I see refs stop fights so soon these days. Rounds that punchers needed, vis a vis the championship rounds... gone for the so called safety of the fighters... Bigger Gloves... I understand the need to protect people but sometimes you create more problems extending safety procedures that do not actually work, and give fighters a false sense of confidence.
Furthermore, some of these safety procedures have permanently altered the sport. I am going to describe a few of these and open each area up for discussion... There are no "wrong" answers all questions tend to rhetorical!
1) It is a hot day...early 19th century... Two men square off... First off, can any member guess the primary concern each fighter would have coming into this contest?
2) As a Puncher every punch you throw and connect with is vital to your success. Much like Parcels changed football by managing the clock down to the seconds... a Puncher has a 3 minute round and a certain average amount of times he must get a chance to connect to win. The difference here is a boxer or boxer/puncher of which a counter puncher can be considered a subset, does not depend on the strength of their blows for the efficacy of the effect. A puncher may hit sparingly but with tremendous force. How much has taking three rounds away during the so called championship rounds affected the ability of punchers to win?
3) heavier fighters has more than a few component reasons for such a development: One is conditioning. Are fighters simply coming in to fights in less than the best condition they could? How much are weight differences attributable to an alleged net positive gain versus a net negative gain? In other words: Is it good for Lennox Lewis to weigh what he did, or would it have been better for him to weigh less?
4) finally... Are fighters more safe now because of these various measures? The last point may confuse the issue so let me clarify: Generally speaking no fighter back in older times, prior to the eighties (when we saw some real guts hanging out), when incidentally the rounds were shortened, would come in heavy for a fight... the norm was to come in as light as possible. There were always exceptions... Fighters knew a fight was a gruelling experience where being mobile was of optimum importance. Did fighters see the shorter rounds, the bigger gloves, the stoppages and just perhaps subconsciously not make the same efforts to come in light? and then claim this was to build strength, etc?
Please discuss these points.
Furthermore, some of these safety procedures have permanently altered the sport. I am going to describe a few of these and open each area up for discussion... There are no "wrong" answers all questions tend to rhetorical!
1) It is a hot day...early 19th century... Two men square off... First off, can any member guess the primary concern each fighter would have coming into this contest?
2) As a Puncher every punch you throw and connect with is vital to your success. Much like Parcels changed football by managing the clock down to the seconds... a Puncher has a 3 minute round and a certain average amount of times he must get a chance to connect to win. The difference here is a boxer or boxer/puncher of which a counter puncher can be considered a subset, does not depend on the strength of their blows for the efficacy of the effect. A puncher may hit sparingly but with tremendous force. How much has taking three rounds away during the so called championship rounds affected the ability of punchers to win?
3) heavier fighters has more than a few component reasons for such a development: One is conditioning. Are fighters simply coming in to fights in less than the best condition they could? How much are weight differences attributable to an alleged net positive gain versus a net negative gain? In other words: Is it good for Lennox Lewis to weigh what he did, or would it have been better for him to weigh less?
4) finally... Are fighters more safe now because of these various measures? The last point may confuse the issue so let me clarify: Generally speaking no fighter back in older times, prior to the eighties (when we saw some real guts hanging out), when incidentally the rounds were shortened, would come in heavy for a fight... the norm was to come in as light as possible. There were always exceptions... Fighters knew a fight was a gruelling experience where being mobile was of optimum importance. Did fighters see the shorter rounds, the bigger gloves, the stoppages and just perhaps subconsciously not make the same efforts to come in light? and then claim this was to build strength, etc?
Please discuss these points.
billeau2
Comment