What a great listen! Thanks for that, man.
Yeah, it's almost comical how bad most boxers are today. And not just in how they don't have those old school skills the greats of the past had. A lot of the upper echelon of boxers today have almost no basic skills.
Take that Joe Joyce v. Zhang fight from last week. Joe Joyce before that fight was an interim belt holder and a future mandatory for Usyk. He was considered to be a Top 5 Heavyweight. Zhang, who turns 40 soon, has no gas tank, isn't considered some slick boxer, and is just rated as having decent power. He annihilated Joyce over six rounds by just repeatedly throwing a straight left hand. No feints. No quick footwork. No bob and weave. Just smashed the left hand to Joyce's eye repeatedly until it looked like a blown up blueberry. Joyce, a Top 5 guy, had no ability whatsoever to dodge a single, repeated punch.
I think a lot of it just comes down to, like was mentioned, current guys just don't ever fight. They have some sort amateur career where they bash the heads in of cans and their physical abilities carry them. Then they turn pro and smash some more cans because the promoter needs an undefeated prospect to get some hype going. So these guys are low double digit wins and fighting for titles (title bloat being another problem where every Tom, Dick, and Harry has a belt). Except the guys holding the belts ALSO don't have a depth of experience. And once you get a belt and some notoriety, it's in your best interest to hardly ever fight and when you do, fight guys you easily outclass. The money is too good at that point.
That's why I've always rated Usyk so well. Dude had 300+ amateur fights before turning pro. He doesn't go in for killing guys with a knockout punch. He uses speed and skill to outmaneuver all his opponents. It's why I knew a guy like AJ had almost no chance against him. A blown up dude who looks like he belongs on a stage at Mr. Olympia instead of inside a boxing ring. He's slow, stiff, and a sitting duck for a smaller, quicker fighter. It's the reason Tyson Fury wants no part of a fight with Usyk.
On a side note, Dan and Silver bang on Mike Tyson a bit, but Tyson himself has talked numerous times about how he's nothing compared to the greats of the past.
It's kinda wild to think about how most top guys today will retire with somewhere around 30 pro-fights. Of which, only a handful were meaningful bouts against "top" competition. Whereas guys in ages past fought HUNDREDS of times.