It’s always the same “boxing has evolved” phrase that you hear when putting together fantasy matches between different HW eras but honestly it is uneducated cope. Muhammad Ali’s last fights were less than 50 years ago for goodness sake, we are not talking about the Stone Age. But that’s not the point. The transition from 15 championship rounds to 12 rounds diminished deep-water endurance in the later divisions, more and more gradually. Performatively you can tell the overall gas tank depletion as eras progressed Activity levels have significantly depleted, from a couple few fights a year to elongated breaks nowadays. Shannon Briggs described it well, how it disturbs momentum, rhythm, dedication. Competitiveness has gone down with the dilution of titles. The size discrepancy gimmick that was thrown all the time before Usyk has finally ended. Usyk essentially overpowered a division where size was more abundant than certain skills.…