Do you fail to understand...

This..................Could you imagine a prime Wilt trying to stop a Young shaq, Like I said all sports change and evolve, boxers aren't trying to stand in the middle of the ring and bang there brains out like cavemen anymore, with better defensive, subtle moves like feints, fighters sticking and moving to win points, rather then trying to trade because they are not sure if they could make it through 15 rounds, better corners and cut men, it goes on and on, there is much more strategy in today's with today's game period.

Of course there are fighters like Ali and maybe Robinson, that might have been good in any era, but they are definitely in the minority.

 

I would agree that Marciano couldn't cut it even as a cruiserweight today because the era of heavyweight boxing he fought in was abysmal. Sonny Liston would've destroyed him if they had ever fought and same goes for any of the top heavyweights in the 60's and 70's I feel. SRR on the other hand could be dominant in any era. Especially at 147. People forget that his best years were at 147, a time in which no video exists of these fights. The clips we see of him fighting on youtube are when he was a middleweight and already past his prime.

 

get the **** out of here with that ****. he was a brawler. he didn't have that much skill. unless you count getting hit with lots of punches a skill?

 

If you imported Owens from his era to 2010/11? Or if he had access to modern training techniques, diet etc?

If the former Owens wouldn't even make the World level and would be knocked out in the heats of the US championships.

Owens ran 10.20 over 100m, which is slower than the current Olympic qualifying time I believe. The progression in the science of track surfaces and shoes since his time wouldn't equate to the total difference between todays best.

No doubt though Owens was talented and if he grew up with the advantages of modern athletes then he would still be a great.

I believe this is similar in all sports. They progress. I don't think the best from any sport from the 50' to 60's could beat the best of today. However, if those participants had the same conditions as todays athletes they would still be in the mix.

 

ill agree to some extent on both arguements

boxing has evolved in some aspects yet devolved in others

 

a point to consider is that there were more registered professional fighters in new york in the 1950s than there are in the whole of america now and if there was a much much larger talent pool then surely for their time (human evolution, nutrition, training etc) they would be better than the fighters today?

 

That doesn't make any sense at all.

First of all, you're saying Dempsey was too small despite the fact that he beat a man that was naturally bigger than Klitschko in Jess Williard at a lean 6'7'' 240 before the age of weight lifting...

Then you go on to say that his fast, crouching rolling, sliding, hard punching style would be perfect for Klitschko when history has shown that these are the fighters that make him most uncomfortable. The ones that take it to him, and have ABILITY...even if it's Corrie Sanders or Brewster level ABILITY, once they touch him, beat his ass.

 

Let me ask you this...

Can Hopkins or Mayweather knock people out cold with both hands?

Nope.

Can Martinez last 15 rounds against a guy like Lamotta?

Please....Margarito beat that ass and he still shows signs of stamina problems.

 

Ali -- Chris Byrd!??

Come on.

Can't you examine the video evidence and see the difference?

Yes, there is evolution in sports. Then there are transcendent athletes, like Ali and Michael Jordan who are decades ahead of their time. Ali is thoroughly modern and there is no heavyweight anything like him fighting today.

Chris Byrd?

 

So, I take it you've never taken the time to watch any of his fights.

Yeah, he was a brawler that happened to go 49-0 in a great heavyweight era.

That's ridiculous.

Watch the subtlties in his fight as an UNDERDOG against Rex Layne who was a TRUE BRAWLER although much more skilled and determined than the likes of Sam Peter today...and who would beat the SEVEN SHADES OF **** outta POVETKIN or CHAGEAV today.

If you don't think Rex was a good shout, check his fight with Jersey Joe Walcott who is OFTEN IMITATED BUT NEVER REPLICATED.

Honestly, if times different, IE LIKE TODAY, Jersey Joe could have played the roll of a defensive ***** and ran around the ring and been undefeated.

Instead, he fought to WIN and occasionaly came up the short end of the stick, but the fact that Marciano managed to beat him as well as Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, and Joe Louis says a lot.

But you probably have never seen ANY of these men fight which is a shame because I don't see how you can comment on Marciano's style.

It would be a BLESSING if guys learned to fight like Marciano in this era. You would actually see the skilled inside fighting necessary to beat guys like Wlad who fall at any sign of pain.

 

People in 1st world countries get bigger per generation because of increased nutrition in infancy.
This is not relevant in boxing because of the weight class system. All the old timers would merely be competing in a couple of weight classes below what they did back in the day. The heavies would be cruisers or light heavies, the welters would be feathers etc.
Boxing is a mental sport, people were undeniably tougher mentally back then than they are now.
Plus a greater proportion of the population participated in boxing, there was a gym on every street corner and many were introduced through the armed forces. Nowerdays kids are more likely to take up more accessible or socially acceptable sports instead. Many ****ed up individuals who would have been drawn to boxing now end up in jail instead.

Basically what I'm trying to ramble is in the past there was a far bigger talent pool, and any advancement in sports science is never going to make up for that loss.

 

And for those that say they have more access to film today, that's true, but what does it say when the best boxer today doesn't even watch film, nor does his trainer?

Boxers back then got ON THE JOB training. They had 3 times as many fights.

 

marciano gets discredited a lot

like you said he had a great era

he was a master in that crouch and had great bobbing and weaving

not a crude brawler like some say

in many ways boxing has evolved but also in many others its left behind great techniques and training methods

 

Unlike other sports, boxing has too many intangibles to say the current stars are always better. I don't see anybody right now at 130 throwing the number of shots with the speed and accuracy Camacho used to at 130. A tough hard man is going to be tough to beat up even if he is slow as molasses (Marcos Maidaina is SIGNIFICANTLY slower and sloppier than Carmen Basilio - yet he's almost an "elite" fighter in this modern era. Watch Basilio Saxton II and see the amazing infighting skill, the tirelessness, the speed and relentlessness of the attack, and tell me those guys wouldn't trouble anybody elite at 147)

Rios, Maussa, Harris, etc - these guys would never ever ever have had a belt in the 50s when there were only EIGHT champions.

 

internationally the talent pool is huge

but i agree domestically it has suffered

gyms are dying as well as old school trainers and their techniques and methods