Mickey Walker vs John Ruiz

You will need to do the same thing for early 1930's, as what you said above for today's heavyweights. Ie, quote some contemporary sources that claimed the division was very good.

 

You will have the benefit of history-revisionism. Current crop of heavyweights will most surely be looked upon more favorably as the years pass. You have to look at contemporary opinions for comparison to be fair.

 

Ahhhhh,

Have you been paying attention to what people say on an almost daily basis about TODAY'S heavyweight division?

 

Agreed,

Ruiz was horribly outboxed by a 34 year old, 5'10" 195 pound Roy Jones, who was making his heavyweight debut, and had never even fought a cruiserweight.

 

When did Roy Jones Jr shrink by 1" of height and increased by 2lb in (official) weight? Can't get your facts correct?

 

Oh boy, you really got me there :nut

Lol. You have a long way to go before you can talk to me about getting facts straight my good man.

 

Understood,

Except Senya often tries to debate the inferiority of past eras by mentioning what critics said about them, at the time. My only point by bringing up today's critics, is that if he's going to pull that crap, then it works both ways

 

The coming from the guy that tries to say Evander Headbuttingfield is the best heavyweight of the last 30 years?

I don't think so. :bart

 

Holyfield's headbutting is WAY over-exagerated, primarily by Tyson fans who want to excuse his transgressions. And, in any event, Holyfield was not even accused of this to my knowlege, when he was at his best. It is only as he began to slip that he adopted a style that seemed to lend itself to more head clashes.

In any event, there is a big difference between a fading great using illegal tactics to SUPPLEMENT his skills, and a talentless hack like Ruiz using shameful cheating as a REPLACEMENT for them.

What makes the Ruiz Scandal so disgusting is that without illegal holding, faking low blows, and the influence of Don King that greased the wheels for this crap - nobody ever would've heard of Ruiz after he was starched by Tua.

 

He adopted a style that lent itself to more headclashes? So a Tyson fan could say that Tyson adopted a style that lent itself to more opponents placing body parts into his mouth?

You can't call a guy out for questionable tactics when the same guy you hype makes his living doing the same ****. Holyfields a headbutter. Same a Ruiz is a hugger.

 

The other problem is that it's a rare era that considers itself a golden age. Boxing fans have a tendency to hate their own era and regard it as weak, yearning for ye good olde days of Lennox/Ali/Louis/Dempsey/Sullivan/Mendoza/Broughton...until it's over.

To be fair, nobody who bulked up to heavyweight fought as a cruiserweight first before the cruiserweight division was founded.

The potential issue I see with this is that it doesn't tell you much. There are always going to be contemporary critics of the era, and they usually sound similar no matter the time.

They would also have nothing to compare it to. They'll look at the past through rose tinted glasses, and the future hasn't happened yet.