If we can think and imagine what boxers would be like in a 100 years time, how will they be? Will they be 100 times faster than boxers today? Will they be defensively better than boxers of today? Will they be smarter? Will they be training much harder? Will a boxer, 100 years from now, be much better all round compared to Mayweather jr lets say? What you think?
Some people think the race is still advancing and improving. I'm not so sure. One thing is for sure- fighters adapt to the rules of boxing. If the sport changes they will change with it. In the 1980's the three most important changes were *The move from 15 round title fights to 12 round title fights. *The proliferation of divisions. *The proliferation of titles. Fighters adapted to these changes.
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Law of diminishing returns, applies here I think. Total boxing knowledge probably multiplied by 10 in the first half the 20th century and increased by 10-15% in the second half. If it increases by 10% in the 21st that'll be good progress. This is a graph depicting the rate of progress in a powerlifting career and the increasing difficulty of coaxing improvement. Pretty applicable to just about any process of improvement, IMO.
12 rounds of boxing today does seem a perfect amount of rounds for boxers to cope with, but you do have few people still who would like to see the reintroduction of 15 round fights, to see whether some boxers are capable of the extra pressure etc that those few extra rounds would bring.
Conclusiveness. I can't stand all these inconclsuive fights. Imagine if Arguello-Pryor I and Hearns-Leonard I had been 12 rounders? They'd be about as satisfying as DLH-Quartey.
This looks quality. You know the thought of robots boxing in a 100 years doesn't seem that far off. People would actually bet on that shit :goodnews:
Do you think a boxer, without any performance enhancing drug, can become so fast and so elusive, that he is untouchable in the ring?
there will be about 50 of them left in 100 years, fighting for 100 bucks a match in front of 15 dudes
I don't think boxers will become a whole lot faster. People have a distorted view of athletic progress I think caused by sports where equipment has contributed to advances. Sprinting for instance....lighter shoes, rubberized tracks, full body anti-wind resistance suits. Take them away and how much would average sprint times have fallen these last 20 years? There are strength records in things like powerlifting that have stood for 40 years. This isn't some fast tracked genetic evolution going on here (although that looks like it'll be the next stage in doping). 50 years have gone by and we've never seen a heavyweight as fast as a young Ali.
This is hinting at how I see it. The biggest differences will be a result of regulations & rules, not athletic or genetic alterations.
I understand that, I'm just stating which I think will have the biggest impact on Boxing & boxers a century from now.
Google found this, taken from a study on boxing injury rates 'Results: Since the 1930s, the average duration of a professional boxer’s career has dropped from 19 years to five years, and the mean number of career bouts has reduced from 336 to 13. This is despite no significant decline in participation rates from 1931 until 2002.' Kinda relates to cdogs point, but mainly just to my curiosity. Didnt think it quite warranted a thread.
