Is it really age?

[Tony Blitz]

I was thinking about it the other day, do boxers perform worse really because of age and not mentality? I mean, when you're young and you just start in the professional league you're hungry and agressive to getting to the top. When you're somewhere in the early 30s it's more like "Alright I've done what I've done, now I just got to stay at the top" and when you get near the 40s it's "my time has passed, I really don't have much to fight for." Could that be the reason why boxers aren't as good as they used to be when they were young? A person trains that hard for a long time you'd think they'd be in the same shape at the age of 40? I only have 1 example I can relate to this was when I was in elementary and we had our own soccer-baseball tournaments. My team was a group of about 5 of the best in our grade, and we were so eager and excited about making it to the top. In our minds it would go through as "you gotta complete this, it all comes down to this to become on top" and once we got there we became less hungry. When we lost after being "number #1" on the playground it didn't really hurt on us because we made it to where we wanted to be. That's what I feel it is with boxers, they lose their motivation and aren't as good. So can we really blame it on their age? 50+ can be related to age because that's when the body starts going to the downfall, but 40 really isn't all that bad there are so many people in the same shape as a 20 year old at 40. I think George Foreman thought the same way, he figured it wasn't about age and he had the motivation to come back to boxing at the age that's said to be retirement for boxing and did a great job til he retired again. With all the "he's reaching 40, he sucks" talk within fans it must go through boxers minds too, they think less during fighting because they think they're too old and their career is over so they don't care if they lose. I'd like opinions on what everyone thinks about this.

[wmute]

age matters in all sportscos your body deteriorates in every aspect, and after you are 30 you are going down

foreman was not only a freak of nature, but a dumb fighter in the 70s, when he came back he paced himself so well, he was so much smarter, that he was comparable to his prime

also age for HWs does not matter as much (not making weight, slower pace in fights), that's why we regurly see world champs over 30 at hw

in the lowere weight classes:

eder jofre: the most succesful comeback in lower weight classes...at 37!

archie moore held on to the lhw title until an outstanding 48

hopkins, who you can see is not the same fighter who ate holmes or tito

sugar ray robinson won the mw title the last time at 36, but he was definitely not the same fighter he 5 years before

style is another variable, fighters like sweet pea, rj, pbf, srr, srl, wilfred benitez, ali are more likely not to age gracefully, because their styles rely on their inhuman reflexes and speed (unless they have a conrete chin like ali or srr )

[realheavyhands]

depend when u start, how u train, how many wars u been in, style ... look at james toney and archie moore same style both fought great after 35,tarver,masoe,i think u start gone down at bout 35 ..holmes said his prime was 32-35 he started a lil bit late turned pro 24 na mean so a lot of variables

[wmute]

depend when u start, how u train, how many wars u been in, style ... look at james toney and archie moore same style both fought great after 35,tarver,masoe,i think u start gone down at bout 35 ..holmes said his prime was 32-35 he started a lil bit late turned pro 24 na mean so a lot of variables

good point, career is a big variable,
for example: big george usually did not go to the distance, and retired at 28, so his body was quite fresh