You know your boxing history well. Sluggers and all out action fighters have long been popular since the conception of the sport. There was a reason why Jack Dempsey was the most popular athlete in the world at 1 time and even more famous than Babe Ruth during the roaring 20s. Mike Tyson under the D'amato trainers during the 80s, along with Hagler and Duran were also wildly popular because of their all action style. None of them were all 1 dimensional sluggers, but they were all out action fighters. It's laughable that someone suggested that it's the sign of the times and the people that the general public and many boxing fans like action fighters, all out brawlers, as something wrong with the current sport. As if liking action fighters means you're not a "real fan."
Here's a piece of an Time Magazine article that talks about Rocky Graziano and his popularity. It's dated Jan. 1946. In fact, he had little boxing skills, sort of like Provodnikov today, but wildly popular. I guess it must have been the sign of the times in January of 1946 that Graziano was so popular too, eh? And I'm not even going to get into how wildly popular a limited slugger like Rocky Marciano was in his heyday.
Sport: The Making of Rocky - TIME
Boxing's biggest current attraction is a roughneck middleweight from Manhattan's tough Mulberry Street. Rocco ("Rocky") Graziano packed them in at Madison Square Garden last week for what fans thought would be his sixth straight knockout, a new Garden record. He fooled himself and the fans by winning on points from ex-Sailor Sonny Home.
As a boxer, Rocky Graziano is a joke, but he has the top two requisites to ring fame & fortune — a paralyzing punch, an iron jaw. His 155 lbs. ace mounted on a sturdy pair of legs that would never per form fancy ring steps. He mauls in...
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