[[I WISH there was an early bare knuckle fight video but the best I’ve found is pictures.]]
There is- I remember seeing one on YouTube- the boxer was a giant compared to his opponent- can’t for the life of me remember who they were- it was a brutal fight-
I liked the 15 rounds0- but yes- I agree- it was too much for boxers- lots of boxers got ‘punch drunk’ and suffered because of it- I think 12 is about right- in terms of beign safer-
I was fortunate- I grew up when the greats were fighting- mohammad- frazier, leanard, foreman, boom boom mancini- and many many other great fighters etc- would wait anxiously for forever it seemed for the fights to come on in one of the 4 channels we got lol- and it was quite an event watching- loved listenign to howard cossell too- many fond memories-
I just missed those.
I was born in 1968 and saw Some of them but didn’t really get excited about boxing until maybe 15.
That was 1983 and later on I would enjoy Morrison (who they NOW think had HIV LONG before he admitted it), Foreman’s comback, Evander and Tysen. Later on Lewis and the Klitchko brothers.
But the era you are talking about was the golden age.
Speaking of having heart...
I remember the photos in magazines of Marciano’s bloodied face after he won a major fight. The guy was awesome. That was probably early ‘50s.