When did boxers become 'skilled'?

surfinghb · Jan 16, 2023

Reading this **** is just nausianting ..... it really is .. when did boxers become skilled? you mean when did they become less skilled ? well that is easy to answer ,, when boxers didnt need to try as hard anymore.. when they stopped going to the body , when competition and activity fell of the cliff ..when there was double the divisions and 5 belts a division, paper champions, so they didnt have to fight each other.. when they started to be brought along to only fight once a year. maybe twice ,, .. Didn't @scartissue already address this before ?? .. I read the OP and it made me puke ... ask the question in reverse .. how many of the coddled fighters today would be able to fight more than 100 fights ??

surfinghb · Jan 16, 2023

scartissue said: ↑

I love this subject and I'm going to get long-winded because I love this sport, so I beg your indulgence. The reason there is no improvement is because a fighter doesn't have to try as hard anymore.

Now while that is marinating in everyone's head I just want to say, when I went whole-hog into this sport (training, reading every book, watching every fight, picking up World and International boxing as well as Ring and BI) it was the early 70s and every newspaper carried so much on boxing along with pictorial spreads. I was reading up on Shavers-Ellis, Quarry-Lyle, Monzon-Griffith, Napoles-Menetrey, etc. And I can't even begin to tell you about the coverage of an Ali-Frazier fight because that was pages. Today, there isn't even a byline, so let's get to the root cause.

I believe the virus was planted in the mid-70s. Oh, we had 11 divisions then that the old-timers would have frowned on as well as a number (flyweight through jr. welterweight) of dual champs. We didn't like it but it was there and competition was enough where we were still getting worthwhile challengers and contests. But in '75, the WBC elected to create the jr. flyweight division. It's inaugural match was Franco Udella v Valentin Martinez. To tell you how bad this was, Udella was already a failed challenger for the flyweight title and Martinez had lost his last two fights. But the WBC scraped the bottom of the barrel to get their new sanctioning fee donor...excuse me, I meant weight division, up and going. Udella won on a DQ and to show what he thought of the title, he left it go into disuse and continued defending his more worthwhile European flyweight title. The WBC wanted him to defend against their top challenger Rafael Lovera of Venezuela but he couldn't be bothered, so the WBC matched their brilliant challenger up with another Venezuelan in Luis Estaba. Man, those Venezuelans must have had some talent down there ($$$$). Estaba, btw, was 37 and was never able to break into the flyweight rankings. But won on a 4th round KO over the undefeated Lovera. Yes, Lovera was unbeaten...and also had never won a fight either. Yes, this was his first and only fight. The point I'm trying to make here is that the bar was now officially lowered. The fighters didn't have to try as hard anymore.

It wasn't long before everyone saw the cash cow that was boxing and everyone was jumping on this band wagon. We soon had super bantam and then Cruiser in 79, which IMO begat the '80s fat heavyweight because...they didn't have to try as hard anymore. And then the '80s begat the IBF in '83 and the WBO in '88 and then the creation of straw weight, super fly and super middle with 4 champs in each division all looking for work. 8 champions when boxing started became 11 champions when I got into the sport, which is now 68 champions. Back then I could talk to my buddies about Ron Lyle or Danny Lopez and they didn't even follow the sport. We just knew them from the coverage. When a die-hard fight fan, let alone the regular guy, can't follow the sport, interest dries up. Thus, no newspaper coverage or anything on the news. The alphabet boys may be lining their pockets, but they have essentially killed our sport. This is the root cause I mentioned in paragraph two.

I have seen people on this message board state that the amount of champions and weight classes we have today are OK for the sport because it creates opportunities for the fighter. To that I say, what the hell is this? A job fare? This is a sport that brings us entertainment and one that crowns the champion of the world. I did not pluralize that word. Champion means the best in a legitimate weight class. Do you know how many great 1940s British fighters had over 100 fights - not to mention fighting in the booths - just with the hopes of one day fighting for the British title? Today, you're a veteran with 15 fights and there's something wrong if you haven't had a 'world' title shot yet. And remember not to lose your undefeated record because no one will touch you after that. And that's counting the year you have to take off to sulk and lick your wounds after that loss.

I said I was going to be long-winded, but again, I love this sport too much and get wound up with the state of it today. So, one more time. The reason there is no improvement is because, a fighter doesn't have to try as hard anymore.
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I found it .. And I saved it .. why? because imo its One of the best posts ever about the sport ...

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When did boxers become 'skilled'?

surfinghb Boxing Junkie Full Member

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When did boxers become 'skilled'?

surfinghb Boxing Junkie Full Member

surfinghb Boxing Junkie Full Member