Whattaya miss about ol' school?

The best fighting the best.
One TRUE champion and no bull**** belts
Great trainers(they're rare now)
Epic rivalries
More televised bouts esp. when they were on CBS
Legends that dont fight any more to appear and be annouced during pre-fights

 

I forgot to add regular "Wide World of Sports" boxing coverage on Saturday afternoon from our past...........

NOTE:

I did, however, HATE the tape-delayed fights and all that prelude build-up to the fight **** with the "Tour of France" bike races, etc............. When I'm in a fighting mood, I ain't interested in seeing the bike races from France........ Or even some pro bowling tournament........... Spare me........
MR.BILL

 

I miss the Battle Royale's
The overt racism
Great fighters never getting title shots
The mob controlling everything
Heavyweight champs taking off the better part of a decade to make shitty films
Fighters going into the ring blind
Fighters hands being tied by powerful bookies
The lack of fighters from behind the Iron Curtain
The inane ramblings of Howard Cossell
The stupid clowning and rule-breaking of Ali

Oh, yesteryears, I miss thee so...

 

Fans and fighters not contemplating retirement cuz of one loss

 

Oh, John, the Golden Age is in the Eye of the Aged... only some are more aged than others.

Frankly, I prefer your golden age to the farce of heavyweights that was the 70's.

 

And it's nowhere near as good..

 

I miss being able to follow boxers and watch how they progress up the ladder.Years ago ESPN used to have really good match-ups of up and coming boxers and you could follow them as they gradually moved up the pro ranks.Now anyone good fights usually on pay-per-view.

I miss watching 2 contenders fight it out for the USBA/NABF title which was usually aired by ESPN/USA.It used to be a major acheivement for the winner of those bouts.

I miss watching welterweights who were actually welterweights and not super middleweights fighting as welterweights by fight time.


I miss Gil Clancy calling bouts for MSG and CBS.

I really missed Al Bernstein calling bouts on ESPN.Thank god Showtime had enough sense to hire him.

I miss the pay-per-views where usually most of the bouts leading up to the mainevent were pretty good or at least watchable.

I miss the true Superfights-the Leonard-Hearns/Leonard-Hagler where the whole sporting world took notice and the build-up ended up being worth the wait.


I miss watching champions pull out a fight in rounds 12-15.

 

I miss the ideal of there being one champion, who endeavored to respect the office with the dignity of the Great John L., who could drum a knuckle on the counter and lick any man in the house, yet showed himself gracious in defeat to young Corbett, ending his impromptu postfight concession speech with a flourish: "Yours truly, John L. Sullivan."

Gentleman Jim had it, as did Fitzsimmons. Dempsey too, as well as Louis, Marciano, Patterson and Frazier.

A champion is a champion at any weight, and the lower classes have many more examples, prime among them will always be, in my lifetime, Alexis Argüello, who sought his fourth title by challenging only the best champion out there.

I will always miss 15 rounds of boxing, the distance, the crucible where champions are made.

 

Plus marciano wouldnt have beaten Walcott JG! Imagine what way the division coulda went then cos Rocky then woulda been a 'who needs him' fighter.
Less mouthing off and more humility
15rounds to sort out the men from the boys
Ludicrous ringwalks like something outta wrestling
Plain shorts,as you mentioned, and not parisian whorehouse attire
The thousands of fights sitting in the archives gathering dust when we are being fed a diet of reality tv **** and the like. Its incomprehendable that these are not being shown when the networks actually own them and it wont cost them a bean to show. They might actually get a new audience which could crank up their PPV sales. It would be win-win

 

John L. was a loutish pig of a human being, oft arrested for public drunkeness and violence. Ended up in an alcohol-induced coma on at least one occasion. Great hero.

 

This is the first thing that occured to me. One man actually was the champion.

 

"Simple black 'n white trunks that don't look like fringed lamp shades in a whorehouse."

Does you wife know that you know what the lamps shades in a whorehouse look like?

That said, I agree with you.

 

I miss fighters actually fighting instead of waiting for their turn on hbo.

You can't help but feel a little used as a fan. These fighters are only fighting for paycheques these days.