Championship fights: 15 rounds to 12 rounds

[Cletus Funk]

why not 15 rounds, explain your answer?

I think 12 lets them set a faster pace which makes for a more interesting fight.

[Argentina]

I assume that in the 1980s the boxing coucils IBF,WBA changed

the format of championship fights from 15 to 12 rounds. when and

why exactly did they make this change? Was it the boxing councils

who changed it or some other governing body?

I believe that modern eraa fighters retire with much less brain damage and can speak much better than those fighters that constantly went at it for 15 rounds. I fully support the 12 round system, fifteen rounds is wayy too excessive.

[Ivansmamma]

12 rounds is enough.

[Derranged_]

I believe that modern eraa fighters retire with much less brain damage and can speak much better than those fighters that constantly went at it for 15 rounds. I fully support the 12 round system, fifteen rounds is wayy too excessive.

From a boxer's point of view, you could make a strong argument
against fighting 15 rounds. Just take a look at Muhammad Ali's fight record and you will see that alot of his fights went the distance or ended in later round ko's. Had these fights ended in 12 rounds, Ali might not have been so brain damaged.

From a fan's point of view, you want to see long hard fought fights where the winner is determined by who could outlast their opponent.(Thrilla in Manilla) But on the other hand, who wants to see a brain damaged fighter like Ali suffer so much with the disability. I would have loved to see Ali call fights on HBO and give insight on an ESPN show. Its a wonder George Foreman still has all his marbles after all the punishment he has taken in the ring.

[leff]

I box as an amature, i train 12-15 hours a week, and im just too 4times2 min, and thats so i want to vommit in the second.

15 times 3 isent healhty, and todays heavys are to heavy.

[jayschre]

15 Rd. fights would have probably ended boxing in the U.S. for good, if they hadn't changed to 12 rds. IMO alot more fighters would have died as result of trauma sustained in a fight. Can you imagine what Meldrick Taylor would have been like if he had fought three more rds. against Chavez I mean damn he was never the same anyways, But I think he would have been brain dead after another 9 minutes of that war.

[No-Mas]

There is another reason...

Along with the Mancini/Kim tragedy, there is another reason why fights went from fifteen to twelve.

What controls all sports? Answer: TV networks.

The TV networks back then were showing tons of fights. CBS had CBS Sports Spectacular, NBC had SportsWorld, ABC had Wide World of Sports and all featured boxing. Fifteen round fights went over an hour while twelve round fights fit perfectly into an hour block (48 minutes of fight time leaves plenty of time for build-up and post-fight interviews). A twelve rounder is tailor made to fit into an hour of TV.

The Mancini/Kim tragedy started the ball rolling, but the networks readily agreed (probably pushed) to twelve round fights that would fit into their schedules more easily. Look what the networks do to the NFL. They push the league to get the games to move quicker (45 to 40 second play clock) so the games can fit nice and tidy into a three hour block. The NFL gets the biggest sports rating for the networks and the networks still want it trimmed to a nice neat three hour package. They did the same to boxing back in the eighties.

[jayschre]

I also heard that the kim duk vs. mancini fight left more than kim dead as his wife I think it was committed suicide as well as the ref of the fight! That's some pretty f'd up stuff to deal with, I'm not suprised after hearing that info that boom boom was never really the same!

[blackbelt2003]

I think 15 rounds for WBC, WBA and IBF titles should be allowed. A lot of boxing history would be different had it been 12 rounds from the beginning.

And some of todays' greats might not have been so great if today's fights were 15 rounds.


Black

[Derranged_]

I think 15 rounds for WBC, WBA and IBF titles should be allowed. A lot of boxing history would be different had it been 12 rounds from the beginning.

And some of todays' greats might not have been so great if today's fights were 15 rounds.


Black

Muhammad Ali was truly the king of 15 roundas(im from boston) and because of that he is now permately brain damaged. Ali fought wars with frasier,norton,shavers,spinks,etc. Ali was the wittiest boxer and maybe sports hero in history, I just wish he didn't take all that punishment in the last half of his career.Just imagine him calling boxing matches next to george foreman, the insight he could have provided.

I think it was a good idea to change the format, to protect the fighters.