Improved
Or are we just too nostalgic.
Weightlifter lift more.
Sprinters are faster
Footballers score more goals
Baseball players hit more home runs
Snooker players get more century breaks
Tennis is played at a higher level
With the advancement of sports science, sportsmen being more professional tactics and training methods have made huge gains in all other sports.
All except one.
Well that is if you listen to your average boxing fan
Which sees boxing in a very nostalgic way. Where the boxers in the past were faster, hit harder, could take a better punch, were tougher and had more stamina, more skilful and had better tactical awarness.
Hard to believe yes. Despite all other sports improving boxing has gone backwards.
Are you one of those that believe this rubbish?
Luckily they time the 100m or some of you would be claiming Lewis was faster than bolt
Is Boxing the only Sport that has not
posted on 19/2/15
SRR used to fight a different guy every week. Now look at today at all the training that goes into peaking on a certain date.
How could be possibly be at peak performance all the time.
Also fought a lot poor opposition.
Today the best fighters fight the best. Sadly not in prize fights but in sparring.
Sparring today is much tougher than ever before and against world class opposition.
Look at all the world champions Pacquiao fought.
posted on 19/2/15
comment by The Guvnor III V.I.K-Give me a scotch.I'm... (U12889)
posted 6 hours, 26 minutes ago
The alphabet belts do not help boxing either. Get rid of all of them and create one belt per division.
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They bring money into the game, and the fans by those tickets and watch those shows.
posted on 19/2/15
comment by derbymanc (U18914)
posted 10 hours, 34 minutes ago
comment by D4thincarnation (U2520)
posted 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
comment by derbymanc (U18914)
posted 14 hours, 52 minutes ago
Boxing has definitely gone backwards with the introduction of too many belts, a bonkers ranking system and the best (across all divisions) not having to fight the best.
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This skill level and the conditioning of the boxers have improved, or is boxing separate from the sporting world
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I hadn't realised you was on about the skill level D4, I thought you was on about in general popularity etc.
I'm not sure how you can say the skill level hasn't improved and how you could prove it.
Think John hit the nail on the head when he said
'Also the politics doesn't help, fans open a box of Celebrations every time a good fight is announced, like it's some kind of unexpected surprise.'
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The point I was making, is that all other sports have improved, but for some reason boxing fans think the golden age happened long ago, though during that time boxing fans back then thought the same thing.
It just that boxing is difficult to measure and see the progress and that fans are too nostalgic.
posted on 19/2/15
"Will check it out.
It takes so much time doing the scores. I did make it more difficult for myself trying to be fair and true.
Will help if you really need it and I can spare the time "
===
Nah fack that lol, takes too much time to score. We'll see roughly who gets the most predictions anyway
posted on 19/2/15
If your on about conditioning etc then boxing will have improved, if your on about the sport itself then my opinion is that it has gone backwards for all the reasons listed above and by John.
The alphabet belts have wrecked a lot of divisions with a lot of daft rankings happening (i read the other day about one of the ranking bodies having someone in that was dead a few years back?????)
Manny and Floyd not happening (no blame lets not turn into one of them threads,) has hurt boxing more than people realise as it's an excuse for a lot of fans to go to MMA as at least there 'the big fights happen' add into the fact you've got the best not fighting each other in other divisions and a very very poor heavyweight division (that could be changing) and it adds up to a p!ss poor sport at the minute.
posted on 19/2/15
Manny and Floyd not happening (no blame lets not turn into one of them threads,) has hurt boxing more than people realise as it's an excuse for a lot of fans to go to MMA as at least there 'the big fights happen' add into the fact you've got the best not fighting each other in other divisions and a very very poor heavyweight division (that could be changing) and it adds up to a p!ss poor sport at the minute.
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Have to agree with a lot of this sadly. I think that there has been a definite decline in boxing in recent times. My personal interest in boxing has waned a lot over the last decade because there has been so little to get really excited about in any of the divisions.
Mayweather and Pacquiao not fighting each other has harmed the sport and will harm the sport further if they never fight (which I've said all along will never happen and I wait to be proved wrong).
I think I'm older than a few posters here and I remember the 80's and the 90's being a much better time for boxing with much more exciting fights.
I kind of feel sorry for the new generation watching boxing at the moment because you're not getting value for money or anything even close to it. Certainly not when compared to yesteryear.
posted on 19/2/15
Agree with Superbs statement. When there are so few major fights that grab the publics imagination,not just boxing fans then something is wrong namely the match-ups. The super 6 super middleweight fights were very good. Apart from promotional/tv issues you would think many other weights could follow suit.
posted on 19/2/15
If we are all being honest, boxing is sufferring a hangover from the heavyweight era. Say what you want but ppl want to see skilled beasts go toe to toe. Since the division died, the sport on the whole has taken a hit. Now it relies on the occasional BIG fight from at most 13 stone men, which isn't that big.
No glitzy heavyweight division, no sport IMO.
posted on 19/2/15
Just to clarify for those who have clearly got this thread wrong.
This is about the level of the fighters today compared to past generations and whether there has been a steady progression like every other sport.
posted on 20/2/15
Boxers have always been incredibly fit, where as other sports have only recently taken fitness as seriously (hence the improvements).
I think it's pretty much impossible to train someone to take a punch better than someone 50 years ago.. Being punched in the face is being punched in the face no matter what era you lived in.
There are boxers now who could beat older generation boxers and vice versa.. There isn't a tougher sport out there (mma aside). The only argument you could have for modern boxers not being as fit as previous generations comes from Championship fights being reduced from 15 rounds to 12.
"Footballers score more goals"
Rubbish by the way. Previous generations tended to score more goals. You just need to look at games from 50 years ago being played with 4-2-4 formations, and games generally finishing with much higher scoring margins than the boring "technical" 2-1's we get today.