The valour, prestige , the glitz the glamour , popularity of and Superstars of 80's boxing .. Can it be beat? Look at the active fighter's. Great Larry Homles the first half , great Mike Tyson the second. One of the greatest fights of all time in The Brawl In Montreal. I fact, i think that was the last great fight in boxing. Massive Super fights like Leonard vs Hearns and Hagler. Hagler vs Hearns Holmes vs C.ooney Arguello-Pryor Duran vs Hearns, Hagler and Barkley Holmes vs Tyson You had the best guys of their division like Spinks and Holyfield and other greats like: Mancini Chacon Mustafa Shavers Bentiez Chacon Sanchez Wilfredo Gomez Hector Camacho The sport was at a high in the 80's that it will never go back to imo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIVzmPWuL24
The decade had "pockets" of good talent and great fights. Not sure if it was better than the 90's or even a few others, but there were some great fights. Holyfield vs Dokes is another that I'd ad to your list.
I also forgot to mention guys like Curry , Chavez, MaCallum, Julian Jackson, Herrol Graham.... I like 90's but think the 80's was a little bit deeper.
I'd rate the 1940s, '30s or '20s as better. There was a time when Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep, Ezzard Charles were around their primes, Charley Burley were around, with Joe Louis heavyweight champion. Jimmy Bivins, Archie Moore, Ike Williams, Manuel Ortiz, Jake LaMotta, Marcel Cerdan, Kid Gavilan etc.
I rate the late 40s from feather to light heavy as the best ever.saddler, pep, williams, beau jack, bob montgomery, tippy Larkin, Willie joyce, bummy Davis, sugar ray, zivic, burley, Charles, Marshall, lamotta, Holman Williams, Moore, graziano, cerdan, zale. The only fly in the ointment was the mafia and multiple bent managers and promoters which meant that most of these great, great fighters ended up broke
Well, if you look here , i think the 80's had the better list of fights by a hair. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_magazine_Fight_of_the_Year I don't think Foreman Frazier was a great fight. One side beatdowns is just a beat down. Foreman Young wasn't a great one either imo. 80's was so stacked , it couldn't even fit in the Brawl in Montreal , which is one of the best of all time.
It might well have been the one with most talent, but it was also the decade when the alphabet soup era really started going. And that resulted in some very good fights not taking place at especially JMW, MW and HW.
I think it's quite possible that all the attention around HW fights in the 70's made more kids interested in boxing and quickly growing purses made them more interested in going pro which resulted in a large talent pool.
Brawl in Montreal was the last great fight? :blood I guess you missed Vazquez vs. Marquez I-III, then?
No, I saw them. Leonard vs Duran will never be replicated. That level of skill and talent between the two top money men in a 15 round war? Never again.