This era seems suspect.

It would be pretty naive to ignore these signs, certainly with testing in boxing being amongst the worst in world sports and the penalties for getting caught downright laughable.

But we all know how rife the use of steroids and such was in the 80's and 90's, so it doesn't really explain the oldies doing amazing things nowadays. Because why didn't they do it then also?
Why did Ali at 38 look like he was 50+ years old fighting Holmes when he could easily take all kinds of crap what was available then too? And why couldn't Holyfield take some stuff to bulk up to become a real heavyweight and keep him fit far into his 40's when it was very easy to come by? O wait, he did!

 

We're just more of an advanced society than back than. We know what to put in our bodies and know what hints negatively affect us. There's a reason why our life span is also getting longer. We have so much damn scientific studies about health.

 

This era seems suspect as opposed to the 1940's or 50's?

I wonder what Jake LaMotta's opinion is on the subject?

 

archie moore

 

Gotta remember that careers are lasting longer now because fighters have a bigger gap between fights than they used to. I doubt fighters nowadays will ever have 100+ fights, much less numbers upwards of 150+. The guys back in the day who fought every few weeks or thereabout, they were different beasts.

 

Its not suprising. Even without steroids weve come so far in understanding how the human body can excel thru strength and conditioning. Those guys on the list besides JMM never took beatings

 

I'm pretty sure that in any decade in the last 100 years you can go back and find a group of fighters doing well and excelling in their 30's and even in their 40's

I don't find this all that surprising either especially a guy like floyd who doesn't take any punishment and I think he's fough 15 times in the last 10 years....

 

:yep

 

I've had the same thought. Also it surprises me how many fighters look fresh as a daisy in round 12 nowadays.

 

i think it's a combination of things. u can look at all the fighters that have had extended careers and fought into their 40's and find a few common denominators....the main one imo is skill.

robinson
archie moore
duran
camacho

.... and a few others are fighter from the past who have fought into their 40's.

the other thing is that these guys are picking their opposition. do u think any of these guys would pick an opponent they know they couldn't beat? look at how hard bhop tried to get out of fighting dawson. he knew he couldn't beat him. but he'll jump all over bouts with pascal or cloud because he knows he matches up best with them stylistically. hopkins isn't the only one on your list guilty of this.

 

They dont fight as much as they used to so they should last longer. A lot of those guys mentioned havent been in wars like that.