Mindset of the elite fighters of the past versus today...

Show me the Money is most of today guys.

We didnt see Louis, Marciano, or even Ali flashing money around lol. Sure they didnt fight for free, but they didnt brag about it.

 

Older fighters were mental iron men compared to most of todays fighters.

Much, much harder times.

 

During his prime, Tyson once said that boxing was not a sport nor a game but it was WAR.

 

I think older (pre-50's) people are much tougher than the current generation, on average. My grandparents barely complained about anything because they were used to living under shitty circumstances. Today, there's so much luxery.

However, there will always be iron men in boxing. Guys like Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis, etc have every bit as much fight in them as Marciano, Louis and co.

 

Allow me to rant and generalize for a moment - Today's fighters talk tough, act like jerks, and play tag in the ring.

We all saw that "superfight" between Mayweather and DeLoya.
Man, what the **** was that ?
Gay ballroom dancing ?
A scren test ? Re-enactment ? Catwalk audition ?
And some of you on this forum came on the next day praising Mayweather for "schooling" Oscar !
Boths should have been warned for not fighting.
A big con. Really a massive HEIST in financial terms.

I think modern fans are to blame. We buy any old crap, but at least some of us know crap and fraud when we see it.
I'll call a fight out if I think they pussied about, took the money and ran - that's a "fix", a "fake".
In the old days, they made fixes look real, these days no one cares, we buy ANY OLD ****.

Mismatches, set-ups and stuff, and some of you here will defend it, admiring Herbie Hide's "KO percentage" that he built on joke fights.
Cant blame the fighters for not being as "tough", they dont need to be.
Gotta blame "the true boxing fans" who let promoters get away with it. We're all to blame.
But I guess boxing has always had these problems.

Big fluffy 8 or 10 oz gloves have not helped either. Some of these gloves look even bigger.
These gloves actually allow guys to take bigger beatings in mismatches, because they prevent knock-outs. But the standards have changed so that guys can score "technical" knock-outs so easily, stoppages are premature, like amateur boxing. And in the professional game this is just another thing being exploited by those who "fix" or assist the outcome of a fight. None of this is new, but it's worse now than ever - and it all encourages laziness and lack of "toughness" in the fighters, who often just fight as if they have agreed not to hurt each other.
Calzaghe-Hopkins will be this year's "superfight" and it is likely to STINK.

 

LOL, that is good spin

Marciano was as tight as they come; he was anal when it came to money. Virtually all the greats, from every era, were interested in the dosh IMO.

 

A lot of old-timers were about the money too, make no mistake about it. Once you get to the top you expect to get better money than while you were climbing, and you become a lot more picky, about who you fight, who you don't fight, or under which conditions. Only a fool can think they fought for the love of the sport.

 

I don't think I buy the idea that old-time fighters didn't like to flash their wealth; we just see more of today's fighters do it because we have instant access to information now. You never saw "Louis/Schmeling 24/7" in the buildup for their fight.

SRR used to hang out with his posse in the expensive nightclubs, driving around in his shock pink Cadillac, and be just as ostentatious as Floyd ever dreamed of being. Back then though, you didn't even read about that in the papers, as a lot of that unsavory stuff was considered out of bounds to write about. Nowadays a big name star can't fart without it being headline news.

 

I live with not much luxury, heating and air conditioning are very limited due to the cost, but I don't go without anything I need.
I have a hard time in the army.
It definitely makes for an iron will, I can tell you.

 

2 things I have no doubt about is that fighters of the past fought for money just as much as those of today and the top fighters today are just as iron-willed and determined as fighters of the past. Its very hard to be a world class boxer if you don't have that mindset.

Boxers and celeberties in general, are much more accesible than those of the past. Televisions didn't start finding their ways into peoples homes til the 50s, it would have been much harder to see into a boxer's personal life than today. Boxers were similar to todays but the public didn't have access to them.

There has always been fighters who werent exactly warriors in every era. Not every fighter in the 50s had the mindset of Marciano or every fighter of the 20s was Dempsey. One disadvantage modern fighters have, again, is their exposure. Virtually every fight/fighter can be seen either on tape or via the internet almost instantly. They can be seen and criticized or have their efforts picked apart. Fighters of the past didin't have the same scrutiny. You either saw it live or read about it in the papers. Sorry, but newspaper accounts are absolutly not the same as seeing a fighter on your screen.

Just look at some of the fights and fighters we've had in the past 10 years or so. I'd put Holyfield, Morales, Hopkins, Gatti,Katsidis or countless others up against any fighter in boxing's history when comparing heart, determination, mindsets, or whatever you want to call it. Or how about Bowe-Holy, Morales-Barerra, Corales-Castillo, Ward-Gatti, Marquez-Vazquez, or any of the other great fights we've had. I'd put those fights up against any from the past.

Boxing is a tough sport and almost anyone who does it professionally has to have a tough mindset to do so, of course there are exceptions. And to make it to the top of the sport you have to be every bit as tough and determined as any fighter of the past.

 

Old Timers-Warriors come to fight

Current Fighters-Most are lazy

 

We have been able to see the fights with OUT going to them, since 1897. The differnts of couse is today we buy the PPV, or HBO/Showtime, back than pre TV, you can give up 25$ and go to the movie house to see the fight. Back than Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey always had fight pics in the movie houses.

 

Awesome post. I want to frame this and put it on the wall.

 

Thanks, man. :good