Why Modern Boxing Has Lost Depth....

Overall you are right somewhat. I think the elite fighters of today have more athleticism (for the most part)and over the years the Boxers have learned from their predecessors, In a sense kind of like other sports although the gap in talent isnt as far. Training,nutrition, etc is better.

However there were far more boxers back in the days and they really learned their trade by fighting so often and not avoiding fighters on the way up the way up and coming fighters and contenders do today. They know want to protect that 0 but it slows their learning process compared to fighters from the past.

Although i said todays elite fighters have somewhat perfected techniques from past greats.
Their are also alot of things todays fighters dont or cant do that many fighters from the past did. Many of the feints and parrying of shots that many of the old timers did is a lost art today. I might sound like im contradicting myself but there are somethings lost and somethings improved.
Bottom line it all kind of equals out as far as quality of fighters "post War" and many pre war fighters are just as good as todays elite and some better.
Boxing isnt as deep as it once was but the talented fighters at the top today would compete in any era and some would dominate like fighters from the past.
Just like it might not be fair to say early century fighters would get slaughtered today with that technique. It is also unfair to expect fighters of today to have such long resumes as the old timers.
I am one of those that thinks fighters of the modern era are very underrated on the Classic Forum and Overrated on the General forum
This has to be weighed out evenly.

 

Yey but Panama Al Brown was 5-11 and Bantamweight champ for a long time back when they had same day weigh ins. Do you think hed shrink down to FLY.

Can you imagine a 5-11 flyweight:shock:

 

I just think the big difference is news coverage is virtually nonexistent. This is due to most promotions moving away from metro areas an to casinos.

 

I agree for the biggest part of the article, but there's a point about the weights I like to make.
Back to eight divisions (halleluja!) but then there should be new weight standards too. You can't expect a natural cruiserweight (what a lot of European man are nowadays) from say 188 pounds who can't make 175 and still be fight capable and put him in the HW division where 220 pounders till huge 245 pounders are populating the ranks.

In the time these weight classes where made, a normal HW was about 200 pounds and the biggest HW's where about 220, which is now the division standard.
And this is the same for the lesser weights.
So, like I said... I agree totally with your case and would even put up a few extra rules like; All states, countries same rules. Back to 15 rounders for championship bouts and max 20x20 ringsize. :good

 

Ok, I misunderstood what you where trying to say!

But the guys who can just make 175 against huge heavys.... I think they would have to use 'special supplements' to grow bigger, or be trashed.

 

A fighter would have ranked fights at a weight back in the day despite weighing 4-6lbs over the weight. Greb/Armstrong/Pep were only at 160/126 for their title fights

Still with 6hour weigh ins the usual carb depleting and water, wouldnt give adequate time to get the carbs, nutrients and water back into the system. The fighter wont have energy in the ring. So at most they would want to drain 4-6lbs of water off their usual fighting weight. Then there were weigh ins just miniutes prior to the fight, making re-carbing impossible.

Practically today everyone except for Pacquaio, Williams and Mayweather would have to go up 1-2weight classes or 1 whole old weight class.

The fighters that would hurt the most would be the 1s who naturally weighed around the junior/lighthalf divisions who have to fight the bigger men in their division. Fighters who are brawlers with little care for defense willburn out quicker. Boxers will likely develop better sharper skills due to constantly being in the ring and practising their craft. Alcoholics/bingers who blow up in weight will stop drinking so much and stay at their weight because of the frequent fights and possibly have longer careers because they would train more and binge less

 

As for 190lb-200lb LHWs, they'd bulk up much like Adamek has done recently and like Spinks/Moorer/Jones/Holyfield did

 

Nobody argues with you more than me. but you hit the nail on the head.:goodI have a problem w/ the whole top ten and top 50 list anyway, because there have been a LOT of fighters who were great and most fighters aren't gerat but just Very good. And if you go by what they did, for instance, could Leonard have fought w/ the frequency of what Duran did in his (D) first 13 years and been as good and then step up and fight a guy of leo's class and THEN gone on to win 2 more titles and then still continue. No Way, Hearns couldn't either. Could Mayweather fight 49 times in one year as Greb did in 1919 against the cream of the crop of SEVERAL divisions and then still go on to greatness. He won't even fight the cream 3 times in 7 years. The fighters of today are fighting less in less rounds in easier rules. For 60 years or so Benny Leonard was considered by every boxing writer and old timer and trainer and fighter to be one of the 3 if not the no 1 fighter ever. Now people consider him nothing. It's ridiculous. I saw on one post some guy said he couldn't beat any of today's contenders. Completely assinine. And recently, someone listed him w' the weak chins. comon man. Nowadays, all the announcers and writers call everything great and just want their era to be the best whether it is or not and they don't have the knowledge or care to have the knowledge of the past to make a true informed decision. The average fan hears their beliefs and takes them for fact when they shouldn't. It is a fast food world w/ fast now only matters reporting and the viewer is the worst for it. Kenny the ESPN guy is one of the worst along w/ Kellerman although Max is getting better due to Merchant's influence I think. And Lampley prob. creams his jeans getting a whopper "WOW, WHAT A BURGER" Can YOU BELEIVE THIS". Don't take announcers for right nowadays, study the sport deep and w/ breadth and learn the truth about this great sport and the true greatness of fighters. READ, WATCH and pay attention to records. Back in my day, we all had the Ring record books and endless bios of fighters, and old timers to learn from. It's out there, find it.:thumbsupAnother point on BennyLeonard. Arcel said he had to carry guys or noone would fight him. He was that good. You should study this guy deep and you will be blown away (no not by Ayala. Sorry, can't stop).

 

Got some rose tinted glasses on. Yes old timers fought more often, the business was very different. However few fought everyone in their divisions, there was plenty of avoidance. And i dont see Mayweather struggling if he fought bi-weekly against Gatti/Mitchell types who were top contenders but easy fights and mixing in the occasional hard fight, because thats the patern the old-timers took for the most part

 

Do you think he doesnt spar 1000s of rounds against top contenders plenty anyway? If you break a hand you just punch with a different part of the hand, even use elbows, backhand or the base of your palm

And yes Floyd would pick up more injuries and have worse hands but he'd be facing half blind types like Greb

 

We'll beg to differ, fighters in all eras are in it for the money, in those days that meant fighting bi-monthly, today its about building an undefeated record and getting the biggest names. I think Floyd's 'ducking' is very overstated, if the money was right he'd fight anyone. Lots of fighters have hand problems and its not like old fighters wouldnt have done too, ie Holman Williams did fine despite having shot hands.

Mayweather can make 20-30million a fight, so he fights 6monthly just like Dempsey in Grebs time. Its like saying Dempsey didnt have the temprement or guts for fighting a greb schedule, both were the cash cows of their era and fought when they wanted for big bucks.

Greb may have done the same and have a much weaker resume if he became the cash cow early in his career