Age Advantage in Boxing

[Aztekkas]

I totally agree with your post all I'm just referring to Lampley age advantage schtick that he does every fight.

Age isnt something like height or reach. There's other factors like you've mentioned that can't be measured just because 1 fighter is younger Its not always an advantage and sometimes that youth might be a disadvantage.

I completely agree with your point, age isn't an attribute we could measure such as height, weight or reach, and attempting to do so in a similar manner is quite "douchey" since there are far too many factors involved that must be considered before labelling it under advantage/disadvantage. Jim is hilarious sometimes.

[bojangles1987]

It's funny because that 30 year old will probably have an advantage because of his extra years. Look at the best fighters in the world and tell me how many are over 30, then tell me how many are under 30.

[SilverMiles]

It depends....mainly on exp. and health...

I swear I was just thinking this the weekend of Crawford vs Beltran. Lampley said Crawford (27) had a six year age advantage over Beltran (33) and I thought to myself have the hell is that an advantage.

Sometimes you'll here it when one fighter is 23 and the other is 26. It's really a ****** stat to point out this day and age especially when fighters are having so much success at older ages.

[boliodogs]

As a rule of thumb boxers start to go down hill after age 30 but each boxer is an individual so it would vary from man to man. A 25 year old would not have an age advantage over a 30 year old because a 30 year old is still in his late prime and probably more experienced that the 25 year old. Experience can't be overlooked. A 25 to 30 year old would probably have an age advantage over MOST 35 year olds but not a guy like Hopkins. However old age will eventually get to any boxer including Hopkins.

[gators85]

Interesting stuff.

[OldAndroidGuy]

If you watch HBO, Jim Lampley will always give the younger fighter an age advantage. For example, one guy is 25 and the other is 30, Lampley will say "he has a 5 year age advantage".

Is being the younger fighter honestly an advantage? I don't think so unless you're fighting a 50 year old.

Don't they say a man's physical prime is 28-35? Also consider the older fighter usually has more experience.

It can be. In sports, the older you get the less physically gifted you become. Physical ability is huge in sports. Since he's talking about age the the saying "5 year advantage is true". He can also say "he has a 5 year ring experience advantage" for the 30 year old.

keep in mind, just because you have a 5 year age advantage, doesn't mean much in sports. Experience plays a huge part in sports. Just in keep in mind, they're only talking physically when they say 5 year age advantage.

[OldAndroidGuy]

Experience is measured in fights, not years I guess. I see your point though.

Far worse than this however is the continued use of Compubox. Especially the compubox 'connect percentage'. Complete horseshit, but presented to viewers as gospel truth. Ridiculous.

yea compubox is just complete junk. I will admit it's nice to see these figures, but to take them as absolute fact and to use that to judge who won a fight is pathetic.

[JJRod]

Big difference in ring years and actual years.

Erik Morales, Paulie Malinaggi, and Rid**** Bowe were all old men at 29 because of the wars they had.

In turn, Bernard Hopkins was a young 37 year old when he beat Tito Trinidad.

[LA_2_Vegas]

Yeah, whether age will be an advantage in any given fight is hard to pin down. Sometimes it's "with age comes experience", and other times it's the "recklessness of youth" that might be aiding and propelling particular fighters.

When he says that, I mostly think about speed. I think that most fighters are faster when they are younger. Whether they have been in wars or not. The "fast" fighters and the "slow" fighters. Some can gain in experience, wisdom, hone technqiue, etc., but it's still an upward battle against the decay of speed. (Of course, this doesn't apply in all cases-some get quicker with improved technique, training, diet, moves in weightclass, etc, etc. just generalizing)

If a fighter has a 5yr age "advantage" even a "slow" fighter will be at the highest speed that they will operate in their careers -it doesn't make them as fast as their opponent, but it might close the gap.