Spence isn't a great fighter...

Don't flatter yourself. You're one of a thousand people pissing into the pool polluting the forum with the same tired revisionist tripe, your narrative is tired. I'm not really big on rubbing elbows with fans that can't appreciate their own chosen sport, and I'll call bull**** on it whenever I see it. Color yourself important if you'd like.

 

The fight game was approached very differently back then. Fighters were fighting at least once a month. It was a pay check. And they weren't being paid much but it put food on the table. There were less weight divisions. Fighters regularly fought guys bigger and smaller. They went where the money was. I suspect what this did was make those who were able to do it very tough. But I don't think it made them any better than the fighters of today. Throw today's fighters into the same mix, where they had to fight once a month to get paid enough to pursue a boxing career and you would have the same results. But you can't tell me that Joe Louis was any tougher than Mike Tyson. Evander Holyfield would have KO'd Marciano in my estimation, even though Marciano, like Holyfield, was a brute for his size. The only real change that has taken place is nutrition. Fighters are conditioned and trained better than before. They tend to be bigger and in better condition than they were a generation ago. Can you imagine Marciano fighting Klitschko? What do you think would have happened with Marciano and Tua? Same height but Tua outweighed Marciano by 50 lbs.!!!

 

Why even mention Inoue, he only fights empty Sardine cans...

 

How can we tell if Spence is a great fighter, not P4P for sure, fighting Ocampo was a total disgrace and a badly beaten up Brook......................when will he fight someone?

 

Ultimately this is true.

Spence's visible talent (the mighty eye test) gives him a great grade that his opposition can't confirm for us.

I do chalk myself up as a believer in the man. I think he will get there one day but as of now he is actually overrated by those putting him on P4P lists. In the end, resume is everything. It's not as though he's a total one hit wonder or hasn't fought anyone notable. It's just that he has only one victory over a top 5 opponent.

 

you fail to take into account, what fighting 50 real fights vs different guys, all inside your physical prime, will do for your skill level and ring iq. to have the fighting wisdom and muscle memory of bernard hopkins with the body of errol spence... now throw one of todays primadonnas up against one of those professional gladiators and im not so sure theyll covet that labor.

 

Yeah, but you know as well as I do there were a lot more bums back then than today. The bums are weeded out pretty quickly these days. Look at Archie Moore's record. Started his career at around 145, ended it at 203. Fought 219 fights and many of the same fighters multiple times. Was he savvy? Of course. They didn't call him The Old Mongoose for nothing but to say these guys from this era were superior is false. Their training was on the job and most of them probably had no amateur experience. Whereas a guy like Loma had nearly 400 amateur bouts. Different day.

 

Spence was the one who beat up Brook badly!

 

i think the bums were weeded out faster in those days, so much so, that the top 3 in a division, more often than not, had a handfull of fights between themselves each year. today, you can have a full successful career having only fought a top 2 once.
lomas 400 amateur wins didnt prepare him for a guy with no amateur experience to speak of, who started pro with a record of 8-6-1 in his first 15, but learned on the job.

 

As incredible and impressive as Loma's amateur record was he was moving into uncharted waters fighting a 12 round professional championship bout. He is conservative by nature so he was boxing conservatively. He waited too long but he nearly KO'd Salido in the final round. And Salido should have had numerous points taken, even DQ'd for the constant low blows that the ref chose to ignore.

Completely disagree about the bums being weeded out faster back then. You had regional guys that were fighting all the time back then. These same guys wouldn't even get approval to fight by most commissions these days due to all the concussions. Far more mediocre guys back then.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard was an amazing fighter. There's an inner circle in the Hall of Fame for guys of his ability. There's no Sugar Ray right now because there is only one Ray Leonard.

There are some legit HOF careers in the making right now, starting with Loma. The potentials of Crawford and Spence are both great.

Boxing lost a lot of great fighters in the last few years. It will take a bit for the young guys to establish themselves as great, but some will.

 

This.