When did the modern boxer come about?

[Bundana]

they'd have to prove they can do 15 rounds.

You dont get a free pass just for being a boxer.


obviously I dont mean a grand sweeping statement for ALL, in case you want to pursue that, this is general pattern.

Yes, if we brought back the 15 rounds championship fights, today's boxers would of course have to prove, they can handle that distance.

[DreamFighter]

Yes, if we brought back the 15 rounds championship fights, today's boxers would of course have to prove, they can handle that distance.

I'd go with that, I want facts to believe in, I leave the supposition to others.

[QueensburyRules]

--- Bring back 40 rds on the 4th of July.

No need for Nancys to beat around the Bush when men where really men and fought each other with impunity...

[OctoberRed]

I'd go with that, I want facts to believe in, I leave the supposition to others.

Damn right, Dream.

[IruleYouAll]

In heavyweight boxing I would say the modern heavyweight boxer started to come along in the late 1960's to early 1970's when every heavyweight contender started to weigh 205 plus pounds.

[Tom Cruise]

In the "good old days" (you know, back in the 20s and 30s) all that really mattered took place in the US... where boxers fought each other over and over again, with little "interference" from the "outside world".

World title fights were practically monopolized by the US, and, with very few exceptions, fought for by members of the North American talent pool.

Today the scene is very different! With travel being much easier these days, we see top fighters jetting back and forth between continents for big fights... and with the former Soviet Union countries now allowing pro boxing, we've seen a huge influx of East European boxers.

Couple this with the diminishing role of the US, and we find that boxing today has become truly international. And with the rapid growth of the worldwide talent pool, it's no wonder, we have seen so many great boxers these past few decades.

Boxing has always been a global sport. Not sure why people parrot this myth.

There are some nations that are relatively new to pro boxing, but there are others who used to be pretty big in the sport but aren’t any more such as pre revolution Cuba, France, Italy, Korea etc.

Champions also used to travel all over the world on world tours.

[Bundana]

Boxing has always been a global sport. Not sure why people parrot this myth.

There are some nations that are relatively new to pro boxing, but there are others who used to be pretty big in the sport but aren’t any more such as pre revolution Cuba, France, Italy, Korea etc.

Champions also used to travel all over the world on world tours.

For the following years, these are the number of countries, hosting pro boxing, that can be found in BoxRec's database:
1891: 8
1925: 46
1955: 63
2016: 116

Looking at the 20s, we find that during the ENTIRE decade, there were (if I have counted correctly!) 156 world title bouts, distributed as follows:
USA: 140
England: 6
France: 4
Canada: 4
Ireland: 1
Philippines: 1

So a grand total of 6 countries were involved in world title fights during that decade.

It's fun to note, that during the present decade, GGG alone has fought title fights in 7 different countries - against boxers from:
Mexico
Armenia
UK
USA
Canada
Australia
Ghana
Japan
Poland
Uganda
Columbia

Seems to me, that boxing is spread out much more now, than back in the old days.

[billeau2]

When we consider the global appeal of boxing there are a lot of things to consider, there is no short answer:

For example, lets consider boxing as a subset of combatives. We will find that Brazil has had a lusty, enterprising, ever present program of wrestling events, martial arts events but... for some reason not a very strong boxing program. Why is this? Is it a lack of boxing talent? a lack of boxing resources...probably not considering the combatives talent in Brazil from the earliest of times, when the Portugese and Japanese had ties...

Mexico has had boxing talent, as has Cuba and Puerto Rico... Yet countries like India and China, to this day have a very small proportion of boxing talent. Is it a lack of resources? is it a lack of interest? Its also worth noting that countries in Continental Africa, for example, and Australia, etc all seem to occasionally produce professional fighters. Not sure if we are seeing more African, Australian fighters these days, I suspect not... Mcgrooty would know... Have not seen him here for a while.

By comparison in China San Shou, or combat fighting for the ring, has been developing alongside MMA and both are interchangable in China. In Russia ditto for Sambo. And as Bundana says there have been fighters from some of the smaller nations. New Zealand is a good example of this actually.

One variable that comes to mind is the distinction between amateur fighting and professional prize Fighting. BUT lets be clear here guys!!!! The Cubans show us that coming up through an amateur program is not a hinderance to professional aspirations. Also, many of the same countries that dominate the ammys continue to do so... Cuba Russia, the United States at times....

So the question becomes: how has the global acceptance of combatives, with boxing as a subset, with amateur fighting as a subset, materially affected the talent pool of boxing? Are we seeing a lot of very strong fighters from countries that never produced professional/amateur fighters?

If we are, are these fighters training in their land, or coming to places where boxing resources continue to flourish? These are some issues to consider. One thing we have to say and...Bundana is absolutely correct about in my opinion: There is nothing in the water, nothing in the air, the food that makes kids from Brooklyn gret fighters lol! There are reasons for any changes and trends we see in the demographics of the fight game. Always has been!

[Bundana]

Mcgrooty would know... Have not seen him here for a while.

Great poster... who sadly passed away a couple of years ago.

[them_apples]

for me the hands up and stiff era began once olympic boxing got changed to the battle of who touches you the most with white tape contest. You block with your hands now because there isn't much point in ducking a 3 inch slap coming at you 10 times in one second. A real punch you don't really want to block, it still hurts. You want to duck that *****. The idea of a fight was lost and 300 amatuer bouts in this style means your pro career will likely look the same - unless you are Mayweather and come from an old fashioned camp.