Are today's boxers bigger & better than those who fought in the 70's n 80's?

[NYC8224]

yeah marvis frazier maybe

Joe frazier goofball

[Tom Cruise]

But i'm not saying as a whole, i'm just saying the HW's are different today. The rest of the weights still have their work cut out for them. Look at Marciano, a 5'11" 190lb Heavyweight, can he fare against prime Ali or Foreman? They were bigger and taller than what the top opposition he was used to. Same for Ali and Foreman today, these guys are so much bigger and taller than what they were used to. When you're used towering over opponents and then you don't have the advantage anymore, that could change your gameplan dramatically.

Ah ok. Yeah HW's are the most drastic division. Though in fairness that example, Marciano was in a horrible era. His main rivals were mostly LHW's or small HWs who were old and well past it. That said, there are plenty of HW's who he could probably beat from today. Marciano was completely cut and boiled down at 190lbs. And he had HW attributes in terms of chin, power and stamina going by pretty much all anecdotal evidence. He was a bit of freak in that respect. Marco Huck gave Povetkin a hell of a fight when they fought. Holyfield was barely scraping 210lbs in his prime and he is top 10 all time great HW, and maybe the best HW of the 90's.

Smaller HWs have advantages over the big guys, and they have disadvantages as well. Its up to the skill level of the fighter to force those advantages on their opponent.

I wouldnt have any problem picking Ali vs a modern SHW. Especially Wlad or Joshua, who really want their opponents in front of them. Nor even a Joe Louis. Hell even Jack Dempsey obliterated the bigger opponents he faced. Especially if you make it 15 rnd fight.

Basically, i dont think it is as simple as 'this boxer is bigger, they will win'. Considering the difference in skill level you see from fighters in the past compared to today.

[BennyST]

They are more refined in all areas, science has that effect on everything over time, the courage and human side of it all is unchanged just schooling and conditioning is very much advanced .

Science has that effect? Mate, we're talking about boxing, not science.

Science hasn't made any changes to boxing in the last 20 to 30 years.

[Reloaded]

Science has that effect? Mate, we're talking about boxing, not science.

Science hasn't made any changes to boxing in the last 20 to 30 years.

Dumbest post you have ever made buddy , conditioning and advanced nutrition has made changes in all sport. then you got tuition, you think boxing the same after 30 yrs while the rest of the world advances, no logic in that at all, do you think Jack Johnson era is the same as now off course not, then what makes you think its stopped changing.

I really cannot believe how narrow mind people are, its common sense they have improved, fighters are bigger in their respective divisions because of science in conditioning and making weight, look at Floyd sitting in a sub zero chamber these kinda things did not exist 30 years ago.

[Dr Rumack]

Dumbest post you have ever made buddy , conditioning and advanced nutrition has made changes in all sport. then you got tuition, you think boxing the same after 30 yrs while the rest of the world advances, no logic in that at all, do you think Jack Johnson era is the same as now off course not, then what makes you think its stopped changing.

I really cannot believe how narrow mind people are, its common sense they have improved, fighters are bigger in their respective divisions because of science in conditioning and making weight, look at Floyd sitting in a sub zero chamber these kinda things did not exist 30 years ago.

How long would we have to put a few guys in a sub-zero chamber to get another Leonard-Hearns.

The 70s, 80s, and even the 90s were way ahead of what we have now. Deeper divisions with more great fighters on the scene at any one time. We are in a piss poor era and have been for nearly 15 years.

[Reloaded]

How long would we have to put a few guys in a sub-zero chamber to get another Leonard-Hearns.

The 70s, 80s, and even the 90s were way ahead of what we have now. Deeper divisions with more great fighters on the scene at any one time. We are in a piss poor era and have been for nearly 15 years.

You cannot pull a few individuals to hang your hat on , you must look at the entire average of boxing including amateurs, then you can see the improvement , look outside the bubble.

[bojangles1987]

Boxing is different from other sports in that outside of the heavyweight division, fighters aren't much bigger. A middleweight is a middleweight. Fighters then fought guys 20 pounds bigger than them, too. There's not that much a difference.

As for training and nutrition and all this other **** people bring up, do fighters today look like they're in better physical condition than fighters in the 70s and 80s? Hell no. Most fighters today can barely handle 12 rounds. Do they look more skilled? Hell no. I swear 90% of the sport doesn't know basic skills anymore. Go watch fights with the average top 10 HW of the 70s and 80s and then watch the average HW today.

Boxing is also very, very different from football, basketball, and most other sports around the world in that it is far less popular today than it was in the 70s and 80s. There are less fighters and less competition driving fighters to improve their weaknesses. It's also easier to win a world title today with every sanctioning body having multiple world titles, further diluting the competition involved.

[bojangles1987]

Boxing is bigger, better and more global now. We have Cubans and Eastern Europeans entering the sport in massive numbers and British boxing is greater than ever. The boxing infrastructure in both North and Latin America is still great and still produces just as much talent as before, it's just that the competition is greater now and not everyone can go all the way to the top. We have more elite Asian fighters than ever and Africans are starting to emerge in greater and greater numbers.

70s and 80s it was more an American thing and while certain fights and fighters were hyped more I don't see more overall quality.

In fact if you take the current (from the last 10 years) line up of elite boxers over all of the weight classes and compare it to any other 10 year era in the sport you'll never find an era with so many talented boxers spread over all of the weight classes.

Americans are just nostalgic over the old days when all the action was at their backyard and there was massive hype behind boxing in American mainstream society. But there wasn't that much variety and international talent back then.

Obviously, the new sport technology helps too, you have to be very ignorant to deny it.

This is just completely false and not backed up in any way by statistics. There are less fighters around the world today than there were in the United States along at one point. Boxing is far less popular today than it used to be, and is not getting more popular.

[bojangles1987]

FFS, you can just look at a P4P list from 10-15 years ago and see the huge drop in boxing talent. Let alone boxing at its peak.

[elfag]

majority of heavyweights today are 20-30 pounds overweight. theyre not as big as people think. it was unheard of in the 70s and 80s to see some fat guy fighting for the title or a contender.

they didnt have epo back then so they actually had to do cardio for endurance.