Boxing myths

[glidesmack]

I have a similar thread in the nutrition/training section. This one I'd like to make about boxing history.

"Rocky Marciano couldn't fight, he fought bums" or "Rocky Marciano was the greatest champ who ever lived. Look at his record, he never lost." - I'd have to say both are far from the truth.

"Jack Dempsey and Mike Tyson are overrated. They both had ****ty careers." - Their careers are ****ty. As fighters, they weren't.

"Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali are the greatest fighters of all time. Look at their careers." - Their careers are great. That doesn't make them the greatest fighters.

"Fighters from the distant past suck" or "Modern fighters are no good." - both wrong.

"All champions fight for money and money alone." - most do, unfortunately. But not all of them.

"No one will ever be better than so and so." - yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Thread Stealer]

There's a myth that this is the KO punch. It is not. Look at the angle of where Walcott and Marciano are, compared to the ropes.

[Thread Stealer]

• "Marvin Hagler was a brawler"- that myth is a pet peeve of mine. He was a boxer-puncher. He brawled when necessary, but spent more time as a boxer-puncher than in aggressive swarmer mode. Similar to this is when people talk about Ray Leonard and act like he was always a dancer, and that he switched his style when he brawled too much against Duran in the first fight. Leonard switched his style more in the rematch (and Hagler fight), when he danced on his toes. Leonard spent more time flat-footed than on his toes.
  
• "George Foreman was dominating Muhammad Ali before he got tired"- Ali was countering effectively THROUGHOUT the fight, not only after Foreman fatigued. Ali did most of the clean punching upstairs, Foreman did the better bodywork.
  
• "The term pound-for-pound was invented for Sugar Ray Robinson"- it was probably more popularized by Robinson. However, other fighters were described as being the best "pound for pound" before SRR. Guys like Tony Canzoneri and even Bob Fitzsimmons, who was fighting before Walker Smith was ever born.
  
• "Willie Pep won a round against Jackie Graves without throwing a punch". It appears from research done by someone on cyberboxingzone that it's just a myth. A newspaper account describes that round as being a good 2-way action round.

"The Legendary Nights Myths"

• Leonard ducked Aaron Pryor. You can argue that Leonard "low-balled" Pryor by offering Pryor $500,000. This myth is just another example of internet fans getting their ****s hard over the "calling out" process, when the real "calling out" is in negotiations (usually away from the public eye).
  
• Meldrick Taylor was never any good again after the first Julio Cesar Chavez fight. Actually the documentary never said that, it just said that after the fight, Taylor had diminished performances in the ring (true), health problems (true), and outside the ring problems (true). Taylor was still good enough to move up in weight a year later to win a world title at 147 lbs, against undefeated champ Aaron Davis. Never being the same after a fight but still being pretty good, isn't quite the same as being "completely ruined".

[KnockoutTheFat]

That the weigh-in procedures changed from the day of the fight to the day before because of Mancini-Kim. That is a myth.

[Thread Stealer]

That the weigh-in procedures changed from the day of the fight to the day before because of Mancini-Kim. That is a myth.

Do you think the aborted Spinks-E. Muhammad rematch and the money lost from that had a bigger role?

[KnockoutTheFat]

Do you think the aborted Spinks-E. Muhammad rematch and the money lost from that had a bigger role?

Yes. Wasn't that the direct fight that caused the change?

[KnockoutTheFat]

Besides, who would want a big fight like that cancelled on the DAY OF?

[MANGLER]

Havin a perfect record makes you gr8.

Wrong. It's who you beat to build your record that makes you gr8.

[RightCross94]

I have a similar thread in the nutrition/training section. This one I'd like to make about boxing history.

"Rocky Marciano couldn't fight, he fought bums" or "Rocky Marciano was the greatest champ who ever lived. Look at his record, he never lost." - I'd have to say both are far from the truth.

"Jack Dempsey and Mike Tyson are overrated. They both had ****ty careers." - Their careers are ****ty. As fighters, they weren't.

"Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali are the greatest fighters of all time. Look at their careers." - Their careers are great. That doesn't make them the greatest fighters. "Fighters from the distant past suck" or "Modern fighters are no good." - both wrong.

"All champions fight for money and money alone." - most do, unfortunately. But not all of them.

"No one will ever be better than so and so." - yeah, yeah, yeah.

how the **** not??? what else besides the quality of a fighters career impacts on their all time standing?

[glidesmack]

Simple, Kostya. A great career is worth a lot, of if you're simply talking about peak ability it isn't the end all. Mike Tyson and Jack Dempsey had relatively crappy careers compared to some other greats, but at their best they were better than many fighters with superior overall careers.