BoxRec

Would you bring them back if you could?
Why? Why not?
The arguments against:
Fighter safety
Less rounds *should* encourage more action.
Not great for TV times slots.

Arguments for:
15 round championship fights were a norm for most of boxings richest history periods.
The 'championship rounds' often tested fighters physically and mentally like nothing else.
An odd number decreases the likelihood of draws.
World championships fights being longer than regional titles etc helps to make them a special event.


Obviously the extra fight time would chew up minutes in the TV schedule. Boxing in particular wastes so much time between fights though, if it all ran smoother this wouldn't be an issue.
As far as fighter safety goes, I think a lot can be done to improve that. I did read somewhere and I'm not sure how true it is that due to dehydration levels rounds 13-15 effecting (affecting?) the brain. Obvious ways around that are:
Allow fighters to drink approved electrolyte solutions etc, which IMO just makes a shitload of sense regardless of the length of fights. Giving fighters a greater ability to stay hydrated has no drawbacks IMO. Honestly if they gave fighters one of those tube things that long distance runners have during a break I don't see the problem. I want to see guys competing at their best and it must be better for their health and safety if they are doing so. I think the water only is ludicrous.
More responsibility on referees and cornerman to look after the fighters, failure on their duty of care needs to have real consequences. Too often corners and referees don't stop fights when they should. The positive of standing 8 counts is that it gives the referee a chance to check if a fighter is OK rather than stopping the fight.
The 24 hour weigh-in does give fighters a chance to rehydrate. The problem is that fighters will always push the boundaries. Personally I would keep the 24 hour weigh-in with a clause about hydration. Fights over x amount of rounds would require the best possible testing (whether that be blood or other) to ensure fighters will be correctly hydrated by fight time. I also believe that weigh-ins the day before can be used to further create excitement for an upcoming fight.

Good points.

For 15 round fights, it should be for the mega fights that people want to see. It would be telling the world that this fight is the real world championship fight.

For 12 round fights are for meaningless championship bouts that are really tune ups for the next big fight.

In other words: 15 rounds for ppv. 12 rounds for HBO/Showtime.

People are paying too much money for ppv telecasts now days. Three more rounds should get the people's money worth.

elmersalsa wrote: ↑13 Dec 2020, 13:21 Good points.

For 15 round fights, it should be for the mega fights that people want to see. It would be telling the world that this fight is the real world championship fight.

For 12 round fights are for meaningless championship bouts that are really tune ups for the next big fight.

In other words: 15 rounds for ppv. 12 rounds for HBO/Showtime.

People are paying too much money for ppv telecasts now days. Three more rounds should get the people's money worth.

Elmer, I like what you say but I still don't think it could be implemented today. The return of 15 rounders would also mean the resuscitation of real talent. In order to do this one would also have to chase every one of those self-serving ABC groups off the planet. I just couldn't see fighters today fighting 15 rounds. And I'm not saying they don't have talent, but they are being fast-tracked into 'world' title bouts without gaining much-needed experience. i was watching Shakur stevenson fighting last night who was 14-0. He is talented, but I was amazed to hear he was already a former champion at featherweight. I was saying, 'What!' When you have 4 champions out there, you have 4 guys looking for work and they have depleted the talent pool by 'challengers' who, years ago, would have had at least 40 fights before getting close to a shot by slowly working their way up the top 10. I couldn't see these bluberous heavyweights today going 15 and I would be afraid of seeing others getting beat up on between rounds 13-15. Accidents do happen, but poor preparation IMO causes ring tragedies Du Koo Kim was only a clubfighter fast-tracked into a title fight. Kiko Bejines somehow was top contender even though he lost his last fight a year earlier and had been even longer since he won. Jimmy Garcia was completely outclassed by Genero hernandez in a title fight. How was it that he deserved another chance? By being completely outclassed? All these poor fighters who should not have received title shots lost their lives. IMO, this is really why 15 rounders were eliminated. The ABC groups know damn well they are putting poor fighters against the champ and 12 rounders were put in place to minimize the damage. That's me on my soapbox today.

There's not one shred of credible evidence that says 12 rounders are safer than 15 rounders

12 Rounds is not good enough because certain current fighters could hang around with speed and footwork. The reason why the 15 rounds championship fights was reduced to 12 rounds not because the death Duk Koo Kim was an excuse, but because certain boxing organizations wanted more money without the well-being of other fighters who were injured in the ring. If the old school boxing fans wanted the 15 round championship fight back, then it would be more interesting for current fighters if they could hang around to last the same distance as old time fighters. 12 rounds could cause little damage on certain fighters, but like under the 15 round limit era, certain fighters would still be damaged or worst get killed.

Current fighters are by and large so inferiorly trained, and fights so predominantly lame, it would pretty much just be 9 more lame minutes.

agree, would be worse to watch if anything, would be wanting most of the fights to be over

I would not bring them back, the damage has been done for over 35 years, too late now.