H2H Take Liston to Tyson Vs Bowe to Joshua. The "so called" Golden era of heavyweight boxing vs the "super heavies" of today Which era is superior? You could pick your favorite. Ali. Foreman. Tyson. Holmes or who ever you want against the likes of Lewis. Bowe. Klitschko. Fury and so on... Its up to you...
My prediction is that, if you keep it up long enough to get alot of votes, it will be about 40 percent modern, 60 percent old timers, that seems to be about the normal split of the forum.
Prime Larry Holmes would likely outbox them all, he had skills to burn. Holmes wasn't a small bloke, he was 6 ft 3 with an 81 inch reach. Lewis is the best of the so called modern super heavies, but I think Holmes would take him on points in a great fight.
Modern. No doubt about it. Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali, Lewis... all outbox and possibly knockout Holmes or Ali. I know many will disagree with that but Look at this height, Strength, Power, Skills and range. More times than not... The modern best will beat the 'Golden Eras' best.
Lewis, the best of the bunches of modern big heavyweight also went life and death with Mercer, one of the smaller heavies but skilfull former olympic medalist. Size is not all, the bigger it gets the clumsier and less stamina it gets.
Mercer was not small when he fought Lewis.Infact Just 9 pounds less than Lewis. That differential would be way smaller than say between Fury and Ali. Even if Mercer wasn't the tallest he weighted quite alot.
That is just not true. Fury got a break by fighting Wlad after he lost his ability to pull the trigger. Even then he had great troubles winning and probably won't even defend his title. Ali would tear him a new a***hole, especially over 15 rounds, if Fury could even last that long.
On their best days, oldies win. They set the bar and very few big boys have reached it. Lewis is great, no doubt about it, but his best days were past his prime, he was a late bloomer. No way would he beat a prime Tyson or Holyfield. Klits were also great, but in a weak era. And guess what? The Klits, mighty Lewis, and even Sugar Niko ALL fell to much smaller men. Smaller men that were no where near as great as Ali, Tyson, Marciano, Holyfield, or Louis were.
By the same token, most of the old timers you cited lost to bigger men than themselves, men that were no where near as great or large as Lewis etc. It's not about individual anecdotes, it's about broader tendencies. Heavies have been getting bigger for a reason, it's not just coincidence. I won't completely rule out an old ATG beating one of the top modern shw's, but it would have to be a perfect confluence of events and styles.
People saying wlad was shot against Fury. Also said Chisora was shot against Fury. But then Chisora were at his prime again against Whyte..? He even said before the fight against Fury that he felt to be in the best shape of his life. Thats what Size differential do to you. It makes you "shot"... Chisora would have fought well in the 70's.
