How did Boxing make such a quick evolution?

[BKM-2010]

It seems to me that almost all boxers were not yet evolved in the early to mid 1900s but right after that came so many all time greats whose skills is still not matched by most modern boxers today.

It looks like Gene Tunney was one of the first guys who was really a good boxer who looked way ahead of his time and some fighters still fight a bit like him. What I'm trying to say is that the time between the guys who were hopping around with their fists at their waist throwing windmills to superb technical boxers like Tunney, Charles, Walcott, Robinson, Louis etc is not that much time inbetween them.

So what happened there? Did trainers really pick up new stuff? Weren't these modern boxing methods around in the early 1900s too?

[K-DOGG]

Hmm.

Well, I'll take a shot at this.

If I was going to guess, I'd say the legalization of boxing with the advent of the Marquis of Queensbury Rules.

Before Sullivan lost to Corbett, most fights were bare-knuckle affairs that involved almost as much wrestling as boxing. And don't think all fighters were throwing "windmills". There were many great boxers in the 100 years or so before the sport's "legalization". I would just argue that the style that was incorporated at that time was sufficient for the type of fighting that was required of the combatants; and in the late 1800's, prior to Jack Dempsey, there was a bit of a hangover...."it's always been done this way, why change?"

So, in summation, I would say that once fighting 3 minute rounds and using gloves became standard, the trainers or former combatants adjusted their styles to meet and maximize the effect of the "new rules".

That's my guess, anyway.

[kendom]

It seems to me that almost all boxers were not yet evolved in the early to mid 1900s but right after that came so many all time greats whose skills is still not matched by most modern boxers today.

It looks like Gene Tunney was one of the first guys who was really a good boxer who looked way ahead of his time and some fighters still fight a bit like him. What I'm trying to say is that the time between the guys who were hopping around with their fists at their waist throwing windmills to superb technical boxers like Tunney, Charles, Walcott, Robinson, Louis etc is not that much time inbetween them.

So what happened there? Did trainers really pick up new stuff? Weren't these modern boxing methods around in the early 1900s too?

There were great boxers before like Abe Attell, Jack Johnson, Joe Jeanette, Tommy Loughran, Benny Leonard, Joe Gans, Philadelphia Jack O' Brien, Sam Langford there were many highly skilled fighters in the early 1900s you just need to do more research like I did.

[BattlingNelson]

Like Kendom said there where also plenty of fine boxers earlier. The thing is however, that the competition in the forties and fifties was probably the fiercest with the most fighters available and they where fighting many more times a year.

[Sugarj]

Cinema and fight films will have had their part. Trainers and their fighters will have been more and more able to study other fighters and learn as the decades of the early 20th century went on.

Tunney and Schmelling were well know students of fight films.

[lazy]

It wasn't a quick evolution, it took 20-30 years. As early as the 1940's the skills and techniques were better. I would not use todays boxers an example because they are generally a pampered and protected lot. The fighters of the past were better conditioned and much tougher.

[BKM-2010]

Only 2 to 3 decades isn't that long for a sport that's been around forever to evolve like that.

On the emergence of film footage, how available was this back then? It's a pretty good theory if it holds any weight.

[JAB5239]

Only 2 to 3 decades isn't that long for a sport that's been around forever to evolve like that.

On the emergence of film footage, how available was this back then? It's a pretty good theory if it holds any weight.

Im sure changes in the rules forced fighters to change the way they fought over time.

[BKM-2010]

Around what time exactly? Which rules and how did it affect the fighter's skills?

[kendom]

Around what time exactly? Which rules and how did it affect the fighter's skills?

The following links should address your question adequately
http://coxscorner.tripod.com/hunnicut1.html
http://coxscorner.tripod.com/hunnicut2.html
read both thoroughly