Fighters: Debuting Prior to 1900
[QUOTE=APBAgreat;3652338]How do you think John L. Sullivan would fare today? I think I'm relatively close to what his size and weight was which is 5'11 3/4- 205 lbs- 76.25 reach. A stand up slugger or Puncher-Boxer as he had more movement with angle fighting and defense then people know for his blood and guts, just wallop each other silly toe-to-toe time. The best evidence remaining from this era is one of the goriest life threatening Heavyweight Championship Matches ever when Jim Jeffries defended his Title against the Super Strong, extremely rugged and tough as nails Irishmen from Hawaii, Tom Sharkey one summer afternoon in Coney Island, on New York City's beach on the Atlantic Ocean Coastline. This was the first Heavyweight Championship Fight filmed in its entirety. Even though the bout occurred in broad daylight, the film crew still positioned very large, extremely hot very bright lights directly overhead the boxers to enhance the film's clarity (besides being extremely dangerous. These lights gave off heat of such a magnitude it actually singed the hair of both boxers). Of course, upon the rise of Jim Corbett, his novel scientific style that required fast feet, lithe movement and unusually fast feet and agility he shook boxing to the core. Corbett's un-masculine style to the Fight Game's Slugging Purists was as shocking as Muhammad Ali's speedy footwork, which initially was extremely unpopular and many in the business used as an example of how not to box. The Great Heavyweights who deployed a scientific style based upon athleticism, fast hands and faster feet were never really popular until Muhammad Ali finally won over the public in a big way. Gene Tunney’s speedy hit & don't get hit style that he used to dominate Jack Dempsey in winning 19 of the 20 rounds they boxed was exactly the same style Ali used. A blend of back peddling, head and neck movement rolling and backing away instead of ducking, while pumping a jab in both retreat and to attack in setting up his right hand. Tunney's used his right hand to pot shot Dempsey based upon holes in Dempsey style that Tunney discovered through endless hours of studying films of Dempsey's bouts. However, Tunney was not a popular Heavyweight despite his Hollywood good looks that made Ronald Regan look plain. Tunney was truly more handsome than any Hollywood Movie Star plus an intellectual who lectured at Harvard and Yale on Shakespeare, but without ubiquitous T.V. his good look couldn't be used as a selling point and Tunney was far too modest for making him commercially based on his features. Today, he would have no choice but to be known universally and be popular beyond belief. Albeit, as a Cruiserweight, one though, that would make this presently obscure division immensely popular. When Corbett was a second for Jim L. Jeffries comeback fight against Jack Johnson that ended in his only defeat, Corbett screamed over & over at Johnson to stand && fight like a man because Johnson was boxing Jeffries ears off. Johnson calm replied, "Mr. Corbett Sir, ain't that’s the ways you does it Mr. Corbett. You fought like a rabbit, always runnin in out and hop-hop... hopin around Mr. Corbett, ain't that right Mr. Corbett. Run and run Mr. Corbett, I'm just a fightin like you does Mr. Corbett Sir"[/
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IT’S TIME TO CREATE THE DREADNAUGHT DIVISION
It would be truly unbelievable for this game to have the visuals of Fight Night where each Boxer actually resembles the real person. It'd be a lot of fun to be able to select the color & style of trunks, gloves and shoes that a Boxer wears into the ring, using all kinds of styles that were in fashion in different time periods, going all the way back to the days of John L. Sullivan. I realize that there might be immense and likely intractable legal obstacles to overcome using the likeness of any living Boxer without their permission and being remunerated for the right to do so. Most likely, even the most famous Boxers who are no longer alive may have people/corporations that own the rights to their usage. In this event, obviously the only way around that would be to do what people did years ago with NBA Live. Individuals would provide the video likeness of the players for free on the internet. In many instances these free likeness, for example, Julius Irving or Bob Cousy would be superior to those in the actual game. I realize with the simulations that do not emphasize Video graphics, they have no problem using the athlete's names and their statistics in creating a PC Avatar that performs as the actual player does in reality, which is of course the most important attribute of any sport simulation. For any sport simulation to be good, it has to be as realistic as possible. The Sports game has to mimic the actual sport in all areas and the players must perform realistically. Johnny Unitas has to play like Johnny Unitas from his ability to throw accurate long, medium and short, to his ability to call audibles and play under pressure. Joe Louis has to possess all the attributes in every category of boxing as accurately as possible so that gamer gets the opportunity to see the avatar of Joe Louis perform in a manner that realistically manifests the manner in which Joe Louis actually did. Of course when Joe Louis is matched up against John L. Sullivan or Vitali Klitschko, the PC Programmer has to extrapolate how such a match would unfold if it were possible to put these Boxers in a ring at the prime of their careers as if a Time Machine were available and this could actually occur. In Boxing, I think the one aspect that Title Bout should take into consideration in the Heavyweight Division is the size differences in the Champions like Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano who were less than 6 feet tall and weighed only 185 lbs. In the present, there really is no division available for a Boxer who is at his best at 185 lbs. Dempsey, Marciano, Corbett, Ezzard Charles & Jimmy Braddock wouldn't be able to fight for a Title weighing 185lbs. It's too much weight for the Lightheaveyweight Division and while in theory qualifies for the Cruiserweight Division, since the maximum Weight increased to 200lbs; there has never been a Championship Bout where one of the participants weighed less than 190 lbs. The actually should be a Junior Heavyweight Division or the creation of a Dreadnaught Division which was proposed by Boxing Officials after Earnie Schaaf died after being beat by Primo Canera. The original Dreadnaught Division was a concept that was tantamount to the Super Heavyweight Division that's used in the present day Olympics. However, I would suggest rolling back the Cruiserweight division back to 190 lbs, and the Dreadnaught Division's parameters being from 191 lbs to 200 lbs. Although I still think most championship Bouts in the Cruiserweight Division would feature principles within a few pounds of the 190 lb limit, and very rarely would any Boxer compete in a Title Bout at 185 lbs, at least then there would be a Division where a 185 lb Boxer would have a possibility of becoming Champion. Right now, even though the Cruiserweight Limit is only 200 lbs, when did anyone ever win the Cruiserweight Championship weighing between 180-185 lbs?Posted 09-20-2014 at 09:37 PM by APBAgreat 
