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Right i was just thinking about this and was wondering why are the older fighters tougher than newer generation is it the training the jobs ?? take Heavyweights for example you would think with new technology it would be easier to get in shape but really and truthfully none of them really bother i want to here your thoughts.
Fighters years ago would have 15/20 fights a year (some much more) and Dempsey for one was tiny in comparison to some of todays Heavies.
The many different weight divisions,belts and of course the TV networks have all helped it get this way :)
This is just a small part of it but i think some of it has to do with the amount of rounds these guys get in these days......the older gen guys were fighting all the time...now a days guys fight once or twice a year and have the whole rest of the year to get out of shape etc....the guys in the past were tougher cause they had to be...i've heard of some fights where the guys spend damn near as much time marketing as they do training...
Simple really
You get paid $50 and shown the door,to go home to your tenemant,how hungry are you?
You get paid 2.5 Mill and go back to your mansion,how hungry are you?
I think Trainer Monkey is on the right track. In the older generations you either won or you went hungry. There was a time when boxing purses were based on who won. You won you got the bigger paycheck. If you have a family you needed to win.
Fights were longer. Gloves were smaller. You had no sign on bonuses with promoters. If you looked like garbage you might not get another fight. No fighting no eating. No need to debate that one.
It is like this. Back when my parents were kids. and probably everyone else who is on the form. They had to do chores. It was not an option. You did it or you got in trouble from Mom and Dad. Today you can hardly get kids to pass school with a B.
We do not have the work ethic that the older generation did. Why should boxing be any different?
Dead on! CCQuote:
Originally Posted by Trainer Monkey
Im not even saying these guys shouldnt get paidQuote:
Originally Posted by bcollins
Lord knows its their body on the line
But lets face it,hunger adds alot of hunger
You Got It! The money is the answer, how many fights does a champ in any division have in a year these days? Hatton for example will have one more fight before the end of the year bringing him a grand total of three for the year! Instead of fighting for a meal and a drink like the old timers did, he can buy the pub!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Trainer Monkey
yeah...you fight 20 times in a year you are one tough SOB.....1 time a year doesn't cut it....they need to drop the purses...that is why all the good fights are disappearing.....the fighters can afford to pick and choose instead of always fighting the #1 challenger....so we get stuck with sub par fights....Quote:
Originally Posted by Mar
harder lives, more fights, less money. Less defense so they got used to taking punches more, and a different mentality. It was more brutal back then, and now its more of a sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by ICE COLD BOXING
old boxers box for their legacy
new boxer box for money
also referres letting the fight to go on
They fought more often, and would grant rematches no problem. Plus those guys weren't stopped by the ref until they were unconscious or near unconscious.
A combination of what everyone has said. The motication with regards to money,the fact that they fought for their legacies rather than purely for $$$. Then other factors such as training for more rounds,fighting more often. Also,every fight used to be a war and they used to beat the shit out of each other. We get excited when we see Corrales v Castillo 1,whcih was amazing but those guys used to carry out wars on that scale all the time!
In alot of cases, fan nostaligia! I think alot of fans tend to favour older fighters.
On the flip side, I'd suggest the level of opposition is a big factor in testing how tough somebody is.
Not to sound like a stuck record for this thread, but the money had a big part to do with it, but also the fact that they weren't just doing it to get rich, but most fighters would have had to fight an awful lot of fights to get anywhere near any real money. And that means they would have been fighting on an evening, and then probably back at some backbreaking job the next day.
I see a comparison in rugby, where although the players are faster, stronger and more focussed since it went professional, the tougher guys were in the past. And the second thing that contributes to older guys being tougher is that they didn't have the option of backing out, or taking a few weeks off if they got injured, they had to do the buisness whatever, whilst today's top fighters can just take a few months off to try and keep themselves at peak condition.