Re: The Old-Timers would destroy the New Guys
Well no beans I'm not sure of that either.
Actually it's a complicated response this time because, experience definitely IS the major ingredient in getting better at boxing (as well as other things too) but the number of fights period does not always tell the whole story. You see for a start, how many fights at a certain weight range tells a different story to how many fights at another. One of the main reasons I am so stubbord regarding the modern HW's (and I'd extend that to other weight ranges somewhat too considering their size compared to their olden counterparts) is that what was historically called a "HW" would now be called a CW or even a light HW.
When we look at David Hayes HW record today for instance we view it as only a handful of fights and look at it compared to Muhammad's record and think well he's not even a HW. But in reality, Muhammad's record in ACTUAL HW fights is only 28-4, the rest being sub 200, and because of modern day dehydration to weigh in, a lot of Haye's CW fights were not only HW fights in Ali's day.. By fight time they in fact WERE 200+ fights even in our times!!!
Obviously when you look at these guys records, including Listons, they just don't cut the mustard compared with today. It's also a neat explaination whenever anybody mentions "workrate" or "speed" in disrespect to modern fighters because OF COURSE they should perform better here because the modern guy is a couple of weight ranges above them!! Except we don't really see that, in the case of Liston, we can barely find ANY boxer who is slower!!! 
But the plot thickens, and it's to do with modern methods...
Modern boxers, in general, you will find special examples otherwise, but the norm, is that modern boxers have much more amateur experience, PLUS have enormous amounts more sparring and pad work, so in fact they DO have more ring time, training and experience than the old timers, not just in weight range, but in total!
But most importantly.. It is utterly BS that the old timers way of fighting so frequently produced better boxers! They were not trained properly in that time for each fight and they did not recover between each fight properly. It was detrimental to their performance completely!
Evander Holyfield was once asked to givwe a speech on how past champions were the better and so on.. But as he gave the interview he swayed from the script. He told that how modern boxers were trained far better than they were in the past, how they did not have to fight as often anymore but because of their management and preparation they were doubly effective, and anybody who says otherwise is someone who did not have to fight against that kind of opposition.
I think Evander was right!
Also, as a pretty important side note, it can be shown that the heavier the weight of a fighter and their opposition in general, the fewer fights they can withstand. A featherweight can obviously fight more than a heavyweight because the punches are lighter and more bearable.
At HW the damage is maximal. In the old days a HW had more fights in general because their competition was not what we today consider HW. Today the punches are so hard that it's inconceivable that any fighter could withstand 100 fights at HW!
That kind of puts into perspective, all of it, just how special dominant HW champs are today to have had so many fights as they have.
"Enough with the games mate! Your messing with the Grand Master!"
Lennox Lewis
Thanks: 
Likes: 
Dislikes: 
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Max Power
That or go bat shit crazy. Kinda like I might if we lost Saddos 
We have living proof that you can fight 31 times and not 'prove' much of anything. But still in todays media we're to believe a record like that makes someone a killer. Loving the KO but not exactly looking at what is being ko'd. I don't see a problem with an active fighter, weekly or monthly just as long as they are not ALL cans. Look hard enough today and you'll see a bad trend of guys coming up on stacked decks and literal mis-matches. Have you seen some of these monthly GBP cards lately. Numbers don't mean squat its the substance. Greb fought some cans, and activity does not make you great, but he also faced Gibbons, Flowers, Tunney, Rossenbloom and Walker some multiple times. We have the immediate convenience today of reliving a modern fighters career in its entirety with a click, and if we're fortunate enough we have had the opportunity to watch guys like Floyd from his amateur days and straight through the ranks to today. We've seen his opponents 'opponents' coming up even. There are a slew of fighters from days gone by who faced good comp as well but I didn't live em and we watch everything from hindsight. Doesn't make them all bums or grocery clerks, just means I'm ignorant and have only a record and numbers to read. Rambling, I need coffee.
Bookmarks