Boxing Golden Age

Advent of Television Brought About Changes in Boxing Attendance

The "Brown Bomber" Joe Louis was one of the most famous boxers of the golden age of boxing. Joe Louis held the heavyweight title longer than any other fighter from 1937 until he retired in 1949. Louis came out of retirement in 1950, but lost to the heavyweight champion, Ezzard Charles. he then won several comeback bouts. in 1951, in his last fight, Louis was knocked out by Rocky Marciano retiring him from boxing for good. There was several outstanding boxers of the golden age that held the championship titles in more than one weight class. The mid-1900's. Archie Moore, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Rocky Marciano were three of the greatest fighters of the 1950s. Archie Moore held the light heavyweight title from 1952 to 1961. Sugar Ray Robinson was the welterweight champion from 1946 to 1951 and then went on to win the middleweight crown five times. Rocky Marciano was the heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1956 and won all his 49 professional fights. However, attendance at boxing matches declined during the 1950's with the rise of television.

Sugar Ray Leonard: Most Popular Boxer of the 1980's!

a Multitude of spectators had preferred to watch the major fights on television at home rather than attend the venues of the fights. This change in attendance to boxing venues as a result, created havoc with the smaller boxing clubs, where fighters got their beginning in the sport These boxing clubs were forced out of business. In time, the general public's interest in boxing decreased to the point where only some controlled championship bouts were televised. With the recent developments in boxing Muhammad Ali became one of the most colourful fighters in the history of the noble art of boxing since Jack Johnson. Ali helped stimulate renewed interest in the sport of boxing during the 1960s and 1970s. Muhammad Ali won the heavyweight title in 1964 with an upset victory over Sonny Liston. After Mohammad Ali retired from boxing in 1981, a new generation breed of fighters was born. Between them they sparked an even greater interest in boxing during the whole of 1980's. One in particular was Sugar Ray Leonard was the most popular of these new breed of boxers. Sugar Ray Leonard trained by the magic man of boxing trainers, Angelo Dundee.

Top Crowd Pullers in Boxing During the 1980's!

Sugar Ray Leonard won a gold medal in boxing at the 1976 Olympic games. After winning the WBC welterweight title in 1979, he fought Roberto Duran twice in 1980, first losing his title to him and then regaining in the return match. Came 1981, Ray Leonard defeated the previously unbeaten Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns for the world welterweight title. 1987, Leonard defeated Marvin Hagler for the WBC middleweight championship. And needless, to say that Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran became the top crowd pullers in boxing during the 80's. Larry Holmes was generally considered the top heavyweight of the late 1970's and early 1980's, but he did not have the charisma of Mohammad Ali. In 1986. Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight ever to win a portion of the world boxing championship when he won the WBC title at the age of 20. In 1990 four years after Tyson became heavyweight champion, Buster Douglas knocked out the previously unbeaten Tyson in one of the greatest upsets seen in boxing history.

The Animal Instincts of Mike Tyson

Late in 1990, Evander Holyfield defeated Buster Douglas to win the WBA version of the heavyweight title. Evander Holyfield defended the WBA heavyweight championship title two occasions, defeating Riddick Bowe in 1993 and Mike Tyson in 1996 a fight in which Tyson's animal instincts became apparent. Tyson bit out a piece of Holyfield's left ear, then told reporters, Holyfield's ear tasted like chicken. Looking back in time to the final quarter of the 20th century, however, amateur boxing had lost much of its popularity in support. Traditional concerns about bruises and black eyes gave way to more serious concerns about long term eye and brain damage. Medical checks on boxers, and medical supervision of their fights, became an increasingly important feature both in amateur and professional boxing. The origins of boxing came about in the 1800's and early 1900's when bare knuckle fighting was an important precursor of boxing in the British Isles. Boxing, however, probably grew most specifically out of the exhibition held at the fives court and the tennis court in London, England, during the early part of the 19th century.

Rules That Made Boxing The Sport It Is Today.

These promotions had several features that anticipated the future sport of boxing. the boxers wore mufflers which were really padded gloves, time was called after a set period, and the length of the fight was preset. Wrestling throws became a thing of the past. none of these features were present in bare knuckled pugilism. Boxing as distinct from any other form of fist fighting can be dated from 1867 when john graham chambers drafted new rules. there were twelve rules in all, and they specified that fights should be a fair stand-up boxing match in a 24-foot ring. Rounds were to be of three minutes duration with one minute between rounds these rules brought discipline in the boxing arena.

 Boxing Golden Age