When did the modern era begin

True. But his very straight back in combination with his low guard is not something I would recommend for my students if I were a boxing instructor. Tunney had the legs and the movement to get away with it, though.

 

There been fighters with low guards though out history. Tunney was just one of em.

Tony Canzi

I dont think Ali needs a mention,
Roy Jones Jr,
VK has a pretty low guard, but that may be because he was so big.

There are fighters TODAY that used the low guard, so if he hold it against the old timers, we might as well hold it against todays guys.

 

I tend to think that it was around the late 30's early 40's when the sport truly evolved in to the skills we see today, of course there where some pioneers before this(tunney being a good example minus the low hands)

 

True. But they have also been known as fighter that broke against the text book technique. Tunney wasn't, as far as I know.

 

last week

 

The late 30s when Joe Louis became heavyweight champion of the world by using 8 oz. gloves.....

Plus, fights by then were regularily being called over the radio, and later, TV......

MR.BILL:bbb:deal

 

Several posters make excellent points in attempting to define the start of the modern era.

I think the post-modern era started in the early to mid 1980's when:
The IBF came along and sanctioning bodies started popping up like weeds; when 12-round championship fights started becoming the norm; when TV and the mainstream sports fan began losing interest in boxing; and the majority of heavyweights decided that heavy training was unnecessary.

 

In MMA they use a high boxing guard even though they use very small gloves. Also, Louis had the same size gloves as Dempsey and Tunney etc, hadn't he? But his guard was the modern text book one.

 

But MMA spends a good part of the fight rolling around on the ground lol.

The gloves are WAY bigger than they ever were in the 1960's. I mean just see Winky Wrights glove defense, and tell me he can pull that off with 1950's gloves at the least?

Louis's gloves, I belive had a little bit more padding than the gloves Dempsey used.

Also, one can break there hands or kuckles with the old gloves. One of Nelson's tricks was to lead with the head, and hope for a broken hand when he used the forehead.

 

By the way Gpater, you're referring to Jersey Joe in the poll options? He's not a very good choice to define the era, considering he was nowhere near as experienced and balanced a fighter in those early days that he'd eventually become from the mid 40's and early 50's.

 

But when they strike they do so using a modern text book boxing guard.

Sure, some defenses used today require the large gloves. But the text book high guard (right hand at the cheek bone, left at the same height but a couple of inches in front of the face, and elbows close to the ribs) doesn't. That's my simple point.

Surely that small difference (if there was one) wasn't enough to require a different guard.