Old School Boxing Historian on Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley

[HyperUppercut]

this guys is about as generationally biased as bert sugar.

[jaestix1]

war pac!!!!!!!

dude.....he just ****ted on pac and the past 20 years of boxing.

[cupocity303]

But it's always an entertaining read when a knowledgeable old-timer throws out names from the past such as Kid Gavilan, Johnny Bratton and Johnny Saxton, fighters most teenage fans haven't heard of.

[Junito-Rulez]

Mike Silver's opinion>Your opinion 24/7

There are somethings I dont agree with, though. such as Mayweather's defense being based soley on athleticism.

blablabla..

All those so called experts are full of ****, this guy never laced a pair of gloves in his life; i'm 2-1 as an amateur. I already know more about boxing than so so called experts who never trained fighters or fought in their lives.

Watch old tapes and you'd see the difference between Flotd/Pacquiao and those old fighters. Sugar Ray Robinson is probably the only one who'd whoop Floyd.

Nowadays boxers are MUCH better athletes than they used to be. I'm pretty sure this man would pick Jack Dempsey over Wladimir Klitschko which would be ridiculous coz we all know Wladimir would KO Dempsey one hand tied behind his back.LMAO

[TheGreatA]

I disagree with him, especially about Mayweather's defense. He has most certainly mastered the defensive art of boxing. Reflexes are always a part of it, no one's defense will be as good at 40 years of age as in their physical prime (with the possible exception of Hopkins), but Mayweather has all the necessary techniques to last until his late 30's.

Poor comparison to Roy Jones I thought. Roy dodged punches with his hands down, with no fundamental technique whatsoever. It worked for him but it's not comparable to Mayweather's defensive techniques, which were passed down to him by his father and uncle. An "old school" historian like him should know that Mayweather's defense is very much old school.



To some extent I agree that the likes of Mosley, Margarito wouldn't have been as highly rated in past era's of boxing. Ray Leonard probably wouldn't be as highly regarded had he beaten a 38 year old Thomas Hearns instead of a 22 year old Hearns. Margarito to me is no better than a Gaspar Ortega, a solid contender in the 1950's and 60's.

[cupocity303]

blablabla..

All those so called experts are full of ****, this guy never laced a pair of gloves in his life; i'm 2-1 as an amateur. I already know more about boxing than so so called experts who never trained fighters or fought in their lives.

Silver, a lifelong New Yorker, has carried on a love affair with the beleaguered sport since he trained as a youngster at the fabled Stillman’s Gym in the 1950s. Over the past few decades he’s been a promoter, as well as an inspector for the New York State Athletic Commission, and a renowned historian who has offered commentary on HBO, PBS and ESPN. Anyone who knows him will agree that when Silver talks boxing, you can’t help but listen.

http://www.ibroresearch.com/?p=2132

[cupocity303]

Here is a review on his book and what he says in it:


"If Floyd was born 50 years earlier his athleticism and natural ability would be the foundation—not the end product—for his development into a seasoned and technically proficient fighter,” opines Silver.

Silver does not blame the modern day fighters for their inadequacies. He sees them as a product of their time. Many possess the raw talent but have no chance of reaching their full potential because fighters no longer have to “pay their dues the old fashioned way.” By fighting just 3 or 4 times a year against mediocre opposition, there is simply no opportunity to acquire the kind of extensive experience and bout-to-bout education that empowered the great fighters of the golden age.

http://www.ibroresearch.com/?p=2132


If you read the last part, you can understand where he is coming from. He just has more respect for the world class fighters who had to fight more than twice a year.

[jaestix1]

I disagree with him, especially about Mayweather's defense. He has most certainly mastered the defensive art of boxing. Reflexes are always a part of it, no one's defense will be as good at 40 years of age as in their physical prime (with the possible exception of Hopkins), but Mayweather has all the necessary techniques to last until his late 30's.

Poor comparison to Roy Jones I thought. Roy dodged punches with his hands down, with no fundamental technique whatsoever. It worked for him but it's not comparable to Mayweather's defensive techniques, which were passed down to him by his father and uncle. An "old school" historian like him should know that Mayweather's defense is very much old school.



To some extent I agree that the likes of Mosley, Margarito wouldn't have been as highly rated in past era's of boxing. Ray Leonard probably wouldn't be as highly regarded had he beaten a 38 year old Thomas Hearns instead of a 22 year old Hearns. Margarito to me is no better than a Gaspar Ortega, a solid contender in the 1950's and 60's.

pretty much sums it up right here.

[tonyjones]

old fart

mayweather and pac would be at the top in any generation,the 2 of them are masters at there styles......i do agree about margarito though he is very overated

[cupocity303]

I might have to get his book, sounds like a interesting read:

An entire chapter is devoted to the misuse of weight training and the effects of steroid use. Even the popular and ubiquitous “punch pad” workouts are taken to task.

“Old school trainers rarely, if ever, used them,” writes Silver. “They believed that hitting the pads with the same combinations over and over had limited teaching potential and emphasized a robotic ‘****, ****’ style of boxing. Their use did not encourage a fighter to think…everything that is taught with the pads achieved better results using the heavy bag.” The extent to which punch pad workouts are used, he adds, “is just another indication of the dumbed down quality of today’s boxing instruction.”

As Silver makes abundantly clear, today’s fighters are also impeded by the pressure to maintain an undefeated record. Promoters, managers and television executives have magnified the cost of defeat to the point that many former amateur stars are carefully navigated to maintain an unbeaten record while waiting to secure a lucrative TV appearance. This “must win syndrome” hinders the fighter’s progress. Over the past 20 years it has fostered a “mismatch culture” that minimizes the number of competitive matches because no fighter with any promise wants to take a chance on losing. When boxing was in its heyday, a defeat did not carry the same stigma that it does today. It was considered a normal part of the learning process.