Quote Originally Posted by Beanflicker View Post
Quote Originally Posted by greynotsoold View Post
The reason the old time guys fought a lot is because they were getting paid and paid well.
Jesus dude I've read enough autobiographies of the old timers to know that wasn't the case. Especially during the depression era. Maybe the top guys were getting paid well, but the lower card guys were still struggling worse then they are today.

Times change but basic principles always stay the same, and one of those is no promoter is going to pay a guy out of the kindness of their heart. They pay guys who put butts in the seats.
They may have been making $500 a night, but that was pretty good money then. Jimmy McClarnin made over $100,000 in one year as a teenager. At that time there were over 5000 fighters in New York City alone, making a living as pro fighters because they had something like 35 cards per week.
At least the bottom rung guys had the opportunity to fight on a bunch of different cards; that opportunity does not exist today, and if you can get $100 per round today you are lucky.