Did old school boxers have more skills?

[MDPopescu]

Or have modern fighters with their cutting edge training methods evolved way beyond the primitive techniques of the old days?

Define "modern school", please.

[-PBP-]

RJJ would have been figure out and KTFO'd a lot sooner in previous eras.

By who? Maybe Ezzard Charles at lhw by who else?

[MDPopescu]

That's a myth. Lomachenko, Rigondeaux, Kovalev, GGG, Crawford, Chocolito and many others are very sound skill wise.

... These bolded above are representatives of "old schools" -- but you never knew much about that "old" schools, because they are from outside the U.S. territory.

[Chris Bauermeis]

I think Ali vs Lewis would be a competitive 8-4 decision for Ali. Wlad may struggle with the speed and movement.

But needless to say I don't think he would whitewash every heavyweight of the past few eras.

Now way does Lewis see the final bell.He'd be unrecognizable by the 3rd.

[Chris Bauermeis]

... These bolded above are representatives of "old schools" -- but you never knew much about that "old" schools, because they are from outside the U.S. territory.

I'll give you Rigo...but those other guys are hardly old school despite what HBO anouncers claim.
The only reason they have titles is because of the weak divisions/era they are in.

[_original_]

I'll give you Rigo...but those other guys are hardly old school despite what HBO anouncers claim.
The only reason they have titles is because of the weak divisions/era they are in.

Not only that, let's not forgot how many "world titles" exist today. Guys like Broner and Guerrero claim they're "multiple weight class champions," two guys that would have never even sniffed a real world title where you had only one or two titles in each division and monsters fighting it out.

[Chris Bauermeis]

By who? Maybe Ezzard Charles at lhw by who else?

RJJ never learned survival tactics.

He relied on reflexes and speed,he never learned the dirty tricks of the inside game.

Bob Foster would vaporize him.
So would Archie Moore..Micheal Spinks..Mathew Saad Muhammad..

The MW's would really do him bad.

You couldn't get as far back then without an inside game or the ability to survive a scare.

[Chris Bauermeis]

Not only that, let's not forgot how many "world titles" exist today. Guys like Broner and Guerrero claim they're "multiple weight class champions," two guys that would have never even sniffed a real world title where you had only one or two titles in each division and monsters fighting it out.

Broner and Guerrero fight better comp than GGG and Kovalev.

Those guys( and their fans) are in for a rude awakening.

[Elroy1]

The question is seems absurd to both nostalgists and modernists alike.

The myth that boxing skills have regressed has been forged by the most buttlicked of the OTNB community and perpetuated to the other members who simply take it for gospel.

I had a friend just the other day who mentioned Muhammad Ali and the new movie about him. He tried to tell me how good he was and how good his resume was just passingly. He is a sports fan but knows nothing of boxing, he merely went by word of mouth.

When I told him Ali's resume was comparatively garbage and Ali himself was a human punch bag he didn't believe me. It's only after showed him who these opponents ACTUALLY were, there records and I showed him actual fights that he stood in disbelief!

First an analogy...

"Athletes and sportsmen get better and better each generation"

AND

"Skills are either increased or REFINED/economised over time"

AND

"Every generation takes what was there before it and builds upon that"

It's a no-brainer.. Everybody knows this^^^ Boxing is not the single exception in the whole universe where mythical skills have been lost.

I can identify some of the major changes in training methods that lead to better skills.

And I can explain the fallacy of claiming the Euro styles and lesser than the American ones.

And smash any argument to pieces to the contrary.

There are no pre 1980's boxers who have the same degree of boxing skills that the more skilled boxers of today have. And it should come as striking commonsense to anybody who watches the fights and compares!

Boxing is now a complete and professionalised sport, back in the day, it simply was not!

[KillaMane26]

I think its lack of great trainers...and how the world has changed since the 70s,80s,90s,