Boxing champions are getting older and older ....Bernard Hopkins

This article makes some interesting points about how science is aiding athletes to train harder and avoid injuries late into their lives.  Not so long ago few people past 30 years old won Boxing titles.  Most of the older fighters were in the heavyweight division because the last thing you lose is your punch.  Shannon Briggs is dangerous,  in spite of breathing problems, because he possesses a paralyzing punch... he is not great on defense and has little foot movement yet he has won fights against fighters who looked far superior on paper... Let's hope extending sporting careers doesn't add up to more accumulated brain damage from recurring trauma....

 

Bernard Hopkins, right, lands a left on Tavoris Cloud during their IBF light-heavyweight title fight in New York. Hopkins, 48, won on points. Photograph: Frank Franklin Ii/AP


 

 Athletes are lingering for longer at elite levels in boxing.  

 

Throughout the 1980s only one fighter – Larry Holmes in 1985 – made Ring magazine's annual top 10 pound-for-pound rankings when he was past the age of 35. In 2012, four of the top 10 were over 35. In 1986, the average age of the Ring's pound-for-pound fighters was 26.2.  Last year it was 32.1.
 

Hopkins'  achievements take him into a different sphere. 

 

There are obvious parallels with Archie Moore, the greatest light-heavyweight of them all. 

 

Both found boxing in the penitentiary; both had careers spanning four decades; both kept being asked for the "secret of their success".
For Hopkins it is down to genetics, hard work and abstinence. 

 

Moore's tastes were more exotic – he took "kraut juice", four ounces of sauerkraut juice with a teaspoon of lemon juice every morning as well as a "jigger of blackberry wine for energy" – and carried a .45 revolver in his pocket on his morning runs "in case I see a snake".

Much of Moore's thinking was decades ahead of his time. The recent interest in raw food and Vitamin D – Moore was there 50 years ago. 

 

"Often vitamins are lost through cooking and it's a rare man who obtains all the sunshine he needs," he wrote in his autobiography.

"My old friends, the aborigines, wear little or no clothing and sleep outdoors. The amount of vitamin D they soak up greatly contributes to their resistance, ruggedness and overall good health."

That said, we are all fighting a losing battle with biology. 

 

One of the key aerobic performance indicators, VO2 max, peaks in the early 20s and then starts to decline, as does anaerobic power. 

 

And while muscle strength peaks in the late 20s, that too declines in your 30s and 40s.

As Dr James Carter, the head of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute at Loughborough University, points out:

 

"As you enter your 30s you're in decline from your physical peak. The only way to reverse that is to train more. But when you do, you take longer to recover and the likelihood of injuries increases."
Still, advances in sports science and nutrition are helping alter the odds. 

 

Post-match refuelling used to consist of pints and peanuts – now it is a 

recovery drinks with a ratio of 4:1 carbohydrates to protein.

The ciggy in the communal bath is long gone; increasingly cryotherapy chambers, which flush out lactic acid, and speed recovery are used.

 

Recent scientific discoveries – beetroot juice aids stamina, cherry juice prevents muscle soreness and colostrum bolsters the immune system – have become part of the elite sports star's toolkit.
 

Hopkins, for one, is living testament to what can be achieved long after most of us have hung up our boots.





 Source:
 Bernard Hopkins' tale of the tape offers backing to long players | Sean Ingle | Sport | The Guardian 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2013/mar/10/bernard-hopkins-ryan-giggs-science