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APBAgreat · 05-22-2014, 08:47 PM

I like the idea of introducing Amateur Boxing into the TBCB Game. Before the introduction of head gear there wasn't all that much of a difference between amateur and professional boxing other than the amount of rounds being fought. In the days prior to Amateur Boxers wearing head gear during the bout there were many compelling and exciting amateur bouts. One of the best I have ever seen was Aaron Pryor v. Tommy Hearns. . As far as I’m concerned Pryor was the best ever Junior Welterweight in the history of Boxing. His ability to take a punch was inc9omparable to anyone in any weight class. Plus his durability and seemingly endless reserve of stamina that allowed him to fight every round at full tilt. I can only name a handful of Boxers who actually seemed to become more energized as the bout progressed. #1 has to be the indefatigable Rocky Marciano. His feats of endurance were truly beyond remarkable. No matter how battered , cut-up, swollen & regardless of the degree of punishment he was being subjected to, Marciano came out of every single round at full steam, bobbing, weaving, ducking, crouched low to the canvass and rising in an explosive blast of pulverizing power that no opponent was able to overcome. Pryor had a very different style, but in his prime he would be able to move and batter his opponents at full tilt in each and every round, seemingly never winded, or out of breath for a nano-second, while soaking up his opponents best punches without any problem while letting go of his own power laden blows that would decimate his opponents. There was no fighter too big or too strong or that could hit hard enough that could deter either one of these men from continuing to operate every second of the bout with the peddle to the metal all fight long. And this, let me remind you, was in the era of 15 round bouts. It would be a wonderful thing for boxing to return to the 15 Round limit for championship bouts. So many of the dramatic moments in Boxing history occurred subsequent to the 12tth round, including Rocky Marciano's great come from behind victory he had in a match against the great Jersey Joe Walcott that was seemingly lost, with Rocky being battered and his nose split open. Obviously if this match took place today Marciano would have lost by a 12 round unanimous decision or far more likely a 9th or 10th round TKO... There is absolutely no way that Marciano would have been allowed to continue to box with the damage and injuries he had sustained to his face by the pulverizing accuracy of Walcott’s laser like punches, which were continually on target and landing with force. Nobody, unless they had intimate information on the super toughness of Marciano which is unmatched by anyone in the history of the game, would have believed that Marciano would have comeback to knockout Jersey Joe who was witnessing that bout as it happened. Probably the greatest and most amazing comeback of all-time, or at the very least on part with the greatest Bout I ever witnessed was the May 7th, 2005 bout between Diego Corrales and El Terrible Luis Castillo which had so many vicious exchanges with each man on the precipice of defeat only to come storming back to within a Punch or two of victory but Instead their opponent absurdly rallied back with a phenomenal counter attack too amazing for words. If this fight was proposed in a script a Hollywood Producer would say it's beyond anyone’s wildest imagination that two men can survive each other's blistering attacks time and time again until Corrales on the very edge of defeat somehow came back to finally score a TKO in the 10th round of the scheduled 12 round bout. A few months later in the rematch Castillo turned the tables and knocked out Diego Corrales in the 4th round. This was truly the wildest fight that contained so many comebacks it seemed like a Rocky movie on steroids. I don't know if there has ever been a more savage, brutal exciting fight, except from what I read the Jim Jeffries vs. Tom Sharkey bout conducted at Coney Island Brooklyn in November 3, 1899 between Jim Jeffries and Tom Sharkey for Jeffries Heavyweight Title, which Jeffries won by a 25 Round Decision. I would love to see this bout someday as it was the first Championship Bout ever filmed it its entirety and from what I understand still exists in its entirety. The lights hanging perilously over the ring, that were required to provide ample light for the fight to be filmed emitted such heat of such a great magnitude that it singed the hair of both combatants. It was by all accounts a savage bout when Boxers wore no mouthpieces and the gloves were far lighter than those used in the last 85 years. Ironically it's a bout that would never take place today due to the great weight difference between Sharkey who at 5'8 weighed only 183 lbs, which in today's world of boxing there is no division for a man that weighs between 175 to 195 lbs. I am relatively certain that no man that weighed between 189-180 lbs has fought for either the Cruiserweight Title since the weight limit was extended to 200 lbs, and certainly not in the heavyweight Division since the days of Floyd Patterson in the 1950's at the latest I truly doubt Rocky Marciano would be a heavyweight today. Would he fight at 185 lbs in the Cruiserweight Division? Would Dempsey? There is literally no Division in Today's Boxing Divisions despite the proliferation of weight classes where Marciano, Dempsey or old tom Sharkey could compete at 183-185 lbs. By the way, Jeffries stood 6'3 1/2 & weighed 223 lbs when he defended his weight title successfully against Sharkey back in 1899. The ironic aspect is that the Newspapers attributed Jeffries win to his superior Boxing skills rather than the brute force of Sharkey. Somehow I can't envision this bout occurring in today’s world. Most likely Sharkey wouldn't even campaign as a Cruiserweight. He would probably campaign as a slimmed down Light heavyweight, while Jeffries would still be a Heavyweight but probably a bit heavier than in 1899. Sharkey might be able to get up to 195 + lbs, but would he do that at only 5 feet eight inches or is it far more likely that he would box as a Light Heavyweight? I tend to believe the latter, if not even trying to Box as a Super middleweight at 168 lbs, might be a bit of a stretch as Sharkey was a very broad shouldered heavily muscled man by nature. And may I add one very tough son of ‘a gun.

05-22-2014, 08:47 PM	#101
APBAgreat Minors (Single A) Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 83 Blog Entries: 1	I like the idea of introducing Amateur Boxing into the TBCB Game. Before the introduction of head gear there wasn't all that much of a difference between amateur and professional boxing other than the amount of rounds being fought. In the days prior to Amateur Boxers wearing head gear during the bout there were many compelling and exciting amateur bouts. One of the best I have ever seen was Aaron Pryor v. Tommy Hearns. . As far as I’m concerned Pryor was the best ever Junior Welterweight in the history of Boxing. His ability to take a punch was inc9omparable to anyone in any weight class. Plus his durability and seemingly endless reserve of stamina that allowed him to fight every round at full tilt. I can only name a handful of Boxers who actually seemed to become more energized as the bout progressed. #1 has to be the indefatigable Rocky Marciano. His feats of endurance were truly beyond remarkable. No matter how battered , cut-up, swollen & regardless of the degree of punishment he was being subjected to, Marciano came out of every single round at full steam, bobbing, weaving, ducking, crouched low to the canvass and rising in an explosive blast of pulverizing power that no opponent was able to overcome. Pryor had a very different style, but in his prime he would be able to move and batter his opponents at full tilt in each and every round, seemingly never winded, or out of breath for a nano-second, while soaking up his opponents best punches without any problem while letting go of his own power laden blows that would decimate his opponents. There was no fighter too big or too strong or that could hit hard enough that could deter either one of these men from continuing to operate every second of the bout with the peddle to the metal all fight long. And this, let me remind you, was in the era of 15 round bouts. It would be a wonderful thing for boxing to return to the 15 Round limit for championship bouts. So many of the dramatic moments in Boxing history occurred subsequent to the 12tth round, including Rocky Marciano's great come from behind victory he had in a match against the great Jersey Joe Walcott that was seemingly lost, with Rocky being battered and his nose split open. Obviously if this match took place today Marciano would have lost by a 12 round unanimous decision or far more likely a 9th or 10th round TKO... There is absolutely no way that Marciano would have been allowed to continue to box with the damage and injuries he had sustained to his face by the pulverizing accuracy of Walcott’s laser like punches, which were continually on target and landing with force. Nobody, unless they had intimate information on the super toughness of Marciano which is unmatched by anyone in the history of the game, would have believed that Marciano would have comeback to knockout Jersey Joe who was witnessing that bout as it happened. Probably the greatest and most amazing comeback of all-time, or at the very least on part with the greatest Bout I ever witnessed was the May 7th, 2005 bout between Diego Corrales and El Terrible Luis Castillo which had so many vicious exchanges with each man on the precipice of defeat only to come storming back to within a Punch or two of victory but Instead their opponent absurdly rallied back with a phenomenal counter attack too amazing for words. If this fight was proposed in a script a Hollywood Producer would say it's beyond anyone’s wildest imagination that two men can survive each other's blistering attacks time and time again until Corrales on the very edge of defeat somehow came back to finally score a TKO in the 10th round of the scheduled 12 round bout. A few months later in the rematch Castillo turned the tables and knocked out Diego Corrales in the 4th round. This was truly the wildest fight that contained so many comebacks it seemed like a Rocky movie on steroids. I don't know if there has ever been a more savage, brutal exciting fight, except from what I read the Jim Jeffries vs. Tom Sharkey bout conducted at Coney Island Brooklyn in November 3, 1899 between Jim Jeffries and Tom Sharkey for Jeffries Heavyweight Title, which Jeffries won by a 25 Round Decision. I would love to see this bout someday as it was the first Championship Bout ever filmed it its entirety and from what I understand still exists in its entirety. The lights hanging perilously over the ring, that were required to provide ample light for the fight to be filmed emitted such heat of such a great magnitude that it singed the hair of both combatants. It was by all accounts a savage bout when Boxers wore no mouthpieces and the gloves were far lighter than those used in the last 85 years. Ironically it's a bout that would never take place today due to the great weight difference between Sharkey who at 5'8 weighed only 183 lbs, which in today's world of boxing there is no division for a man that weighs between 175 to 195 lbs. I am relatively certain that no man that weighed between 189-180 lbs has fought for either the Cruiserweight Title since the weight limit was extended to 200 lbs, and certainly not in the heavyweight Division since the days of Floyd Patterson in the 1950's at the latest I truly doubt Rocky Marciano would be a heavyweight today. Would he fight at 185 lbs in the Cruiserweight Division? Would Dempsey? There is literally no Division in Today's Boxing Divisions despite the proliferation of weight classes where Marciano, Dempsey or old tom Sharkey could compete at 183-185 lbs. By the way, Jeffries stood 6'3 1/2 & weighed 223 lbs when he defended his weight title successfully against Sharkey back in 1899. The ironic aspect is that the Newspapers attributed Jeffries win to his superior Boxing skills rather than the brute force of Sharkey. Somehow I can't envision this bout occurring in today’s world. Most likely Sharkey wouldn't even campaign as a Cruiserweight. He would probably campaign as a slimmed down Light heavyweight, while Jeffries would still be a Heavyweight but probably a bit heavier than in 1899. Sharkey might be able to get up to 195 + lbs, but would he do that at only 5 feet eight inches or is it far more likely that he would box as a Light Heavyweight? I tend to believe the latter, if not even trying to Box as a Super middleweight at 168 lbs, might be a bit of a stretch as Sharkey was a very broad shouldered heavily muscled man by nature. And may I add one very tough son of ‘a gun.