the shift from unlimited rounds to a fixed amount of rounds.

They banned the 15 rd bout, I thought they would ban Boxing next. The last 3 rds and 15 rd limit was only for those who could truley be in condition. When you see a fast paced gruiling fight for 10 rds and know they got 5 more rds to go instead of 2, it makes a big difference. It takes a certain type of conditioning both of the body and the mind to fight 15 rds

 

To be honest guys, i'm scared the trend will continue. from unlimited, to 40, 30, 20, 15 and now 12 round fights, whos to say they won't knock another 2 off to make it a nice even 10 rounds?

 

Pretty soon the fighters will say sorry every time they even go near eachother. 15 rounds brought out the true grit, what boxing was known for. It made them get whipped into shape or they would lose. Marciano wouldn't have been undefeated had it not been for 15 rounds, Holmes-Norton and Ali-Frazier III wouldn't have been the legendary encounters. 15 round fights could have easily turned the tides in a close fight like Hagler-Leonard. Like someone mentioned earlier, people in worse conditions are being awarded in the close, 12 round fights where if they were 15 they person who was in better condition would have won.

 

Good post.

 

Did anyone keep records of the total fight time v. break time during the old unlimited round fights? Were there regular resting periods between rounds? I saw a reference in Pugilistica to one fight that ended in the 10th round with only 17 minutes having elapsed, and another fight that went 166 rounds in less than 3 hours (barely 1 minute per round, including fighting and rest periods).