The Myth that guys before the 1920s fought 45 rounds

If it sometimes happened then it is hardly a myth.

 

Ruhlin and Maher fought a 20 round battle, Jeff and Sharkey 25, these were both full-on all the way but indeed were exceptional, even for their times. McAuliffe-Glover was 49 rounds, Peter Jackson had several over 19 rounds plus, Hart had a few 20's and so on. So there were a fair amount of 20 rounds or more but generally only a small number for the elite fighters. Certainly a lot more than the current 12 round brigade, so no myth but also over-egged by some. I do think that for the heavyweights, 12 rounds is a big advantage to the heavy, big muscled fighters or today compared to the longer distances which in turn favour a smaller, lighter boxer-in general.

 

I will make the observation that the super long fights were more prevalent in the lower weight classes.

 

Out of curiosity, how much footage exists of bouts that extended beyond 20 rounds, at least of those latter rounds?

Willard - Johnson and Gans-Nelson jump to mind immediately.

 

well, we know a round was a fall or time on a round. so if a guy gets dropped that's a round, so you could have easily 5, 6 or 7 rounds in the space of a few minutes.

so one fighter gets dropped 9 times, the other fighter 5 times and at least 3 rounds went the specified distance which if memory served me right, I seem to remember a 2 minute round...

anyway such a fight would have said to have been 17 Rounds, all of which could have taken place in either side of a half hour.

 

There’s also Nelson-Wolgast 2 footage and that fight ended around the 40th round

 

Butterbean would handle any and all of the above in a 4-rounder.

 

Jeanette vs McVey.

 

Makes you wonder what the “Championship” rounds were meant to be in a 45 rounder - perhaps rounds 36 to 45, the last 9 rounds?

“You’ve got this son, it’s in the bag, just 9 rounds to go!”

Ali’s alley just became that much longer.

 

Tommy Burns vs. Philadelphia Jack O'Brien
World Heavyweight Title
20 rounds

There isn't an amazing amount of stamina demonstrated, IMO. 95 percent of this fight is clinching and both refusing to break. I think most modern fighters could clinch their way thru 20 rounds.

If punch stat existed back then I think they would've fallen asleep at some point, as there weren't a whole lot of blows to count.

And Burns and O'Brien weren't exactly big guys, at that. Jeffries looks like he weighs about as much as both of them combined.

Honestly, Canelo at super middle probably could've overwhelmed them both.

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Too a degree, yes, the majority of those long MoQ fights were lacking action in a lot of rounds, sometimes resulting in one or both fighters injuring their hands, being incapable of landing a hard punch, just going through the motions from that point on.

 

Max Baer saw out at least one 20 rounder himself. Somewhat unusual even for its time.

 

sakuraba v gracie is prob the best example of why fights to the finish, whilst manly, kinda suck. gracie tried to win for a few rounds then tried not to lose for 947 hours.

 

Just get into the history for its own merit instead of trying to use is as a vehicle to prove something about today.

Greeks fought for days, except for when they didn't

Italians fought on bridges, except for when they fought the British

Gloves come and go

Sometimes boxing is about hitting and not being hit, sometimes it's more about hit me I hit you back harder.

Sometimes boxing has a bit of rasslin in it. Sometimes it doesn't.

Point is you can pretty make any point you want using history. There's going to be history for it. If you found yourself in an argument with a history nerd and they schooled you, it's not because their opinion is or was any more correct than you own but because they cited facts you did not know you could refute.

Historical facts and opinions are two different things. Fighters had more endurance is an opinion, you can use facts to help present that case or facts to refute it, but trust me, facts are gonna be there for any opinion you ever had.

So you jackalopes end up in these never ending argument not better or different than any other my opinion vs you opinion situation but now themed in history.