisations were petitioned to change the rules so that champions of other organisations were considered in their rankings, could be mandatories etc. So, David Haye, for example would have No 1 contender Wlad, No 2 Vitali, no 3 etc. At least this way, you wouldnt have mandatories necessarilly standing in the way of the fights that should be made and whenever titles were split, we would eventually end up with a uniformed champion. (i am guessing though that this doesnt happen because sanctioning fees are less for unified belts)

Anyway, is this likely that it might work if the organisations were convinced?

 

Money has to be a factor, they did not earn in most cases the kind of money fighters today make, hungry is great to motivate a person to work hard.

 

Yeah seriously I'll never forget my grandad saying on a few occassions when I used to sit with him and watch my boxing videos of the guys from his era like Dempsey and before him Johnson - I remember one time he actually chuckled to himself and just said "How they fought in those bloody shoes is beyond me???! :roll: and I said what do mean? and he said said "they didn't have rubber on the bottoms like now back then...you were nearly slipping over in them just walking down the street in them!! They were just leather on the bottom -not rubber like now" and then he said with a chuckle "if they fought in them now guys would be falling over every two seconds the amount of running they do nowadays!! then he said seriously with quite a straight face "they must've been bloody good to be fighting in them!" He drew my attention to Dempsey rubbing his feet on the canvas in his corner and explained about them throwing resin down and trying to scrape some kind of scratches on the leather bottoms for just the slightest bit of grip- from knowing what it was like walking in them he thought it was ludicrous that guys actually fought in boxing rings in them I remember him saying something like "they wouldn't be able to cope in them nowadays

 

Agreed, although the flipside is if you go back a little bit further the shoes actually had spikes on them. I think from memory it was in the Paddy Slavin series i posted a while back where he was grateful for a special set of shoes he had made with reinforcing on top which saved his toes in one of his fights. All things that the modern fighters would really struggle with.

 

this was the only profession they thought about with no other options, which meant they would fight anyone and would have many many fights which perfected their skills.

 

Yeah, obviously the spikes were used from time to time when fighting in fields and mud etc it's horses for courses I suppose but certainly for those in the past having to cope with fighting under awkward conditions like that it would certainly mean that they would've translated in positive light if they had certain luxuries that have come along in more recent times - like for instance boxing in gloves but with no handwraps has a massive difference so with handwraps you can pretty much add 20/30% to an olden day fighters punch power and punch rate and the way they restricted to delivering the punch which then affects how they're able to move etc etc

 

No, it wouldn't happen. It's too sensible, too rational and too obvious. It's been noted and suggested before.
Yes, they all benefit from the muddled situation, it's a big scam.

Another problem is, now we have whole generation of boxing fans and boxing pundits and promoters and fighters who take this situation as the natural state of the game.
Standards have dropped, as have expectations.
Nowadays you hear fans on these forums thinking the great fighters are the ones who jump around collecting these bogus titles.
Unifications aren't even taken as seriously as they would have been 20 years ago beacuse we all know the titles are likely to split again in no time.
I think the WBA even have a rule where a champion who gets unified with other world titles becomes "super champion" and creates a vacancy for another WBA champion.
And I think they've multipled that even more so.
And they have so many joke titles "inter-conti" whatevers, that no one takes seriously, I don't even see the point in the title at all, or why a promoter or fighter would bother with being sanctioned (apart from the obvious - political networking).

There's no limit to the alphabet madness. It's a terrible sickness.
So forget about petitioning for sensible ratings policy. :good

The whole thing is a scam and a racket. It's a fraudulent enterprise rather than a rationally organized sport.

 

Fighters werw busier,fighting more frequehtly meant little disparity between their walking around weight and their combat weight. Armstrong would often fight fortnightly, todays fighters are busy if they fight three times a year.

 

I don't know who you are, but you rule.

 

BINGO!!!

it is a scam and its like sayin ****** timberlake is as good as pink floyd because of record sales or pre pubescent hysteria but in reality there is no ground for genuine comparison... musically worlds apart!!!

JC or BHop could compete in ANY Era - NOT AS TOP MEN they COULDN'T.

I'm surprised fighters even have the shame to wear such bogus labels, and as for the sell out reporters and commentators they should be shot.

Boxing could be saved, But I'm telling you it won't be, and 10,000 true and forgotten greats turn in their graves!

 

If you don't think the sport has always been a racket and fraud you a mighty naive.

 

Obviously it has always been.
But scams and rackets don't get better - they get worse. The professional boxing one certainly has in many ways. It doesn't even try to make sense of itself as a sport.
The interference with the title situation has never been as bad as it has become in the last 20- 30 years.