Olympic athletes have improved by ca 33 per cent the last 100 years.

No the same isnt true in boxing.

the reason for the improvements is due to the improvements in training and committment in those sports. Boxing hasnt had the same improvements and in fact it is arguable that they lost a lot of those improvements and went backwards in this area.

 

Well, I agree that it certainly seems as though boxers of today should be better in every single aspect - speed, strength, stamina, technique, etc. But a lot of the top 10 fighters in the heavyweight division don't seem to have made some of those improvements. Sure, they're a hell of a lot bigger than they were on average years ago, and perhaps even stronger from a weight lifting perspective, but are they really in better shape? Samual Peter, Ruslan Chagaev, James Toney, Jameel McCline and Oleg Maskaev hardly look like they're better athletes than Frank Bruno, Mike Weaver, Pinklon Thomas, or Larry Holmes. Of course, physical appearance means little, but still. I'm also not convinced that boxing skill has improved. We also are seeing a trend in fighters turning pro later, and fighting for longer periods. I'm not sure how good this is for the game.

Of course I'm only referring to heavyweights, and not all of them at that.

 

Simple, because 100 years ago, other sports were not taken seriously. A good runner did not train all day, every day. It was only a part time sport. Boxing was never like this. In fact, if you compare what the older fighters actually trained to what the current guys do. The current guys dont train anywhere near as much or as hard. There are some advantages in strength training and nutrition but the advantages are minor. At worst it is a close to even playing field like in the last few years of other sports. For the prime example of how training dedication can make old timers perform better than modern counterparts, do a goodle search of Walter Lindrum and compare his records to modern counterparts.

The ohter thing to consider, is that boxing is the only sport i can think of where equipment has actually gone backwards. Gloves give more padding, ring floors are softer, doctors stop fights at the first sign of discomfort, less clinching allowed etc. This would be akin to modern runners being forced to run with 5 pound blocks on their feet. I doubt many would compete under these circumstances.

 

Boxing pre 1960 is almost a completely different sport than that of today, so it is very hard to have a fair comparison.

 

Bump, does anyone have the study?