Is watching old fighters useless?

[BuakawBanchamek]

Is it still worth watching really old fights if you wanna learn from them?
Any fighter older than Ali's era like Demsey, Louis, Moore, Armstrong etc


As not only boxing has changed immensely but also newer fighters have a lot more skills than old fighters.

Or can old fighters still teach you things, the newer ones can't?

Like I mentioned, I do not necessarily the most recent ones like AB,GGG,Canelo,Loma etc but also semi-old fighters like Leonard,Hagler,Ali,Jones...

[bojangles1987]

If you really think newer fighters generally have more skill than older fighters, than you really do need to go watch older fighters.

[////]

Uh oh

Get ready to be lectured by "boxing history experts" who making brilliant observations like 181 pound "heavyweights" having been way faster than 245 pound heavyweights

To answer your question I think you can only get so much out of watching tape. Every fighter possesses little nuances, but trying to exactly emulate them is a waste of time compared to just knowing the basic rock-paper-scissors relationships between styles. For the latter, the more recent the better.

[soul_survivor]

Good question. I honestly don't think there's much you can learn from fighters pretty Ali that you can't learn from watching Ali himself or leonard or Hagler etc.

What may be pertinent is watching someone like greb or Armstrong and learning a few of the dirtier tricks in the book.

[BuakawBanchamek]

Uh oh

Get ready to be lectured by "boxing history experts" who making brilliant observations like 181 pound "heavyweights" having been way faster than 245 pound heavyweights

To answer your question I think you can only get so much out of watching tape. Every fighter possesses little nuances, but trying to exactly emulate them is a waste of time compared to just knowing the basic rock-paper-scissors relationships between styles. For the latter, the more recent the better.

Can you elaborate what you mean by rock-paper-scissors ?

[yngwie]

It is if you don't know a damn thing about the sport.

[Sweet Pea 50]

Just watched Trinidad vs Hopkins.

Not old school enough for some.

But Hopkins footwork was just....

Beautiful.

Go watch it.

[W1LL]

Styles have changed and boxing as a sport has changed, so you could get away without watching. Back in the day endurance and toughness were big factors. It's evolved into more than that. People who go on and on about how great boxing used to be, how any previous era fighter would walk todays era. They're either whiney elitist/hipsters who never leave the house, or old farts not living in reality.

You'll find the majority of them hold a lot of unneccasary anger and bitterness. Even on here there's a little clique of them who post only in the history forums. They definately see themselves as the "cool kids club". They nuthug eachother. Every once in a while they venture into the current forums to post some long winded bollocks about how boxing now is nothing compared to what it was.

[LockardTheGOAT]

If the fights are entertaining, isn't that reasons enough to want to watch them? A fan's enjoyment of boxing, first and foremost, is supposed to revolve around entertainment, not education.

[CharlieZelepuss]

Styles have changed and boxing as a sport has changed, so you could get away without watching. Back in the day endurance and toughness were big factors. It's evolved into more than that. People who go on and on about how great boxing used to be, how any previous era fighter would walk todays era. They're either whiney elitist/hipsters who never leave the house, or old farts not living in reality.

You'll find the majority of them hold a lot of unneccasary anger and bitterness. Even on here there's a little clique of them who post only in the history forums. They definately see themselves as the "cool kids club". They nuthug eachother. Every once in a while they venture into the current forums to post some long winded bollocks about how boxing now is nothing compared to what it was.

Well said I really hate these shallow minded "ali" nut huggers. Those ****s really knows nothing about boxing skills and techniques.