What if there was a boxing age limit rule?
October 24th, 2010
By Gerardo Granados: We all know that boxing is a dangerous sport, as amateurs or professionals all boxers are regulated by commissions to protect their health and life. Boxing must be regulated because by it´s practice, a boxer can and will be injured, lets not name the worst things that can happened, lets just say it´s normal to suffer cuts, broken: nose, teeth, jaw, ribs, hand; tore a muscle or suffer a concussion. To practice this sport you must be in real good shape, its not enough to be young, you must be healthy, but what happens after fifteen years of fighting? Well, as the saying goes “god may forgive you, but Kronos never will”. It´s normal to age, it’s unavoidable.
Back to boxing, Ali was 39 when he lost UD 10 against Trevor Berbick who was 27; Chavez was 38 when he lost via TKO6 to Kostya who was 31; De la Hoya was 36 when was clobbered by Pacquiaou who was 28; Pernell was 35 when he lost UD 12 to Trinidad who was 26; Kostya was 35 when he lost RTD 11 to Hatton who was 27; Jose Luis Castillo former lightweight WBC champion was 35 when he lost RTD 6 in an uneven fight with Alfonso Gomez who was 28. There are exceptions to the rule but that is why they are exceptions. Roberto Duran at 37 won the WBC middleweight title defeating Iran Barkley who was 29, Old Mongoose Archie Moore was 43 when he beat Yvon Dorelle who was 29 to claim the World light heavyweight title; others stay active but wont shine as when they were young, for example Evander Holyfied (48) or Bernard Hopkins (45).
I think 35 would be a good age limit, you start to get old but you are not really old, maybe 35 would not be fair for boxers like Floyd, but if you make your professional debut at twenty one fifteen years still a long time to fulfill a boxing career. Have you seen a retired boxer who can’t even speak or walk straight? Let’s not be selfish, we all don’t want to see a great fighter retire while he is competitive, but it’s not us who is exposed to get hurt.
15 Responses to “What if there was a boxing age limit rule?”
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Afraid the idea is illegal in most countries. It is age discrimination pure and simple.
The problem is that the individual boxing commissions in the US all have different standards. Someone like Holyfield would struggle to get licensed in most states-he would not get a license in Britain because he would fail the medical exam and the conditions on fit to fight.
Personally, I would like the US states to follow the British Boxing Board and have regular exams, plus brain scans on any fighter who loses 3 out of 4 fights.
Every fighter can choose when to retire and this is normal I think. But for boxing 37 is old but again it depends who is the fighter. So lets say Arturo Gatti who was taking too many punches in every fight and making every fight a dramatic war he could not fight too long as soon or later he’d have brain problems and this is the sad part of boxing. You forgot to tell here about Kelly Pavlik who was 28 and lost to 35 years old Sergio Martinez.
P.S. btw Andre Agassi is Armenian too
for the person who put in their comment that hollyfield is still at the top of his game, maybe you should rethink that, you are way off there
it would be an absolute nightmare,really theres enough belts out there without adding this rubbish to the pot.if theres a health issue then they shouldnt be boxing at the pro level period.if there fit and healthy and willing then they should be able to compete.age shouldnt be an issue.
that would be age discrimination so there would be law suits all over the place and it wouldnt stand.
Im sure david haye fans would love it though.vitali would be gone and hed only have to avoid wlad for another year before he was gone too
Natural Selection is already controlling the sport. one or two bad beetings and a fighter usually packs it in. Bhop, Holyfield and Vitali are still at the top of thier game, why should they stop?
everyone is different, fighters all age differently, some get shot early, others fight on perfectly fit, there would be no fair way of picking an age limit.
hey guys
im going to be 78 in january and i still can get in the ring and hold my own for a couple of rounds
THIS RULE DO NOT APPLY TO MAYWEATHER. MAYWEATHER DO NOT RECOGNIZED BOXING COMMISSION. HE DON N’T WANT TO SHARE ANY FEES TO THEM. HE IS VERY UNPROFESSIONAL. HE SHOULD BE STRIPPED OF HIS LICENSE. HE HAD HIS OWN RULES IN BOXING. HURRY OR DOWN WITH MAYWEATHER.
It’s not a bad idea in principle. I’ve thought of this before also…I’ve also thought of a “Masters” competition for fighters like Hollyfield who would like to box-on. That way they could be atched up against fighters their own age and maybe with rules to protect them from harm due to age…eg., maybe fight 6 round fights etc….
It is the same people who complain about the nanny state. Pure idiots!
klitschk bros wont retaert soon coz they are the best ever
It’s up to the fighter when he retires, not a writer.
Since Floyd only fights once a year, he can fight until 39 years. So he can wait another two years until PAC retires and come back on the ring so he can win the FIGHTER OF THE DECADE with PAC out of the way.
I think 38 would be a good age limit.