john Garfield,A great post for me-You expressed my sentiments exactly..I'll add a few... Stillmans Gym [MY Mecca } Frank Graham Jacobs Beach The Garden Cafeteria after the Friday night bouts St. Nicks-Ridgewood Grove-Broadway Arena-Coney Island Veledrome-Ft.Hamilton Arena Dexter Park-Eastern Parkway Arena-Sunnyside Gardens etc--A fight card every night of the week except Sunday...What a great training ground for fighters then... The golden gloves each year with 3 rings at the same time going in MSG And as you mentioned,our National Anthem sung properly, and not for the edification of the singer...J.G. you know why the"good old days were better ?"...Because they WERE...
Either am I. But honestly fighters fighting regulary is the best way to learn and why I think anything pre 70s is part fo the Golden Era of boxing.
Not really old, old school, but I enjoyed following the progress and development of certain club fighters during the early days of ESPN's Top Rank boxing, boys like Andy Riccardi, Ted Michaliszyn, and Freddie Roach. Teddy Mann was one of the most enjoyable competitors to follow during that era, perhaps the only time in history when he could have become a television star. Fred "The Pumper" Hutchings quickly developed a loyal following during his transformation from prospect to contender. Sean Mannion was also something of a fixture, a southpaw cutie who enjoyed some popularity in New England. That he lasted 15 rounds with a peaking Bodysnatcher was a huge surprise. The Friday Night Fights revival on NBC during the early 1980s provided some very respectable events, like Benitez-Chiaverini and Davison-Parker. As far as classic old school is concerned, bring back the 15 round distance. Does anybody remember Pat O'Grady wanting to crown Monte Masters as his WAA heavyweight champion in a 20 round title fight? While not really a fan of the WA O'Grady (as "Flash" called it, to distinguish from the rival WA Thomas), I was really hoping Pat could somehow pull off a 20 round match that went the distance. (On September 22, 1983, Masters did knock out unbeaten Tony Fuliangi in round 14 for that vacant WAA crown. So far as I can determine, this was the final time a championship round knockout occurred in heavyweight competition. The WBC had already abandoned the championship distance.) Boxing really needed O'Grady to buck that terminal trend being pushed by boxing's abolitionists in the opposite direction. 20 round title fights might have made the WAA more than a trivial historical footnote. (At 6'4," Master weighed around 205 pounds. He was clearly conditioned to try going 20 rounds.)
Fifteen rounds/one belt per division/catchweight fights/fighters not coming in 20lbs. over the limit by fight time... and no 20 minute ringwalks!
1. 15 rounders. 2. Smokers at ringside. 3. Regular gray canvas with no bull**** BUDWEISER lettering. 4. Everlast and Ben-Lee (Brownish / Purple) gloves. 5. Don Dunphy & Howard Cosell Those are my big one's there........thumbsup:hat MR.BILL
Hadn't bought a boxing mag for years. Was at news stand the other day, T. You'd need a bank loan to get RING MAGAZINE.
What everyone else said, and less weight classes. Sometimes it seems like every pound equals a new weight class today...ridiculous.
I'm sure KO and RING mags are easily $4.50 these days........ I stopped scoring mags back in 2005.......... Why spend time reading stale news that's a month old when you can log onto ESB on a daily basis and get all the recent news you want? Mags and Newspapers are on their way into oblivion...... I say 10 yrs more at the most..... Think of all the tree's will be saving......... MR.BILL
I'M KOOL with Super-Middle (161 to 168) and Cruiserweight (176 to 200) pounds...... However, all that crap below Flyweight (112) is all nonsensical to me and I don't even care to watch it........ I repsected Ricardo Lopez, but his fights at 108 pounds is hard for me to digest........ In truth, the last time I was focused on a "Small Fry" fight was when Michael Carbajal KO'd Humberto Gonzalez in fight # 1 back around 1992---Circa...... Fights # 2 & 3 fizzled and did NOTHING for me....... OH! I did enjoy the 1997 Bantamweight (118) title fight between "Tapia and Romero" that was on HBO.... That was a goodie if you liked Tapia..... These days / nights, I rarely ever pay attention to anything below Featherweight at 126 pounds........ Point being, I am okay with some of the "Junior" and "Super" weight classes........ MR.BILLthumbsup
Televised fights on Network TV (Man, I miss the days of Wide World of Sports) Champions defending their title on a regular basis. Sanctioning bodies not stripping their titleholders as soon as they unify the belts. Along the same lines, ONE universally recognized world champion per division. 15 round title fights. Boxing results being front page news in the sports section, or even front page news period.
Yeah fighters should be more active, but other than the whole belts fiasco it's 15 round fights that are the greatest loss. If they'd remained Tito would have KO'd De la Hoya, Andrade would have had Bute etc etc
If championship fights would've been 12 rounds in the Golden Age, rp, Billy Conn would've been the heavyweight champ 'n Laurent Dauthuille, the middleweight king.