SRR fought Lamotta twice in 21 days and WOW even had a tuneup fight in between!

[CubanGuyNYC]

One of the key reasons Boxing has completely fallen off from it's pedestal in the American sports scene. Guys used to fight all the time, including the superstars. You're lucky to see the top guys fight 2x per year, if that. The money has gotten so big that they can do that and make $40-60 million a year that way.

I'm not even asking for what SRR did, just give me like 4 or 5 fights per year from the stars of the sport. Impossible with the way promotions, PPV, revenue, etc works these days but still...

All true. And I'm with you; four fights a year from each of the top guys would be just fine with me.

[CubanGuyNYC]

Ray Robinson had huge money. He may have been living cheque to cheque but a guy like him did not HAVE to fight as often as he did.

What you are saying would have been the case with 99 percent of fighters but not the elite.

Pretty much....

"Sugar" might also have fought that often because that's just they way it was done back in those days, before the "paradigm shift". Robinson probably would've fought just about as often as other elite fighters of a given time, if he fought in their era.

[IronDanHamza]

Why's this been moved to the History Section?

This isn't exactly a breaking discovery.

[TheGreatA]

Pretty much....

"Sugar" might also have fought that often because that's just they way it was done back in those days, before the "paradigm shift". Robinson probably would've fought just about as often as other elite fighters of a given time, if he fought in their era.

Robinson said fighting as often as he did kept his skills sharpened. He was critical of boxers who fought less frequently.

[CubanGuyNYC]

Robinson said fighting as often as he did kept his skills sharpened. He was critical of boxers who fought less frequently.

Cool. But do you think Ray would've fought, say, six times a year in 2011?

[CubanGuyNYC]

Why's this been moved to the History Section?

This isn't exactly a breaking discovery.

I love how they'll stay on top of innocent little stuff like this, but ignore the countless garbage threads that constantly pop up. SMH

[Scott9945]

Robinson said fighting as often as he did kept his skills sharpened. He was critical of boxers who fought less frequently.

So I suppose he would have said this to Floyd Mayweather Jr...

[TheGreatA]

Cool. But do you think Ray would've fought, say, six times a year in 2011?

I wouldn't put it past him fight 6 times even now, although we wouldn't be seen those 10+ fight marathons per year from him.

The difference in today's era is that while there used to be a boxing card almost every day in numerous areas, the demand for boxing is a lot less nowadays with TV, PPV and a diminishing interest towards the sport in the US. It's not that boxers don't want to fight more often, for example the Klitschko brothers do, there just aren't any possibilities to do so.

[Scott9945]

I wouldn't put it past him fight 6 times even now, although we wouldn't be seen those 10+ fight marathons per year from him.

The difference in today's era is that while there used to be a boxing card almost every day in numerous areas, the demand for boxing is a lot less nowadays with TV, PPV and a diminishing interest towards the sport in the US. It's not that boxers don't want to fight more often, for example the Klitschko brothers do, there just aren't any possibilities to do so.

If Robinson were fighting now, I suspect he too would get spoiled by the "TV money" that wasn't there at that time. Ray was aware of every dime he was paid and probably wouldn't jeopardize multi million dollar paychecks for off TV club fights.

And of course your point about so many less cards booked in the US now would be a major factor.

[BOLLOCKS]

Damn that's gangsta. I always thought 2-3 fights a year was overdoing teh vacationing.