What year did pro fights go from fifteen rounds to twelve rounds?

Answer 1

on June 4th 1988 the IBF voted to change its title fights from 15 rounds to 12 rounds making it the last sanctioning body to do so, and thus making all title fights a standard 12 rounds. Talk of doing this started after the Ray Mancini Duk Koo Kim fight, where Kim tragically lost his life in the ring. Experts argued that the extra rounds did serious damage to fighters. ACCIDENTS CAN HAPPEN AT ANYTIME IN THE RING.THE ARGUEMENT THAT THE 3 ROUNDS MAKE A FIGHTER MORE EXHAUSTED AND IT WOULD HAMPER HIM BEING ABLE TO DEFEND HIMSELF.THIS IS OFF SET BY THE LAST 3 ROUNDS FIGHTERS ARE NOT ABLE TO THROW THEIR PUNCHS WITH THE SAME EFFECT THAN PREVIOUS ROUNDS. IT DOES NOT WASH . GREAT FIGHTERS TRAINED FOR 15 ROUNDS ,SOME OF THE BEST ROUNDS IN THE SPORT WERE IN THE LAST THREE. WHAT WOULD THE THRILLA IN MANILLA BE WITHOUT THE LAST THREE. THOSE 3 ROUNDS WERE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VERY GOOD FIGHTERS AND TREULY GREAT FIGHTERS. RODHOOK