Was switching from 15 round to 12 rounds a good choice?

Don't know about that, it was the death of a boxer that led to the change.

 

True, but most championship fights were good all the way through and for that matter it's more hugging in the twelve rounders than the fifteen. It depends on the fighters and how prepared they were. I never seen any hugging in the Ali/Fraizer fights. Tie-ups but no prolonged hugging.

 

There is no evidence that 12 rounds are safer than 15. However, there is much evidence showing that cutting weight (dehydration) leaves fighters vulnerable to brain injury. Don King puppet WBC president Jose Sulliaman used Kim's tragic death as excuse to make tittle fights more manageable and financially attractive for TV. Like many things in life, boxing's political machinations can be more easily understood by following the money.

 

I prefer 15 rounds and same day weigh-ins.

Mancini-Kim is said to have been the reason for the change while some say it was to fit 12 rounds + intros and interviews in an hour time slot on TV, when boxing had a much larger presence on network TV in the US. Some day it led to the weigh-in changes as Kim cut a lot of weight, others said it was the aborted Spinks-Muhammad rematch.

Maybe it was both. Whatever the case, it's safer in theory, but there's lots of factors in play in how dangerous the sport is. Fighters may just pace themselves differently depending on the amount of rounds. There is a theory I've heard that Kim was also badly damaged by the back of his head hitting the rope. I don't understand how much damage the back of a rope can do, even if it hits the dangerous spot in the back of the head (guys get rabbit punched all the time), but I'm no doctor.

For the sake of the argument, maybe the fight just would have ended differently if scheduled for 12 and he doesn't hit his head on the rope and canvas. Maybe the damage was already really sustained after the first 9, 10, 11 or whatever rounds and it took longer to show. In tragic fights, the damage is often not known til a little while later. Jim Lampley worked 2 ring deaths and said both fighters walked back to their dressing room, appearing to be okay.

Tragedies have happened in fights longer than 15 rounds. Others have been shorter. Ray Robinson-Jimmy Doyle went 8, Doyle's previous fight with Art Levine which may have caused some of the initial damage went 9. Griffith-Paret went til the 12th, Paret's previous war with Gene Fullmer, just three months earlier, went 10. Quiroga-Anifowoshe went 12, eubank-Watson 2 went to the 12th, Pintor-Owen went 12, etc...

Point is, boxing is dangerous and unpredictable, so I wouldn't look at one fight and say "well since that tragedy happened in the 14th, it was good to change it to 12". Montiel-Alcazar went just 6 rounds.

For what it's worth, Ray Mancini has said that there is NO evidence that the sport is safer because of the rule change.

 

http://ejmas.com/jcs/velazquez/Muerte2011_pdf_Sep_2011.pdf

 

Boxing world championships should be 15 rounds.............

 

I would say that the reduction in rounds has helped create a new niche for boxers who are larger but less fit (not just due to fitness levels, but since the heart has to work much harder to supply a much larger frame).

evolution, far from being improvement, is just a change to suit the way rules changed.

 

:huh:huh:huh

 

Off topic: does anyone here know why they went from 15 to 12?

 

Don't really like 15 rounders to be honest. 12 rounds is enough.

 

It was becuase a Korean boxer named Kim Duk-koo died following a bout against Ray macini. The referee Richard green comitted suicide 6 months after the bout.

 

yeah rounds 13,14,15 of chagaev vs oquendo would have been so mouth watering

 

Rounds 13, 14, and 15 of Morales-Barrera, though...?

 

Good for boxers, bad for fans.

 

I think its the whiplash effect