Do you think fighters fight enough?

[Beanflicker]

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.

[greynotsoold]

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.

[Beanflicker]

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.

Sure $500 was a lot of money back in the day, but who was getting that on a consistent basis? Sure, there were guys raking it in, but hell look at James Braddock, he had to work on the docks to supplement his income because boxing wasn't doing it before he got his big break against Baer.

And even the guys who were getting paid well, back then it was all mob controlled so you had a bunch of people taking a piece out of your earnings. I don't think money was the issue. I don't believe for a second they fought so many times because they wanted to.