I liked it, when it was one belt, the champ had to fight the top ranked fighter and also fought 3 or 4 times a year against the top ranked contenders. The money was great, just not rediculous like it is now in every sport. More fights and less show would be my personal wish.
I don't really care about it. The way I look at it, if he wants to go to those lengths to annoy me, he has no life.
40's and 50's but that is not taking into consideration the fact that racism was rife and the best black fighters couldn't get involved. Taking that into account as the most important factor, which it is, 2007 is probably the best era.
The sport never had it right and it never had it wrong. It has it's ups and downs but they are the result of individual great or poor fights. When we see a trully great fight, there is nothing in all of sports that can measure up to it. When we see this, all is right with the sport.
I'd say the late-30s-through-60s had it about right. A fairly standard set of rules and regulations without being overly tight, the color barrier vanishing, not so many of those newspaper decisions and no-contest matches bogging things down as in earlier eras, 15 round title fights (25+ rounders seem excessive, but 12-rounders don't do the world championship justice, and set us up for the long, ugly line of world-title draws we've seen in recent years), referees who would stop a fight before a guy had been beaten beyond recognition, but wouldn't jump in and end matters the first time somebody looked shaken or when one guy just threw a bunch of unanswered punches that weren't having any effect or sometimes even landing, less clinching than before or since, no pay-per-views keeping the sport out of the mainstream, etc.
Boxing was fine from the start of the 20th century until 1976.... Then the US and Brits lost control of the WBA, and all hell began to break loose.
I'll have to go with the period from 1930-though what I call the "Golden Age", the 70's. 15 round title fights, free tv, the introducing of BOXING, not showbiz celebrities in the ring before the main event. Mainly the 15 round limit for title bouts, and I'll concede that there were beginning to be too many weight divisions in the seventies, but bigtime championship fights were televised on free tv, and you could at least have had SEEN the fighters who were vying for these multiple belts, unlike today.
No... You either ban the sport, which is fair enough, there is a very strong case for that; or you accept the risks of a sport where the object is to knockout a fellow human being with your fists. The horse will still escape whether the stable door is open or half open. As for retirement funds, I am all for proper state pensions for everyone to have a comfortable retirement. But Capitalism means people just look after themselves rather than having a social conscience.
They had it right in the 60 and 70s when fights were spread around the world more evenly and Americans no longer had home advantage every fight.
Alright... I'm sure the fighters are very well aware of the inherent risks of prizefighting and will chose to carry on with their chosen profession. There is nothing wrong with making boxing as safe as possible with upgraded state/national medical supervision to ensure the safety of the participants
Yes there is; as I pointed out the basics of it are such that in civilized society there is no place for it. But we live in a Capitalist society, so we can defend the sport, on the premiss that if the fighter knows the risks, who are we to rob him of a living? But as this is a capitalist sport, there should be minimal regulation or else we start to look like hypocrite's and leave the people who wish to ban the sport with a stronger argument.
Agree on all counts of capitalism! I agree that fighters have the right to participate in their profession. It is my favorite sport....I'm not being hypocrital here....Are you? Boxing is always going to be around....in one form or another. I not having a moral issue here, I can enjoy the spectacle of a good fight and want proper supervision of the sport. Yes...it is a sport!...But by stating 'minimal regulation', do you disagree with medical supervision at fights??? What do you mean exactly?
Not too knowledgeable on topic but, I think that boxing is suffering from too many santioning bodies and weight classes. For example boxinf should be hw, lhwt, middle, welter, and light
