Three changes to help boxing

[greynotsoold]

Do you remember the first Hamsho/Hagler fight, when Marvin weighed 156 because he wanted to moving all night? Managing weight and having your fighter peak at the right time used to be arts.
I would be much more upbeat about boxing if there were more places for fighters to fight, more opportunities to learn, and more people to teach them.

[marbleheadmaui]

Do you remember the first Hamsho/Hagler fight, when Marvin weighed 156 because he wanted to moving all night? Managing weight and having your fighter peak at the right time used to be arts.
I would be much more upbeat about boxing if there were more places for fighters to fight, more opportunities to learn, and more people to teach them.

I was talking with some friends after the Bradley-Alexander fight saying I could not believe just how badly the sport had fallen. When I got the old "You just favor the old guys" gripe I said to them, "let's see, two 25 and under, ranked, highly gifted fighters with 20-25 fights apiece right?" They agreed. So I popped Little Red Lopez and Bobby Chacon in the DVD player and they sat down to watch. After about three rounds they were apologizing all over the place.

The major problem is the one you identified. The dearth of teachers. I don't know how it gets fixed.

[greynotsoold]

I think it goes back to something A.J. Leibling wrote about late 50s or early 60s: the income gap in boxing, and it has only gotten worse. The top guys in boxing make a ton of money, but, underneath, nobody makes anything. The live gate in boxing is dead for the majority of the fighters.

[marbleheadmaui]

I think it goes back to something A.J. Leibling wrote about late 50s or early 60s: the income gap in boxing, and it has only gotten worse. The top guys in boxing make a ton of money, but, underneath, nobody makes anything. The live gate in boxing is dead for the majority of the fighters.

Well St. Joe was rarely wrong

I suspect the other thing that has happened is the industrialized world has reached a level of overall affluence that very few really wonder where their next meal is coming from. I suspect it takes desperate boys to become truly extraordinary fighters. People with food in their stomachs can now find better/safer ways to exploit their athletic talent.

[greynotsoold]

In the same article Whitey Bimstein said something to the effect that, when the Depression ended, the number of kid wanting to be fighters dropped 90%.

[marbleheadmaui]

In the same article Whitey Bimstein said something to the effect that, when the Depression ended, the number of kid wanting to be fighters dropped 90%.

Tough to blame a kid today if he can make a living other than by being hit in the face for choosing another avenue. Doesn't help the sport, but hell I didn't choose to be a fighter either.

[greynotsoold]

My father thought about fighting-but he said that meeting and talking to Fritzie Zivic dissuaded him. He sincerely vowed to kill me when he found out I was sneaking off to the gym.