BoxRec

Let's say a fighter consistently challenges himself against top 10 fighters without tuneups. How many times should a fighter fight a year?

halfamill wrote:Let's say a fighter consistently challenges himself against top 10 fighters without tuneups. How many times should a fighter fight a year?

4

3 seems fair.

if you truly fight the best year by year for a long time, than 2 is enough. even 1 can be enough. had floyd boxed margarito, pacquiao back around 2008 i would have had no problem at all had he only fought once a year. you can even fight once in 2 years, if you fight the best in or around your division i was no problem watching you rare on tv, cause you fought the guess that matters.

3 times is the most top level fights one can realistically negotiate in one year unless you are a huge draw and you are not too greedy.

This isn't quite an answer to the question posed, but I always thought the best set up was 3 or 4 fights a year on a big fight/easier fight alternating schedule.

4 sounds right to me.

At least 3. Preferably 4. 5 is incredibly rare these days.

I think it depends on how the boxers fights went, if it was a KO win in first 3 rounds, you could have another fight quite quickly IMO. If it was a KO loss, back to the drawing board and maybe take longer than normal off. Depends on the length of training camps too. Top level fighters should be fighting minimum 3 times a year.

4 is ideal, 3 is perfectly acceptable, 2 or less is disappointing, but forgivable if both fights are against the best opponents available.

3

halfamill wrote:Let's say a fighter consistently challenges himself against top 10 fighters without tuneups. How many times should a fighter fight a year?

Can't think of a current day fighter who actually does that. So there are no examples to use as a guideline.

The hypothetical answer in my mind is 3, and probably no more than 3.

Against top ten comp I would say three max but two with a stay busy is more realistic these days.

I think the reason why many top tier fighters compete only two or three times per year is mainly due to promotional limitations and TV network scheduling, coupled with seasonal breaks (i.e. bouts generally don’t occur during the summer months or over the Christmas period).

I don’t believe that there are any physical reasons why pugilists cannot compete at least four times per year, but I suspect that a lack of suitable opposition makes it unfeasible for many elite-level boxers to fight that often.

3 fights against top oponents. 2 is acceptable, 4 is probably too much. It is like Thurman against Garcia, Bradley, Porter rematch and Pacqiuiao in 2017, unreal :)

4

Ali defended against
Wepner
Lyle
Bugner
Frazier

That was my first impression of boxing.

Other knowledgable posters also said 4.

4 is ideal. Even if just 1 of the 4 are top competition. If a fighter is at least active, fighting decent opposition, as long as they are facing a legitimate challenge at least once a year, the sport would be in a much better place.

37 WINS & 37 LOSES Plus 2 draws & 22 ND'S is enough , Well it was enough for me anyway !!!!

I think that it all depends on the age and stage of a boxer's career. Not many knew of GGG's greatness until he put a few years together of 3 or more fights. They weren't against top 10 fighters but GGG was active enough to stay current in fans and writers minds because he was knocking someone out spectacularly every few months.

Once a boxer becomes champion and a box office draw then I think 1-2 fights a year is fine. These big payday fights take a lot to sign and promote. They need to invest in time to build the type of interest that will sell. I was fine with Floyd fighting 1-2 times a year. He earned it and his fights sold well.

I'd be happy with 2 fights against top opponents.

can remember eubank making 6 defences in one year, benn, wharton and that unbeaten german whose name escapes me being 3 of em, the other 3 were john jarvis types

littlepug wrote:can remember eubank making 6 defences in one year, benn, wharton and that unbeaten german whose name escapes me being 3 of em, the other 3 were john jarvis types

edit- benn wasnt one of em, benn and collins bookended the year in question (94)

halfamill wrote:Let's say a fighter consistently challenges himself against top 10 fighters without tuneups.

To be honest, if any fighter fought even 2 elite opponents - who were both ranked in the top 10, I would accept that. These days, figbhters do fight 2/3 times per year, but normally they are against sub-par opposition.

So with that considered, I would take only the two - as long as they were top quality opponents.

halfamill wrote:How many times should a fighter fight a year?

Ideally, I don't think that 4 is too much of a push, but no-one does it these days... Not against the top standard.

4 imo. Modern trainign camps are too long. A guy like Golovkin could easily fight every 2 months.

Like a Boss wrote:

halfamill wrote:Let's say a fighter consistently challenges himself against top 10 fighters without tuneups. How many times should a fighter fight a year?

Can't think of a current day fighter who actually does that. So there are no examples to use as a guideline.

The hypothetical answer in my mind is 3, and probably no more than 3.

I know a lot of people criticize Roman Gonzalez's 1# p4p ranking but he is about to face his 5th top 10 fighter in less than 2 years. Four of those being ranked in the top 5 at the time of the fight by Transnational and I believe Ring Magazine as well.