BoxRec

Was it just a trend that heavyweights were getting bigger/heavier (which coincided with the move to 12 rounds in the early 80s), or did the move to 12 rounds force HWs to get bigger (giving up conditioning for extra strength)?

There wasnt a switch to 12 until the late-80's (someone help me with the exact year), and by that time, the lazy lot were already on the scene (Tubbs, Witherspoon, etc), although the switch in rounds probably has encouraged further drops in conditioning.

They WERE already there, though. Hell, Holmes was at the top of the tree leading by example and his ass seemed to grow from one fight to the next.

Somone here once did a height to weight ratio for Heavyweights throughout the eras. the ratio remained pretty constant until the 80s when they got heavier. partly this was the fat boy brigade and partly due to so called 'science' enhancing the biceps of these chaps.

The super muscle men of today are suited better to 12 rounds and might not beef up so much if fights were 15 rounders.

Nah, it had to do with pressure from the medical lobby on medical grounds. Either that, or 12 rounds of fighting fitted perfectly into an hour of tv

The reduction to 12 rounds in title fights came about due to the death of that Korean fighter at the hands of Ray Mancini. I think the arrival of these behemoth heavyweights was purely coincidental. However, it is hard to see these guys gong full tilt for 15 rounds, so it may have helped facilitate their success.

I think it had to with with girlfriends, wives, sisters, mothers and daughters and perhaps a few feminine fellas, crying out loud that 15 round brutality should not be tolerated. Claiming the Queensbury rules did not go far enough.

Folks with what some would call "disabilities" used to be able to market their "unusual nature" and make a fair living at side shows, until "concerned citizens" thought that they should not be able to make a living on their unique status. They called it "exploitation". And stepped in to "stop the madness". Seems to be the same for those disabled with "fighters syndrome".

You have to decide for yourself if such freedoms are better if limited, curtailed and frowned upon. Genuine freedom is hard to abide, it sets a bad precedent for those of us who are "born to rule" or "destined to decide". lol.

I know where I stand on this subject. I think we are all issued one "mother", and need no additional bearacratic matriarch in our lives.

The movie Real Steel illustrates the future. Though I have to admit I liked that movie. Regs, rules, directives, codes, and by laws provide much in the way of "Real Entertainment". But I like them best when they are set on "minimum".

I think the switch to 12 must have been around the time I lost interest in boxing for a long while. As it is, I'm only interested in BOTP anyway.

12 just doesn't seem right for a world championship.

yancey wrote:I think the switch to 12 must have been around the time I lost interest in boxing for a long while. As it is, I'm only interested in BOTP anyway.

12 just doesn't seem right for a world championship.

Amen to that!! A championship fight without the championship rounds . . . that's just wrong, ain't it?!?!

Hold on....3 round fights with 30 second rounds are coming! lol

It coincided with the general fattening of Western society, along with the fact that fighters fought less frequently than in previous eras, and thus had more opportunities to get fat in-between fights.

raylawpc wrote:The reduction to 12 rounds in title fights came about due to the death of that Korean fighter at the hands of Ray Mancini. I think the arrival of these behemoth heavyweights was purely coincidental. However, it is hard to see these guys gong full tilt for 15 rounds, so it may have helped facilitate their success.

2x

I agree with the fact it is coincidential that the duration of all title fights was cut from 15 rounds to 12 with the increase in size and power of the Heavyweight division, but the cut in the duration of the title fights was due to the number of fatalites and serious injuries primairly down in the lower weight classes such as Duk Koo Kim and Johnny Owen before in the 1980s. However despite the reduction of rounds in a title fight we have still seen fatalities in the ring regardless such as Bradley Stone and James Murray when challenging for the British title and remain to this day the last fatalities witnessed in the British ring, and stateside Luis Villalta in 2004 and Leaavnder Johnson in 2005 and more recently Francesco Rodriguez in 2009.

Interesting thread, but GI and others have it right, I think. Holmes fought a few exceedingly fat Heavyweights during his title reign before the ban on 15 rounders showed up. There was a whole segment of boxing writers making fat jokes about David Bey prior to his fight with Holmes. Leroy Jones a few years earlier was quite fat and un-athletic. Obviously there had been examples of corpulent Heavyweights prior to that era, and it has gotten worse since then, but if guys like Arreola can't be bothered to get into real shape to fight Vitali Klitschko then I doubt that the extra three rounds would provide sufficient additional motivation. Who knows?

At any rate I agree with ray and yancey. I would much rather see 15 rounders in legitimate title fights, and I believe that many of the most controversial fights in boxing in the last few decades have been a result of the loss of those championship rounds.