Comments Thread For: A King at 130, O'Shaquie Foster is Living his MSG Dream

[pnut901]

Good question!

You could say it it began once the Queensbury rules came into play in North American. Give or take a few years, this is roughly around the time when John L Sullivan fought Gentleman Jim Corbett for the heavyweight title, though fights still had no limit on rounds, and the sport was illegal in much of the US, which undercuts the "modern boxing" argument substantially.

Personally I'd say it's when Dempsey beat Willard in 1919. It's somewhat arbitrary, but it was the first HW title fight without a crazy number of rounds and when boxing became more of a legitimate sport. Dempsey was also the first champ to receive the Ring title (later, in 1926), so I think it's a fairly solid argument to say modern boxing began with his reign as champ.

Thanks , that sounds reasonable.

[PBR Streetgang]

He's come a long way from catching that first loss on ShoBox. He's always had the skills but either wasn't motivated or just didn't put everything together. He looked like a different fighter against JonFer Fernandez and has been on a roll since.

[PBR Streetgang]

Good question!

You could say it it began once the Queensbury rules came into play in North American. Give or take a few years, this is roughly around the time when John L Sullivan fought Gentleman Jim Corbett for the heavyweight title, though fights still had no limit on rounds, and the sport was illegal in much of the US, which undercuts the "modern boxing" argument substantially.

Personally I'd say it's when Dempsey beat Willard in 1919. It's somewhat arbitrary, but it was the first HW title fight without a crazy number of rounds and when boxing became more of a legitimate sport. Dempsey was also the first champ to receive the Ring title (later, in 1926), so I think it's a fairly solid argument to say modern boxing began with his reign as champ.

Interesting stuff. I always figured it was in the early 1890s between Sullivan's bare knuckle fight with Kilrain and his gloves fight with Corbett.

You make a good argument for it being Dempsey's reign and the standardization of rounds and the Ring title.

[Monty Fisto]

Interesting stuff. I always figured it was in the early 1890s between Sullivan's bare knuckle fight with Kilrain and his gloves fight with Corbett.

You make a good argument for it being Dempsey's reign and the standardization of rounds and the Ring title.

Yeah, I think there's no clear cut answer and there's a number of significant steps on the path to modern boxing. Going from bare kunckle to gloves with the adoption of the Queensbury rules is a massive milestone.

Given the slight controversy over allegations from Willard of Dempsey using a metal implement in his gloves, you'd also think the point at which they officially starting checking glvoes would be another important milestone. No idea when that was though!