Quote Originally Posted by sanj16
The more I watch footage of old fights, the more I realize how much tougher those fighters were. Something to bear in mind when comparing fighters from different era's. Those fights were brutal, and the gap between fights was non-existant. When a fight was close, or just good, there would be a re-match within months!!! Just look at some of the gaps between SRR fights, especially when he lost. I had to double check the dates to make sure that I wasn't mis-reading.
Also the old 15-rounders. I'm with Hagler, those 3 rounds were the championship rounds. We wouldn't get so many controversial decisions or close fights with 15 rounders. Like most sports i.e. football, modern days players look and act like pussies. diving when they don't even get touched, while players like Pele, Best and Maradona were almost cut in half by defenders!!
Don't fool yourself... fighters back didn't throw as many punches... there were many areas with gaps in every fight back then. Also the guys were slower, and had less technique... People say that SRR was lighting quick, but when I saw his first fight with Lamotta he looked ordinary in terms of speed compared to the guys now. As for soccer Maradona wasn't that long ago, and even he used to pretend he was hurt more than he actually was... He would complain as well. Pele is too long ago for me, but I'm sure he was the same way... its part of soccer/football.