Is watching old fighters useless?

Im not the type to romanticiZe old school fighters but it is definitely not useless to watch old fights. I used to work at a video store as a teenager and in the way back, there were black and white boxing videos that nobody ever rented. Out of curiosity, i took one home at night and watched it blazed out of my mind. It was a highlight video of Ray robinson, Floyd patterson, and Joe Louis. I remember how fascinated i was watching these guys and that was what got me interested in the sport. Next day I took home a Ray Leonard-hearns 1 video and that was it.. that fight turned me into a boxing junky.

Hey sonny try earning a living in the sport for 50 YEARS! Until then I don't care what you think because you don't KNOW sh*!. My point was if you KNOW what your looking at you can learn. If you don't you won't! Old School. Modern Day, Current Day!!! You don't know pronating from picking your nose! Call me when you train your first state champ. Ray Damn, great response. Unfortunately the rebuttal will probably be along the lines of "I don't need to have actually boxed or trained a fighter......."

Yes useless.....................if you don't know what your viewing! There might be 4 people on this site besides me who has a clue what technique & methods are in boxing. This is a "fan club" site not a knowledge sharing discussion. Fans here tell everyone that this guy is a "bum" and they don't even know what that term means in boxing. They talk about trunks and robes and entrance songs but never say a word about a pivot move and working an under/over! Because they Don't KNOW what their looking at! They know Tall....Weight......Reach and how to read a record even if they don't know 90% of the names on it! I don't know if Porky Pig is a better cartoon character than Daffy Duck but I'll bet there's a huge number of fans here that do.............:You_Rock_ So watch whatever and make comments about things you have no clue about. Seems to be more kids here now than ever, of course they know everything, every new generation does. Ray good job ray, summed it up most people dont know or understand WTF they are watching....

Hey sonny try earning a living in the sport for 50 YEARS! Until then I don't care what you think because you don't KNOW sh*!. My point was if you KNOW what your looking at you can learn. If you don't you won't! Old School. Modern Day, Current Day!!! You don't know pronating from picking your nose! Call me when you train your first state champ. Ray

Yes useless.....................if you don't know what your viewing! There might be 4 people on this site besides me who has a clue what technique & methods are in boxing. This is a "fan club" site not a knowledge sharing discussion. Fans here tell everyone that this guy is a "bum" and they don't even know what that term means in boxing. They talk about trunks and robes and entrance songs but never say a word about a pivot move and working an under/over! Because they Don't KNOW what their looking at! They know Tall....Weight......Reach and how to read a record even if they don't know 90% of the names on it! I don't know if Porky Pig is a better cartoon character than Daffy Duck but I'll bet there's a huge number of fans here that do.............:You_Rock_ So watch whatever and make comments about things you have no clue about. Seems to be more kids here now than ever, of course they know everything, every new generation does. Ray So basically; "If a poster doesn't agree with my point of view and hold old school fighters and past generations in high regard then they don't know shid about boxing." You are correct in there being you and maybe four others who like to make believe that previous generations were so much better than modern fighters. You and only four others who have been blessed with the knowledge and wisdom to see that this is the way of things. You rag on the NSB regulars but the History forum is no better. Full of elitist basement dwellers worshipping fighters they've never seen fighting. "Oh well somebody 80 years ago said this guy was the best ever, so it must be true." You people are out of touch with reality. A lot has happened since one grainy video of Charley Burley was recorded. We all know that there are many things wrong with modern day boxing, many things that were better decades ago. But at the same time, boxing has developed and evolved in so many ways. I just can't take you people serious. It's common sense stuff we're talking here. Breakthroughs are being made everywhere. Things which were acceptable in past decades have now been proven to be counterproductive and been phased out of boxing. Science has allowed for leaps and bounds to be made in regards to nutrition, training and general health. Yet we're supposed to believe that men from ninety years ago who drank and smoked right upto fight night, ran around in military boots with the most rudimentary training facilities would be untouchable today. I realise you're all deluded and beyond help, but you should save your breath around these parts.

Try using an instruction manual from the 1960's to fix your modern car. See how you get on. try putting adrien broner and ray robinson in the same boxing ring. broner is a world champion in 4 weight classes in your vaunted modern era. war 2017.

Robinson fought over a 100 bums / GGG could stop those 100 bums one every day. You people are dreamers living in a time you weren't even born its the good ol days syndrome. even with the footage available were you can see how limited they were. you're calling out the bums ray robinson fought with the same breath you're using to talk about the resume of gennady golovkin? :twak:

Man this will turn into some heated arguement... Gonna grab some snacks and watch :argue: Yes it does indeed. Opinions are like azzholes as they say. people have things backwards. Forget about old versus new, look for technical points, application, etc. There are modern trainers like Barry Robinson who discuss these points, but what you hear a lot of these days are empty cheering.. . "come on!!!!' When my dad boxed in the Marine Corps in the forties trainers gave directions, "when he snaps his jab, feint left and hook." My point is that when exploring the technical points of boxing, as Ray Corso has said many times, inevitably you come to recognize the work of trainers like blackburn, Goldman, etc. and inevitably the fighters that show the technical luster, the ability to carry out technique in the midst of chaos, they are the fighters from the classical periods of the sport. Maybe that is a coincidance? Maybe Vlad Klitsko, with his stationary ways, his cringing, and his china chin is the epiteme of heavyweight fighting...? Maybe? :spankme:

Yes useless.....................if you don't know what your viewing! There might be 4 people on this site besides me who has a clue what technique & methods are in boxing. This is a "fan club" site not a knowledge sharing discussion. Fans here tell everyone that this guy is a "bum" and they don't even know what that term means in boxing. They talk about trunks and robes and entrance songs but never say a word about a pivot move and working an under/over! Because they Don't KNOW what their looking at! They know Tall....Weight......Reach and how to read a record even if they don't know 90% of the names on it! I don't know if Porky Pig is a better cartoon character than Daffy Duck but I'll bet there's a huge number of fans here that do.............:You_Rock_ So watch whatever and make comments about things you have no clue about. Seems to be more kids here now than ever, of course they know everything, every new generation does. Ray

Try using an instruction manual from the 1960's to fix your modern car. See how you get on.

Robinson fought over a 100 bums / GGG could stop those 100 bums one every day. You people are dreamers living in a time you weren't even born its the good ol days syndrome. even with the footage available were you can see how limited they were. Man this will turn into some heated arguement... Gonna grab some snacks and watch :argue:

ray robinson had 200 fights and fought 1400 rounds as a pro. if you don't think there's any value in that it is on you. he would make adrien broner look like a complete novice. stylistically, in terms of his talent, in terms of his experience and poise in the ring, everywhere. he'd make broner look like the overrated, mediocre WW sideshow that he is. robinson was born close to 100 years ago, to give you a sense of the timing. he' df#cking muder floyd mayweather, man. murder him. sports science and advanced technique doe Robinson fought over a 100 bums / GGG could stop those 100 bums one every day. You people are dreamers living in a time you weren't even born its the good ol days syndrome. even with the footage available were you can see how limited they were.

Is it still worth watching really old fights if you wanna learn from them? Any fighter older than Ali's era like Demsey, Louis, Moore, Armstrong etc As not only boxing has changed immensely but also newer fighters have a lot more skills than old fighters. Or can old fighters still teach you things, the newer ones can't? Like I mentioned, I do not necessarily the most recent ones like AB,GGG,Canelo,Loma etc but also semi-old fighters like Leonard,Hagler,Ali,Jones... a lot of old school techniques are not utilized as much today so you'd be better serviced to watch them and learn feinting is a lost art slipping, rolling shots.....using both shoulders on defense shift and stepping with each punch isn't don't much...guys either lunge or punch in one spot also fighters back in the day punched starting with their feet, and ended with their fist...no one really snaps their shoulders into their punches or properly shift body weight for more power, less effort. some guys I suggest you watch are ezzard Charles, georgie Benton, salvadoe sanchez, willie pep, Joe Louis(proper balance and technique)....henry Armstrong...their are many great fighters to learn from pre-1950

ray robinson had 200 fights and fought 1400 rounds as a pro. if you don't think there's any value in that it is on you. he would make adrien broner look like a complete novice. stylistically, in terms of his talent, in terms of his experience and poise in the ring, everywhere. he'd make broner look like the overrated, mediocre WW sideshow that he is. robinson was born close to 100 years ago, to give you a sense of the timing. he' df#cking muder floyd mayweather, man. murder him. sports science and advanced technique doe

I really liked Aaron pryors style I watched like half his fights on YouTube, can't really get into the black and white thing tho the quality and is too bad.

Lots that can be learned from the old timers. Lots.

older fighters had more skills than current ones. current fighters are more athletic but skillwise the old ones are far superior. they fought and trained all the time, constantly honing their skills. not like todays era where most fighters box once or twice a year then take a 3 month vacation. We know now through sports science that a rest period is required to be at physical peak every time. Fighting every week means fighting at about 50% most of the time. I do agree though, the 4-8 month layoff these days is a joke.

Floyd Mayweather dominated the current era of the sport for 20 years with a throwback boxing style. Today the shoulder roll defense/ "Philly shell" is almost a lost art. But back in the days before Ali it was more common and there were several masters of it. Such as Ezzard Charles. So that is just one example of how it would be beneficial to watch old fighters, there are many nuggets of knowledge to be learned from studying them.

older fighters had more skills than current ones. current fighters are more athletic but skillwise the old ones are far superior. they fought and trained all the time, constantly honing their skills. not like todays era where most fighters box once or twice a year then take a 3 month vacation. there was more knowledge in the sport back then too, guys like eddie futch, emanuel steward, bill miller, angelo dundee, ray arcel etc. there are a few exceptions but most trainers today dont know the sport like they did. and back then there were countless others who were great trainers but dont get any props for it. likewise with the fighters themselves, there are a few fighters who are as skilled as the old school guys. you know what they are called? old school. for that reason.

Styles have changed and boxing as a sport has changed, so you could get away without watching. Back in the day endurance and toughness were big factors. It's evolved into more than that. People who go on and on about how great boxing used to be, how any previous era fighter would walk todays era. They're either whiney elitist/hipsters who never leave the house, or old farts not living in reality. You'll find the majority of them hold a lot of unneccasary anger and bitterness. Even on here there's a little clique of them who post only in the history forums. They definately see themselves as the "cool kids club". They nuthug eachother. Every once in a while they venture into the current forums to post some long winded bollocks about how boxing now is nothing compared to what it was. Everything you said could just as well apply to people today as well... People that are prisoners of the moment and behaving as if every guy today could easily blow throgh the guys of yesteryear without much of a problem when anyone with a brain knows that isn't true.