If the 70s are the supposed Golden Heavyweight age....

And Knoetze was 6th in the world in '78. Your point?

 

The 70s is still considered by most to be the strongest decade in hw history, Ask people here which decade they thinkis the strongest and most will say 70s.

 

Fury clearly is nowhere near the top 10 in the World nevermind 6th was my point.

 

1970-75 was THE golden era of the seventies.

 

No doubt about it.

 

The typical '70s contenders were criticized in their day just like today's era is, and virtually every other HW era has been.

People TODAY might portray it as a "golden age," but that was not a consensus opinion during the era itself.

 

the heavyweight division is almost always lagging behind expectations. even great fights and great prime fighters are beset by long hiatus or layoffs, or unable to fight worthy challengers
the early 1970s was no different

it was no golden era of exceptional fighters. when frazier and ali werent fighting each other they were fighting guys like terry daniels, jurgen blin, floyd patterson and jerry quarry if youre lucky. frazier proved no match for foreman. and foreman was exposed as a crude swinger against ali.
not saying there werent great fighters. it was a good era.
but i dont think the heavyweight division ever holds up its end of bringing about a golden era.
with heavyweights one great fight or one great fighter usually brings enough hype to keep the game healthy. and the early 70s had a bit more than that. But its based on perception and a few big events that lived up to hype. there was a lot of staleness still in the division, as always

 

Agreed 100%. :thumbsup