Why are modern heavyweights so old

I agree. And one other thing. The boxing referees are stopping fights sooner. In the old days, if you could stand up or the ropes were holding you up they'd let the fight go on, even if you were cross-eyed and didn't know where your opponent was (think Patterson when Ingo KO'd him and Ken Norton being hit flush about ten times after his lights were completely out. Sorry, I can't remember who was beating on Norton at the time. Just remember the ref just stood there and watched it happen).

 

I generally would agree with your first point but I saw a lot of really good athletes enter the gym once and never return. Combat sports just aren't "normal" sports. If anything, I think MMA is taking away biggest part of the real talent pool.

Good points in your last paragraph.

 

Their career also ended earlier.

It's a trade off, everything you describe also ensured that the majority of those HW's careers were over long before the average modern HW who doesn't fight as much and has the advantage of modern science, surgeries etc.

This. Boxers in the Americas had little or no amateur careers for most of the 20th century. Now the norm especially for Europeans who make up most of the top HW's have extensive amateur careers.

Firstly there are top Amateur HW's like Cammarelle, Kapitonenko, Zhang, Zuyeu, Kuzmin who are in their late 20's or older and will never go pro.

More importantly there is a very good crop of young SHW's that are all 19-23. Looks like there is a changing of the guard taking place currently at the World Championships and i'm sure it will continue at the Olympics.

Hrgovic, Dychko, Omarov, Savon, Yoka, Sheehan, Nistor, Parker, Abdelghani. Seven of them are 6'5-6'7 and 3 are southpaws.

Omarov age 22 6'6-6'7 southpaw beating Cammarelle at this years European Championships

[url]http://www.megavideo.com/?d=350VWJJK[/url]

[url]http://www.megaupload.com/?d=350VWJJK[/url]

Hrgovic in WSB age 19 6'5 240lbs

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3KztXRDmTc[/ame]

Yoka in WSB age 19/20 6'5

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywG4SfQjfbQ[/ame]

Shows Hrgovic beating Parker and Yoka

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed91-8sYvEc[/ame]


Erislandy Savon (Nephew i think, can't be son since Felix is a *****)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gObx786UK8A[/ame]

Parker vs Yoka

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGbwjaY1y5k&feature=related[/ame]

Great point. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

del

 

thats crap about more popular sports having older athletes as well. Name some world class printers who peak when theyre 30...

Most tennis players, soccer players, swimmers etc are in at their best in their mid-20's, because theyre very competitive sports, and more importantly you have to compete against the best, constantly, to do well.

Boxing is a dying sport...not just the heavies, but generally. Its a small talent pool.

 

First of all, a boxing match is 36 minutes, the equivalent of a world class runner doing 15k in intervals.

World class sprinters peaking or putting up world class performances later? Well, let me list just a few.

Alan Wells 80 Oly Champ at 28, Commonwealth at 30, beat Carl Lewis at 31.

Troy Douglas Personal Best 100 meters 10.19 seconds at 39 years old.

Maurice Greene Bronze Medal 100 meters, aged 30.

Mike Powell, in his mid 40's, long jumps 27 feet!

Angelo Taylor, 33 yrs old, runs a 44.48 in the 400m.

Steffan Holm, all 5 foot 11 inches of him, high jumps 7 foot 11 at 34 years old.

I could go on and on regarding these explosive events.

Let's get to more analogous athletic events to a 12 round boxing match.

Carlos Lopez, great Portuguese runner, runs a 27:17 in the 10K at 37 years old, then breaks the marathon record at 38 with a phenomenal 2:07:12.

Again, I could bore you with a more comprehensive list, but I think I made my point.

 

I think you made my point; Mo Greene winning bronze at 30 after having been the fastest and most dominant sprinter ever a few years earlier is evidence of big deterioration. None of the others are good examples either, who cares if you get a personal best at 39, you could have been on crack in your 20's. There are no Oly sprinters doing anything at 39, and even if they were one or two (there isn't) its nothing like boxing where there is currently a whole division of heavies well past their physical prime.

 

Jerry Cooney

 

better training,
weight lifting-training,,,,,very important
because with age espically after 35
u have to do it do more...

better contindtions in general
easier fights

more experience gained in amateurs
where you dont get beat up as much

 

Some of those examples are going back a few years (Alan Wells ! Carlos Lopes !). Not typical examples either. Lopes' case is certainly extraordinary. The fact that it's a 30+ year old case kind of defeats your argument a bit.

The last two 100m Olympic champions have been 22 years old.
The Gold-Silver-Bronze medallists at Beijing were 21, 23 and 22 years old.
At Berlin 22, 27, 26.
At Daegu 21, 25, 35.

In the 200 metres :
At Beijing 21, 30, 22
At Berlin 22, 19, 24
At Daegu 25, 25, 21

The women are actually a bit older, with Carmelita Jeter at 30 or 31. Veronica Campbell at 29.
We'll see if the likes of Bolt, Dix, LeMaitre are still registering PBs or near-PBS when they are 30. I'm not convinced they will be.

I don't necessarily believe any running event is more analogous to boxing. Marathon runners hardly need great reaction times or reflexes, or even a sprint finish, just pace over 26 miles. It's not unusual for older 5000 metre or 10,000 runners to move up to marathon.
Even so, the medalists at Daegu were 29, 23 and 21.
In the 10,000 they were 22, 28, and 22.

There aren't a large number of athletes over 30 in running events winning or athletes who were top players in their 20s continue setting life-time bests at 30+ .

It's certainly not as pronounced, nor as recent and extreme, as the case in boxing.

 

Yeah. Cooney. Thanks Burt

 

Linford Christie was at his peak from 33-35, Merlene Ottey maintained her prime longer

 

In answer to the topic, several reasons

1. Fighters stay in the amateur game longer, looking to score some big wins to get a big contract and many look much quicker there - see Changaev for 1
2. It takes quite a few years to rise to the top, so turn pro at 22-25 and you're not getting a title shot until your 26-29
3. Modern training and nutrition combined with PEDs help athletes stay in their prime longer
4. Boxing isn't just a physical sport, it's a thinking sport with lots of trickery, old men can learn many more tricks if they've put their mind to doing so

 

Who the **** cares about sprinting? that's one of the least applicable "sports" you could choose. (running isn't a ****ing sport, its running)

 

It's a barometer for athletic performance, most definitely a sport, but no, it does not take into account mastery of advanced techniques as in boxing which only experience provides. In that regard, it only enhances the argument that older boxers are not inhibited by declining athletic abilities especially as they concurrently advance their skills.

And Unforgiven, those are just off the top of my head, and yes, they obviously reflect my age and the era in which I competed. But if you turn back the clock even to the 60's and 70's, international runners were usually over by 25, most immediately after college. I would not say that many peak beyond 30, but many more over the past 3 decades maintain very elite level of fitness and talent.

Oh, and forgot three other dinosaurs from my era who competed at the top level well past 30, Segei Bubka, Greg Foster and Edwin Moses.