how did fighters back in the day go so many rounds

[Augustane]

You mean 15 rounds? Or just rounds fought in their entire career?

15 rounds was just for championship fights. For example, SRR didn't fight his first 15 round fight until his 75th fight, which was his first championship fight. I'll probably be off by a wide margin but I don't feel like Boxrec'ing right now, to say Robinson had like 20, 15 round fights, out of 200 pro fights. I know that a lot of people are under the impression that Robinson fought 200, 15 round fights.

How'd they go so much rounds throughout their career?

Let's pick on Robinson again. Well, first of all, the opposition was truly very, very weak for the most part, and to be fair, it had to be, because if you're gonna fight that frequently it can't be tough opposition day in and day out. Mostly tomato cans. Secondly, for the bulk of Robinson's career he actually fought 10 rounders. I would say roughly 90% of SRR's career are 10 rounders, and according to my calculations, that is actually pretty accurate, 87.5% of his fights to be exact, were 10 rounders.

I'm not discrediting SRR or fighters with 100+ fights, i'm just making sense out of how they could fight that much. A modern example would be Chavez Sr and Toney. And a contemporary example are Canelo and Chavez Jr. Canelo took about 40+ fights to fight a fighter that every one agreed was good, and he was 22 when he did it. GBP could have continued building up Canelo with 4-5 fights a year against weak opposition until like 70 fights, and then have a remainder 30 fights spread out against A and B level opponents, with the occasional journeyman tune up. Same with Chavez Jr.

Best answer in this thread.

[twrx]

Its the weight cut guys train to go more than 12 but lose a lot of stamina during the cut

[boliodogs]

They trained hard and ate good food such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, milk, meat and fish. Food was healthier back then. They drank raw milk, they had no hormones in their meat, no gmo foods no white bread and no white sugar etc. etc. Food was more natural then and healthier before they messed up our food for bigger profits. They fought at a slower pace if the knew they had to fight a large number of rounds.

[Furn]

They fought often so they stayed in shape and stayed fight fit.

Fighters now have a fight. Rest for 8 weeks have a holiday for 6 weeks then train for 8 weeks before they fought while travelling around doing promotion and talk shows. You lose conditioning pretty quickly when you rest up especially when your at an elite level.

In the old days fighters fought, took a week off then trained and fought 4-5 weeks later. They fought easier fights to stay in shape for the big fights.

Nothing prepares you for a sport better than competing in that sport.

[boliodogs]

You didn't say what period of history you are talking about. I think in the early part of the 20th century some fights were up to 45 three minute rounds. !5 round fights were no big deal. Any top pro could do them. Most important fights today are 12 rounders so a 15 rounder is not much different. A fight that could go 30 to 45 rounds is much different.

[SN!PER]

Sam Langford fought over 2,000 rounds in his pro career. Doesn't matter if most were 10 rounders or if he never won a world title, he's still badass.

No matter the excuses, the simple truth is that the best fighters come from rough living conditions. A young boy who learns to fend for himself from a young age can handle the stresses of the fight game a lot better than a pampered rich boy can. Most people in the old days had none of today's luxuries and privileges. The average person of today is a weakling compared to a person from 100 years ago.

[Jc8804]

Very well said.


How about jack johnson days.
Lots of rounds

[MBE]

I think froch could go 15 rounds no sweat. Tends to look better as fights go on. There's a lot of champions that couldn't cut it in 15 rounders, and a lot of fighters that couldn't cut it in only 12 rounds. I'm sure SRL would have lost to hearns if he didn't have rounds 13-15 to catch up.