Floyd Mayweather vs Louis trainer Jack Blackburn @ Lightweight

I think he was a bit bigger than a lightweight tbh, didn't make the limit much at all I don't think. Weird career. Very good fighter. Nobody from that era is beating Mayweather under modern rules, not even Gans. Under those rules from way back when, Mayweather's hands are in bad trouble and he might not like some of what he gets. So as is often the case, whoever picks the yard has a serious advantage.

Certainly wouldn't be mouthing off at any press conferences, I can tell you that.

 

3 ounce gloves with horsehair instead of 10 ounce gloves is a big one for a fighter with fragile hands. The left hook becomes a very dangerous punch with hands having so little protection. Fouls weren't the same; fighters were sometimes allowed to foul each other for 3 minutes if it was perceived to be even foul exchanges and lacing was possible and rarely resulted in a dq. Grapplilng was a part of the sport rather than a foul; alcohol was allowed (even encouraged) between rounds. Aggression was even more highly prized as a scoring attribute and "running" was absolutely unacceptable in some corners of the sport. You can see from the Dempsey-Willard fight that knockdowns were refereed very differently (even in cases where a neutral corner rule was in affect). You basically couldn't win on a cut unless the opponent quit (with one or two exceptions). Weigh ins were often ringside meaning you had to absolutely miss your mark; you had many fewer weight making tools and "supplements". The referee tended not to rescue hurt fighters so you had to finish a guy on his back. Fighting off the ropes were harder because there were often fewer of them and they were often looser, there were even world title fights where a rope would be formed of a barn wall, say, only a few years previous. There are so many differences it's impossible to list them all really.