What do you guys think?
I will start out by saying that No I don't think today's fighters are better then the great fighters of the past.
I think today's fighters are much more athletic but calling them better seems to be an overstatement to me.
The way to learn at anything is by experience. Fighters of the past fought all the time, and many would prefer to fight someone then spar and train for weeks upon a time. Today, top professionals fight up to four times a year, often less. SRR and LaMotta and all of the top guys back then fought everyone and fought often.
Many fought up to four times in a month rather than four times in a year. They fought with injuries rather than whine about them. The top fighters of today cannot match yesterday’s top fighters in terms of experience, and hence cannot match their understanding of the game.
I think the growing trend with most fighters today are they are fast, strong, good punchers, but they lack balance and defensive movements.
This isn't seen in the Whitakers, RJJ's of the world but many of the alphabet titlists and even some world champions have these flaws.
The "old-timers" threw textbook punches, straight, short, and accurate, and knew how to pace themselves by wasting as little energy as possible. They always kept there defense tight, and they worked the body which you can't say about some of the top fighters today.
I'll stop the rambling but I don't think the great fighters of the present are better then the great fighters of the past.
All fighters can be is the best of their time, anything else is pure speculation. Todays fighters have the advantages of better training, better nutrition, better technology etc etc. The best of the present day fighters would have certainly been great in earlier eras. That said there are a fair few fighters who have flattered to deceive by picking up a version of a title but putting on a few pounds and avoiding tough fighters. Also many records look more impressive because they have beaten countless world champions at different weights. There are now countless titles at new weights so there is a greater opportunity to pad a record. In older eras fighters used to have to pick off the contenders one by one then finally get their shot, nowadays beat someone in the top 10 of a sanctioning body and you get a title fight.
The fact that the "contender" might be ranked at 30 by another body is irrelevant.
I think don't be blinkered and embrace the new but don't close your mind and respect the old.
The latest isn't always the greatest.
if fighters today are not better than past ones then thats a fucking shame!
that means boxing has not evolved like other sports, but has gotten worse.
I would like to think boxers today are faster and stronger, but i donw know
I think other sports have evolved through new and technological superior equipment; and through body and performance boosting drugs. For example, golfers are hitting the ball further because the equipment has evolved not nessesarily the technique. As for baseball, players are hitting the ball more frequent and further because of performance enhancing drugs.
However, if you look at boxing, training techniques haven't changed so much. And the equipment(boxing gloves), are really not gonna help the boxer perform any better.
That maybe so but then again look at all the newcomers these days their getting better and better one day you'll have another greatest but i better not speak to soon
hello Exig3. Anotha username?
I'm not sure if they're necessarily any stronger, except maybe the heavy-weights. And even then ... Foreman, Shavers and threw just as well if not better than anyone now.
I think a lot of the fighters were probably conditioned better because they were training all the time and fighting frequently. That's one of the reasons I think PBF is so far ahead of a lot of his competition - the guy trains more than anyone else, like the fighters of old.
It is hard to compare though because certainly today's fighters are bigger and seemingly stronger and faster. In terms of toughness, durability and endurance yesterday's fighters are still ahead though.
Put it this way...If the the past fighters had the luxury of today's advanced nutritions and medcines they would certainly whoop on today's bunch.
if fighters today are not better than past ones then thats a fucking shame!
that means boxing has not evolved like other sports, but has gotten worse.
I would like to think boxers today are faster and stronger, but i donw know
i do know that no fighter today can beat 1967 muhammad ali!
That maybe so but then again look at all the newcomers these days their getting better and better one day you'll have another greatest but i better not speak to soon