Whatever happened to exhibitions?

What was Wlad/Haye?

 

There was more demand for exhibitions in those days. Besides, it's difficult enough to get the top fighters to have an actual match nowadays, due to the supposed risk/reward factor.

 

I think people figure there is more money to be made having an actual fight. Exhibitions can get pretty heated.

 

The Klitschko brothers need to have a 12 round exhibition.

 

:rofl

Wlad-Haye made the Tyson-Tillis '87 exhibition look exciting!

 

Ricky Burns had one a few months back, when a debutants opponent pulled out on short notice, Burns offered to do an exhibition with the young lad.

 

I think that the number of exhibitions back in the day was due to the sheer prevelance of boxing as a spectator sport . Instead of watching Klitschko Haye at home on TV, you had to go to a local boxing show to watch local talent from ringside.

On this basis the top fighters got stretched prety thin and exhibitions were the only way to meet demand.

 

They went the way of 15 round title bouts televised on free tv..and all the other aspects of the sport that were done away with...all with the result of *******izing boxing.

 

And as I am sure you know, the "exhibition" tag was often a way to get around various laws in the early part of the 20th century.

 

Indeed, but there were legitimate exhibitions in the 30s and 40s.

Even so, the lines still got blurred.

 

Good riddance to bad rubbish.
All they were for was to pad records.

 

:huh

Louis handed out beatings like this to fighters who were known as top contenders and they actually didn't go on his record:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRsAbgV3tdk[/ame]

 

Pat was probably all too glad that he didn't meet the '39 version of Louis, or even more, the version that destroyed Max Baer.