What happened to that really elegant, fluid outboxer style?

Crawford can kind of do that, though he's still more about quick strikes rather than the more fluid style you're talking about. Loma's pretty beautiful to watch, too, though he isn't much of a jabber. I think that style has vanished because fighters simply don't know how to do it. They don't know how to both dance effectively or judge distance like the fighters you mention. The fighters who can dance effectively don't have the stamina to maintain the activity fighters like Ali or Leonard did. Fighters work hard just to be good at one or the other. Like inside fighting, it's another casualty of the fading popularity and diminishing talent pool. ... Crawford, Loma, Rigondeaux...

You know how hard it is to be right in front of someone and be trained mentally and sharp physically to make them miss by inches???? Its such a hard thing to do. You need not only the physical stamina, but the mental stamina to be disciplined enough to be able to do it.

Like Mikey Garcia vs Orlando Salido? Great example..

Terrance Crawford?

If you think clinching is bad these days you should watch some fights from the early 1900s. Clinch city. One big wrestling match. The ref didn't break them so they just wrestled away and tried to get an arm free to punch with. Muhammad Ali was really bad when it came to holding. Robinson too at times. A lot of people here are simply clueless. Think that holding is something new to the sport :lol1:

Took a few posts until someone said the truth. Clinch is not penalized. Therefore it's being abused as a defensive weapon.If you think clinching is bad these days you should watch some fights from the early 1900s. Clinch city. One big wrestling match. The ref didn't break them so they just wrestled away and tried to get an arm free to punch with.

What about Usyk? He's elegant to watch, even if he's not fluid in a classical sense.

Cotto can turn into that guy but it doesn't last long enough and he doesn't have much of a right hand. Had he thrown a couple of good lowblows against Margarito he would have performed decently well with it in route to a decision. Great example Cotto can box like that for some part of a fight ,but his size and reach make it hard for him.

Clinching was always a part of boxing. Even more so back then. you can tell the newbies didn't watch boxing pre-1970s or see any of the fights The "golden era" from 1920s-1970s had a lot of clinching and many had wrestling backgrounds fans today whine about any and everything...he clinching doe...he running doe....:bottle:

Cotto can turn into that guy but it doesn't last long enough and he doesn't have much of a right hand. Had he thrown a couple of good lowblows against Margarito he would have performed decently well with it in route to a decision.

Damn, great question man. Thurman has the movement you speak of but not the offense to go with it, it's more waiting for counter punching opportunities or finding a favorable angle to lead from. The style seems dead :sad:

They're all in Cuba and not allowed to go Pro right now, hopefully that changes soon! But yeah Robeisy Ramirez, Erislandy Savon are a couple of fighters who comes to mind with that type of style!

I agree with everyone on here and it made me realize another possible point....fighters aren't trained in that style anymore. To link back to what's being said, trainers look at the top dogs in the sport (past & present) and try to teach their fighters that style. Reminds me of when Berto all of a sudden thought he was Floyd with the Philly shell in his first fight with Hunter. A reverse of that to someone else's point is Amir Khan. Under Roach he tried to emulate Manny and now with Hunter you see this fluid style a little.

Plenty of these guys clinched. The post prime version of Robinson that we see on tape loved a clinch. Inbetween the clinches they were a lot more active and mobile though Clinching was always a part of boxing. Even more so back then.

People have no stamina to fight like Ali or SRL,i Also noticed that Jab is forgotten weapon thoes days, i rearly see good Sharp Jab like Ali or Holmes had. Exactly. Apart from Pacquiao and a prime Morales, I can't think of too many guys post 2000 who have the type of stamina you see in the guys of old and a lot of them used to go 15 damn rounds. In fact, the further we progress in this century, the worse the stamina becomes, with guys like DeGale, Groves, Jack, Canelo (Seriously improved but still), BJS and so on having some of the worst stamina I have seen in world level fighters.

Some very good replies in this thread. I'd like to add that there are simply less boxers now (especially in the United States) than there were many years ago. Less gyms, less trainers, and many of the kids who do fight, start at an older age than before. It is very difficult to become a great boxer if you don't start until you are a teenager.

One guy who does do a bit of the old jab and move is Amir Khan. Early on vs Canelo especially he looked pretty good. Just never gonna have the consistency, variety chin or ring IQ to keep it up without getting chinned

I mean the style mikey uses in that fight. Here: http://youtu.be/vj6N1DPOyE0 Ah completely mis read your post mate. Was wondering how you came up with Salido :lol1: Yeah Mikey looked pretty good there.

I blame Roy Jones a little bit for the abandoning of a consistent jab from outboxers. He had the ability stay well out of range using more feints and pawing and didnt really need to pump the jab, but his great athleticism allowed him to close the gap with straight rights or lead left hooks without his opponents countering. Now you see fighters like Thurman or Haye who are great athletes but seem content to use jerky feints rather than a really nice smooth jab and footwork and both are lacking imo because of it. Not that they arent good fighters. But they could be better Definitely. Roy inspired a generation just like Ali did before him and Floyd does now.