You are right. The fights were shortened for safety reasons after the Mancini Kim fight. The IBF was the last organization to abandon the 15 round limit.
My point has alway been, what if KK Kim died after the 11th round. Would title fights now be 10 rounds?
The problem here is that due to increased weight limits and increased sanctioning bodies over the years, more and more fighters are getting title shots. Fighters that should not be fighting 15 rounds.
Here in California, the state title is fought over 12 rounds. It was always less that a world title fight. Not any more. Some of the fighters here fighting 12 rounds are not that good. If we had 12 rounds in 1981, SR Leonard probably wouldn't have beaten Tommy Hearns. How history could be different.
In their rematch in 1989, they fought to a 12 round draw. If that had been scheduled for 15, my SRL would have won again? Who knows?
15 rounds is the "Championship Distance". Something I would like to see again. But with this many titles (what is it now around 70 world titles with over 1000 title contenders) it would be a disaster to bring this back.
CURRENT "IBC" CHAMPIONS:
===================================
Heavyweight - Viali Klitschko. Next defense Hasim Rahman 4/30. Defenses made: 1.
Lt. Heavyweight - Glen Johnson. Next defense TBA. Defenses made: 0.
Middleweight - Bernard Hopkins. Next defense TBA. Defenses made: 17. He has 20 but I didn't count 3 becuase those were against non deserving challengers.
Welterweight - Zab Judah. Next defense Cosme Rivera 5/14. Defenses made: 0.
Lightweight - Jose Luis Castillo. Next defense Diego Corrales 5/7. Defenses made: 2.
Featherweight - Manny Pacquiao. Next defense possibly against Erik Morales 3/19? Is contract weight 130? Defenses made: 1.
Bantamweight - Vacant, due to the retirement of World Champion Johnny Bredahl.
Flyweight - Lorenzo Parra. Next defense Yosam Choi 4/5. Defenses made: 2.
===================================================
That's it for now.
Actually...
when you look at it like this ,it makes you
wonder who is in the world class elite
Actually, this is meant as a positive spin. These are the eight / currently seven "True World Champions".
There are other title holders, but these guys are the WORLD CHAMPIONS at their weight classes. So when one of them gets bumped off, it actually means something.
Kind of like having a new President or Prime Minister...
CURRENT "IBC" CHAMPIONS:
===================================
Heavyweight - Viali Klitschko. Next defense Hasim Rahman 4/30. Defenses made: 1.
Lt. Heavyweight - Glen Johnson. Next defense TBA. Defenses made: 0.
Middleweight - Bernard Hopkins. Next defense TBA. Defenses made: 17. He has 20 but I didn't count 3 becuase those were against non deserving challengers.
Welterweight - Zab Judah. Next defense Cosme Rivera 5/14. Defenses made: 0.
Lightweight - Jose Luis Castillo. Next defense Diego Corrales 5/7. Defenses made: 2.
Featherweight - Manny Pacquiao. Next defense possibly against Erik Morales 3/19? Is contract weight 130? Defenses made: 1.
Bantamweight - Vacant, due to the retirement of World Champion Johnny Bredahl.
Flyweight - Lorenzo Parra. Next defense Yosam Choi 4/5. Defenses made: 2.
================================================== =
That's it for now.
Unfortunately, something tells me that Ruiz will beat Toney. This won't necessarily be the end for Toney, but he will probably lose a decisive decision. I think JT will do well early on but will not be able to sustain and keep up with JR. Just my $0.02..
Ali was definitely hurt in that fight. Probably the most he has been in his entire career. More so that the Frazier knockdown in '71. Big George Foreman may have hurt Ali as bad, except he didn't go down...
I don't know of Ali hitting the canvas other that those two times.