David Haye's Current Physical Condition For Bellew Fight (PHOTO)

[Robbie Barrett]

...but they sure as hell do compared to today's trash heavies.

Stop trying to shift the subject.

With all of today's so called scientific breakthroughs in training and nutrition..you'd think there would be a LOT more to show for it in the ring.

I don't see ****.

Average HW was smaller back then. It's well known higher the weight lower the punch output. They were more like cruiserweights.

[Fury4daWIN]

15 round fights meant boxers had to do much more cardio training.

Three extra rounds is hardly a lot more cardio intensive. It's the difference between a 400 and a 500 metre run. Not enough to account for the drastic difference in physiques from then to now.

Improvements in nutritional science : our knowledge of muscle building foods has improved in the last 50 years.

This really isn't as drastic an improvement as you might think. Refer to any sports nutritional manual from back in the day and you'll see them emphasising the same essential points: lots of lean protein, minimal carbs, good fats, lots of sleep, lots of water, avoidance of caffeine etc.

There's a modern conception that athletes from back in the day hadn't got a clue what they were doing, when the opposite was very much the case. There's a lot more jargon nowadays though.

Amount of fights per year : Most boxers fought much more often than boxers of today so they wouldn't spend time trying to bulk up at the expense of other, more beneficial forms of training in the short time they had between fights.

Joshua fought five times last year. Where was all this time to bulk up?

Weight-lifting not advisable : boxers were (and occasionally still are) advised not to do much lifting because it wasn't thought beneficial in boxing.

It wasn't back then. Things have changed now though.

[Fury4daWIN]

This thread will indeed come to "that point." where the argument devolves into a treatise of older boxers versus new boxers and the contrast in training methods. There are many threads on that topic here.

True, it probably is heading that way. Thing is, personally speaking, I don't consider modern heavies to be inferior to older heavies or vice versa. I just acknowledge the fact that performance enhancing drugs have altered the landscape, and what was considered impossible or inadvisable back then is now possible and beneficial today. It's not a matter of better or worse, but of changing to suit the times.

[billeau2]

There are a few reasons:



15 round fights meant boxers had to do much more cardio training.





Improvements in nutritional science : our knowledge of muscle building foods has improved in the last 50 years.



Amount of fights per year : Most boxers fought much more often than boxers of today so they wouldn't spend time trying to bulk up at the expense of other, more beneficial forms of training in the short time they had between fights.



Weight-lifting not advisable : boxers were (and occasionally still are) advised not to do much lifting because it wasn't thought beneficial in boxing.

Depending on the period. If we take jack Johnson as out first yardstick, fighters fought with less explosive movements (generally) and incorporated a lot of grappling for position. So fighters were probably trained more like MMA fighters in many respects.

When we get to the golden era Blackburn and the trainers who deviated from fencing and grappling, guys simply were conditioned to be able to fight for 15 rounds and 3 minutes of every round. Bag work, roadwork and starting to fight at a young age made guys able to train this way. Slowly guys were becoming athletes from being primarily fighters. Once the body knows what is expected of it, psychologically, it will act...The expectation was for a fighter to fight at a certain pace and they did!

Its not just cardio. Guys today have great cardio...and its not just conditioning the right muscles...its engaging in the activity over and over. A typical fighter like Dempsey fought since he was a kid...Joshua is an athlete who took to boxing at much older age and is engaged in the ring much less frequently than a fighter in Dempsey, or Louis' time. As the Chinese say, the oarsman knows the Chi of rowing.[/I]

Debatable at best. Strangely enough the Greeks made the observation that eating flesh before a fighting contest would weaken the wind...point being people have understood the relationship between work and food. People ate healthier in times past because food was fresher, there were less processed foods and people did not overeat habitually. There is to date no proof that food supplements help a normal healthy person. This is ongoing and people like Victor Conte, yes that Conte! have shown that microelements in food can help performance, but not to a degree that we can apply the science consistently

Experience is the best teacher. In the golden age of boxing guys would fight often and trainers would give technical advice. There were also many great trainers around which helped. There are still great trainers and technicians today...For example, a guy like Dimetri Pirov was a technically fantastic fighter and will be training guys now

Weight lifting can be beneficial when done properly. It is used to build explosive strength and is one of many ways to do so. Lifting a tire around a yard, lifting a weight over one's head, or, as Max Bauer did. chucking hay bales... it all makes you strong

[gmc_rfc_06]

Joshua does not have a natural physique, it's blatantly obvious.

Haye has a naturally attainable physique. He's in excellent shape and it takes a lot of hard work, but you can see the clear differences between a Joshua and Haye.

[jaded]

Joshua 4 years ago as an amateur...but he doesn't use PED's.



2 1/2 years ago as a pro...



now...