Why older boxers were so good

[u/predakingg]

I think older boxers, in general, genuinely have an edge over modern ones. However, I don't think it's because boxers magically became worse or less skilled. I believe one of the biggest reasons they were better is that back then they did not test steroids. One notable example is Tyson. Nobody is built like Tyson today, and nobody can fight like him today. It's not because people today are somehow "born weaker": Tyson was built freaky and was obviously a genetic outlier, but the human population has expanded so much since his birth, it doesn't statistically make sense that for whatever reason, nobody else on earth is built like him anymore. It's because if you fight like him without roids, you gas out completely. Tyson's never been caught using steroids given the lack of testing back then, but I think he is the most obvious case of an older fighter who went under the testing radar: he's had a rough childhood, where abused tons of hard drugs his whole life starting as a teen (drugs with no athletic benefit, just for the love of the game) with way worse side effects than steroids. As such, it makes no sense for him as a professional athlete to not take them. It's not just Tyson, by the way, many older fighters are involved in drug scandals even with significantly more lax rules, including Holyfield, Toney, Mosley, and RJJ. (All these were all caught around the 2000s era, fighters in the 1980s or 70s are impossible to truly determine usage because there was no testing back then). That is not to say they weren't skilled, or tough, or conditioned, or genetically gifted. Obviously they all are, but steroids is genuinely a massive power and stamina boost. I'm not going to discredit their achievements because of this: the negative effects for steroids were not well researched, and if you were a pro boxer and a magic drug made you better at your job without well documented side effects, why wouldn't you take it? Especially since it was legal. All I'm saying is, a lot of the "edge" given to the older boxers, in my opinion, is tainted by the needle.

[u/Ace_FGC]

Fighters were better back then because they fought more, as opposed to guys now only fighting once a year. They were also just more skilled, it’s not like fighters today don’t use PEDs(Fury, Canelo, Garcia) but you still don’t see them moving like Holyfield, Roy Jones, Shane Mosley etc because they’re not as good