The Development of Boxing

It could well be a development or refinement, I certainly wouldn't rule that out.
If so, it's a shame, boxing is destined to become a watered-down form of snooker.

On the other hand, wasn't Jack Johnson doing this sh!t over 100 years ago ?

 

Boxing ought to be entertainment too, with exciting, thrilling action being valued.
I'm in agreement with Tyson on that.

 

I actually admire Mayweather's boxing from a purist standpoint too.
But I feel he could do more, a lot more in his fights. And I know he wont. It takes a shine of his greatness for me.

I'm more forgiving of Wlad because he's fighting at HW and his chin is more proportionately, how should we say .. shabby .. in his division than mayweather's is in his.
Also, Wlad has a pretty high stoppage rate himself still, being a HW. And he lacks the variety Mayweather is capable of.

 

I agree that Mayweather probably has more to give than Wlad. And at 130 I think he did. Don't what happened after that. Perhaps it was trouble with his hands that made him alter his style and when he felt he'd found a formula that worked just as well for winning...

 

Football has moved direction, but in a different way. Todays game is much faster moving, making the players of the 1970s, and certainly the '60s look like they are playing in slow motion most of the time. Boxing has also moved in another direction, and not one to my taste I'm afraid. To me, a proper fight was a Hagler-Hearns, Foreman-Frazier, Lyle-Shavers, etc. These to me were what a competitive fight was all about, but no longer so to a lesser degree. Nothing stays the same I guess, all the above just my opinion.

 

It seems to be a lot like Jack Johnson to me.

 

Younger champions like GGG and Kovalev are attack types. Wlad throws a lot more than 30 punches a round, and unlike Mayweather can produce big time KO's.

Mayweather is unique.

 

I think it's an anomaly. How prolific are the Mexican fighters below welterweight? They are pro-boxers like it is in their blood, always looking to do damage.

Like with Ali Floyd will have plenty of copycats, but one look at Berto vs Guerrero shows that his ways are not that easy to copy. It relies on defense being imprinted onto a fighter, into reflexes becoming automatic at the first glance of an opponent moving. It's a lot of hard work.

Might even be another Mayweather. With that family, I wouldn't be surprised.


If there were still great trainers, you could look for a refinement that emphasized even better footwork and positioning, cagey stuff, sharp hard punches, no swarmers or sustained pressure, but quicksilver skirmishes followed by jockeying for position.

As is, I think the sport will more and more lean towards speed, explosiveness, power, reflexes, the physical side, and less towards craft.

Edit: The surefire way to beat them, imo, is a tall, lanky, sharpshooter. The only way to make them take risks. Everyone else will have to try and bust open their shell, or take an early lead and sit back in wait.

Second edit: As for the heavyweight division, it is my opinion that cruiserweight needs to be extended to 220 or another weightclass fitted in like 200-225.

Wlad is simply in another weightclass. Too strong to keep from clinching, too much reach to box.

 

I would take the champions of the 70's over today's crop any day of the week. Just sayin' of course.

 

While I haven't watched the May Pac fight yet, holding and stalling is as old as the sport. Jack Johnson did nothing but. Gene Tunney nullified Dempsey with clinches, as did Young to Foreman, Holyfield to Tyson, and W. Klitschko to everybody.

That said, for every defensive Mayweather Jr, Rigondeaux, Hopkins, or Lara in boxing today there is a Kovalev, Golovkin, Gonzalez, Matthysse, Pacquiao, Kirkland, Segura, Walters plying the aggressive side of the trade.

That said, I wouldn't mind a rule change to prohibit clinching. Oh yeah, it's already a foul, we just don't enforce it.

 

Me too. :good