What defines "prime"?

[Guest]

Calzaghe Hopkins example is a good one but the thing is that division has a bunch of old geezers in it a light heavy with the exception of a few guys.

Historically the lower divisions primes were a lot younger because your bones increase in density and weight after around 35 .

What amazes me though is guys like Campbell and Marquez who really should be past prime at lightweight, and they are basically still beating good guys.

Maybe 40 is the new 30.

[JAB5239]

yes it indeed does. I never said that this is the way it should be, I'm just saying no one really knows for sure when anyone's prime is. its mostly all just speculation. when anyone says "he's past his prime" its not like there is a label on that boxer saying what date he will pass his prime. nobody knows. its us the fans that label boxers past their primes. most times a boxer has to be completely shot for us to have complete certainty of their past-primeness.

Fair enough my man. I can respect this opinion.

[JAB5239]

Calzaghe Hopkins example is a good one but the thing is that division has a bunch of old geezers in it a light heavy with the exception of a few guys.

Historically the lower divisions primes were a lot younger because your bones increase in density and weight after around 35 .

What amazes me though is guys like Campbell and Marquez who really should be past prime at lightweight, and they are basically still beating good guys.

Maybe 40 is the new 30.

Do you think a lot of this has to do with nutrition and advancements in the medical field? If so, would some of the greats of the past have been even greater today due to these advantages?

[Guest]

Do you think a lot of this has to do with nutrition and advancements in the medical field? If so, would some of the greats of the past have been even greater today due to these advantages?

With all the advances in nutrition etc it's possible, but sometimes when I watch older fights it's almost like those guys were in better shape.

AND THEY WENT 15 rounds a lot of the time.

Maybe I am being nostalgic but some of those 15 rounders they were really going at it all night long.

[MANGLER]

mental and physical primes rarely ever happen at the same time. physical prime is usually reached in the early 20's and mental is in your late 20's(in boxing). The prime would be the equilibrium of the 2. and that is why its very hard to define when anyone's prime really is.

Good post. Co-sign. A fighter might be mentally at his best before or after he's as developed as can be in terms of physical skill. And some guys have mad talent/physical strengths but a ****ty mentality, sometimes before they gain experience, sometimes after they suffer a bad defeat.

[JAB5239]

Good post. Co-sign. A fighter might be mentally at his best before or after he's as developed as can be in terms of physical skill. And some guys have mad talent/physical strengths but a ****ty mentality, sometimes before they gain experience, sometimes after they suffer a bad defeat.

How would you define Mike Tysons prime? Here is a guy who's whole everything concerning a prime seems backwards. Between 19 and 22 he was at his mental prime. as he got older You would have expected him to be mentally stronger, yet we got the opposite. As far as his physical prime I think that is open to debate. Looking at the whole picture though, here is a guy who's so called prime was over before he was 24 years old. An age when many fightewrs are just coming into their primes. Hopkins is the opposite of Mike. This is a very subjective topic, but many posters throw the word out there without ever really thinking it thru in my opinion.

[Silencers]

It when a fighter is at his peak both physically and mentally, different fighters peak at different times.

[-Swizzy-]

How would you define Mike Tysons prime? Here is a guy who's whole everything concerning a prime seems backwards. Between 19 and 22 he was at his mental prime. as he got older You would have expected him to be mentally stronger, yet we got the opposite. As far as his physical prime I think that is open to debate. Looking at the whole picture though, here is a guy who's so called prime was over before he was 24 years old. An age when many fightewrs are just coming into their primes. Hopkins is the opposite of Mike. This is a very subjective topic, but many posters throw the word out there without ever really thinking it thru in my opinion.

mike tyson's prime "could" have been in his late 20's but with the death of his adopted father and his manager and his 3 year prison sentence, his mental state went downhill instead of uphill. So tyson's prime was in the 80's instead of the mid 90's as it should have been.

[rabn21]

Yes I agree with that, I think to define prime under one term it's tough because there are 2 primes, the mental and physical like DWiens said. The problem is sometimes they dont happen at the same time.

i think that that is a very good point. you could even add another that you can have a physical prime, a mental prime and maybe a career prime where you face your best competition and all of them may not be at the same time and have an overlap between them. suppose its what makes it interesting too and also hard to define prime.

I think take joe c for example and maybe this is a bad one. He was in his physical prime in his early fights and then as age and hand problems set in he used his mental game and adapted his style. His career is now only entering its prime in terms of competition though.

[JAB5239]

Ok, heres another question. How do we determine a fighters prime if they were locked up for what we percieve as "key" years (such as Tyson) or even banned from fighting (such as Ali)? Personaly, I think in Ali's case it is pretty obvious he was at his physical peak when the goverment screwed him over. But it wasn't until his return, when some of his physical gifts had faded, that he had peaked mentaly. Opinions?