Opinions on the changes from 15 to 12 rds/weigh-in procedures

[Thread Stealer]

I'm actually not getting into the usual arguments of what you like better (feel free to discuss if you like), but I was thinking about your opinion on why they were changed.

Do you think the changes were made more for the reason given of safety, or more for monetary reasons? This was back in the network TV days, and 12 rounds can fit easier into an hour than 15 rounds. And everyone lost money on the aborted Spinks-E. Muhammad rematch, so giving more time to weigh in had its financial reasons.

[Robbi]

I'm actually not getting into the usual arguments of what you like better (feel free to discuss if you like), but I was thinking about your opinion on why they were changed.

Do you think the changes were made more for the reason given of safety, or more for monetary reasons? This was back in the network TV days, and 12 rounds can fit easier into an hour than 15 rounds. And everyone lost money on the aborted Spinks-E. Muhammad rematch, so giving more time to weigh in had its financial reasons.

The Mancini-Kim fight during late 82 spelt the begining of the end for 15 round bouts. It was for the WBA lightweight title. However, it was the WBC who decided after the tragedy that they would switch to 12 round fights due to safety measures. The other sanctioning bodies slowly adopted the same policy. The IBF were the last to finally close the door on 15 round bouts during the summer of 88.

Different ideas were put forward. One was that during the last three rounds they would be cut down to 2 minutes each or possibly a longer break between rounds. These were dismissed.

[Robbi]

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Kim collapsed into a coma, and was taken out of the Caesar's Palace arena on a stretcher. Emergency brain surgery was performed at the hospital to try to save him, but that effort proved to be futile, and Kim died 4 days after the bout, on November 17. The profile of the incident was heightened by the fight having been televised live in the United States.

Kim's mother flew from Korea to Las Vegas to be with her son before the life support equipment was turned off. Three months later, she took her own life by drinking a bottle of pesticide. The bout's referee, Richard Green, committed suicide July 1, 1983.

[Thread Stealer]

I know all about Mancini-Kim, I'm asking if you think that was indeed the reason for the changes in rounds/weigh in procedures, or whether or not "safety" was just used as the public reason for more financial motives, as has been claimed.

[TBooze]

The 15 round title fight was replaced with the 12 round fight for one reason.... You could fit a 12 rounder into a TV hour. And for Network TV in the States in the 80s, that meant an awful lot.

Anyone who believes the safety spin, there is some prime real estate that I found at bargain prices in down town Kabul....

[red cobra]

Oh my, (lol), don't get me started on that one! I believe that the shortening of titlle fights from 15 to 12 was one of the greatest mistakes and injustices to ever be perpetrated on the great sport of boxing, It insulted, demeaned and bastardized the sport and the time honored tradition of championship fights as much as if not more than anything, including the proliferation of bogus title belts and the infinite splitting up of the weight divisions. The whether you attribute the reduction to 12 rounds to the overeaction of the sanctioning bodies due to ring fatalities, or the even more nefarious and underhanded move of reducing the length of title fights to accomodate the time restrictions of network tv (those great bastions of televised boxing) it was nothing but detrimental to the great sport of baxing and a travesty committed against it's great history and traditions. How many great fighters won titles and at the very least, proved their worth in those "deep water" championship rounds of 13 thru 15, and thus seperated the men from the boys in the process? Now you have title as well as nontitle fights, infinite worthless regional and interim "titles", all scheduled for 12 rounds...Restoring the championship limit to 15 rounds would go along way to begin to return boxing back to it's classical roots and once again the wheat can be seperated from the chaff in terms of determining true champions in the sport.

[jaffay]

Kim's mother flew from Korea to Las Vegas to be with her son before the life support equipment was turned off. Three months later, she took her own life by drinking a bottle of pesticide. The bout's referee, Richard Green, committed suicide July 1, 1983.

damn

[Thread Stealer]

The 15 round title fight was replaced with the 12 round fight for one reason.... You could fit a 12 rounder into a TV hour. And for Network TV in the States in the 80s, that meant an awful lot.

Anyone who believes the safety spin, there is some prime real estate that I found at bargain prices in down town Kabul....

What about changing the weigh-in procedures?

Safety reasons, or a change after money lost following the Spinks-Muhammad weight debacle?

[WhataRock]

The 15 round title fight was replaced with the 12 round fight for one reason.... You could fit a 12 rounder into a TV hour. And for Network TV in the States in the 80s, that meant an awful lot.

Anyone who believes the safety spin, there is some prime real estate that I found at bargain prices in down town Kabul....


Its apparantly good to buy up land in war-torn developing countries when its cheap...My mate is an ethnic Assyrian but his family has lived in Lebanon for generations. His dad used the cash he earnt when he moved over Australia to buy up a lot of land in the north of Lebanon in the 90's...Now the rest of the family lives on large plots of land they own and he has made some cash selling the rest to developers.

[McGrain]

Click on a weight in thread, see a corpse.

[TBooze]

Its apparantly good to buy up land in war-torn developing countries when its cheap...My mate is an ethnic Assyrian but his family has lived in Lebanon for generations. His dad used the cash he earnt when he moved over Australia to buy up a lot of land in the north of Lebanon in the 90's...Now the rest of the family lives on large plots of land they own and he has made some cash selling the rest to developers.


Lebanon (in particular Beirut) has been known for its tourism in peaceful times; Kabul not so much!

[WhataRock]

Lebanon (in particular Beirut) has been known for its tourism in peaceful times; Kabul not so much!


What do you mean? There a 1000's of American, European and Australians there now...and they will be returning regularly for years to come. :lol:

I dont reckon Kabul has been a tourist hotspot for a long time..If ever....I work with a guy who traveled to europe overland back in the day...Left from Australia..got a plane to thailand ,then nepal then went through Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey by bus, walking and car.

He said Afghanistan was a beautiful country but very very backwards and poor.

Apparently pre-revolution Iran was packed full of glamorous woman, wearing mini-skirts and short shorts...he said better for chicks then anywhere he went in europe.

[Gesta]

Oh my, (lol), don't get me started on that one! I believe that the shortening of titlle fights from 15 to 12 was one of the greatest mistakes and injustices to ever be perpetrated on the great sport of boxing, It insulted, demeaned and bastardized the sport and the time honored tradition of championship fights as much as if not more than anything, including the proliferation of bogus title belts and the infinite splitting up of the weight divisions. The whether you attribute the reduction to 12 rounds to the overeaction of the sanctioning bodies due to ring fatalities, or the even more nefarious and underhanded move of reducing the length of title fights to accomodate the time restrictions of network tv (those great bastions of televised boxing) it was nothing but detrimental to the great sport of baxing and a travesty committed against it's great history and traditions. How many great fighters won titles and at the very least, proved their worth in those "deep water" championship rounds of 13 thru 15, and thus seperated the men from the boys in the process? Now you have title as well as nontitle fights, infinite worthless regional and interim "titles", all scheduled for 12 rounds...Restoring the championship limit to 15 rounds would go along way to begin to return boxing back to it's classical roots and once again the wheat can be seperated from the chaff in terms of determining true champions in the sport.

:good:good:good