Which legends grew with time and which diminished with time?

Henry Armstrong rises and falls. Barney Ross is basically invisible now.

Mickey Walker up & down too.

 

Barney Ross is one of the highest rated on this board (rightly so)

I think research is being carried out more accurately now. People used to take Nat Fleischer and Burt Sugar at face value.

Greb was highly rated in his day. I think in the last 20 years we’ve just realised that and of course some of the myths about him have been dispelled so he’s in his rightful place now.

The likes of Khaosai, Gushiken, Cerdan, Carpentier have rightly been reassessed.

I think Carnera gets more respect now than he probably used to. And I agree with that.

 

I am a big fan of Barney Ross too....but today's "average boxing" fan (those outside of us "Experts") know very little of his Triple Champion Status, etc.

 

I agree with everything said here

Jersey Joe Walcott seems to be growing in popularity (rightfully so). Fighters like Marciano, Ray Leonard and Holmes only grow more divisive

I feel as if Dempsey doesn't get the credit he deserves sometimes, I think this correlates with a growing respect for Harry Wills and Sam Langford. Henry Armstrong is also growing less popular.

Another thing I've seen is a lowering of Ali on p4p lists. Used to ALWAYS break the top 3 but now I see people putting him out of the top 10.

 

Going way back, it seems that Jeffries had a mythic, almost godlike status in his time and even after, as some unassailable, unbeatable man-mountain. Now he's considered middling by most. Of course the press then tended to be a lot more flowery and full of hyperbole for such things back then.

 

I think Benny Leonard has been downgraded a little, almost by default because of the re-assessment of the likes of Greb and Charles. There are only so many places available in the top 10 once you factor in the likes of SRR and Henry Armstrong so inevitably anyone who was already been considered to be lower half of the top 10 gets bumped.

Joe Louis seems to have taken a bit of a hit too. I see him as 1B to Muhammad Ali's 1A at heavyweight. It's those two then everybody else. So depending on how highly you rate Ali automatically has a knock on to Louis.

My view is that as long as you have the right set of 20 names at the top of the all-time list, then the order isn't strictly important.

Personally I have both Benny Leonard and Joe Louis in my top 10.

 

I think the internet age has fortunately been a big boost for members of the Black Murderers Row, who have received a lot of belated attention on internet forums like this one as well as content produced by boxing Youtubers. I would say the average boxer fan in 2018 much more well educated on those men than fight fans in 1988 or 1998 by comparison.

Similarly, guys who suffered from the color line before that have also gotten a huge boost from the ready availability of newspaper reports and other types of information sharing on the internet. That would include guys like Langford, Wills, and Peter Jackson. They fought in an era so far removed from our own, so its hard to know exactly where to rate them, but I think they're getting some of the attention their amazing talent deserved back in the day.

 

Some guys whose legacies have shrunk:

Freddie Welsh
Davey Moore, the featherweight champ (RIP)
Lionel Rose
Sixto Escobar
Tommy Loughran

I also think the passage of time has been really unfair to Leon Spinks. He was an Olympic Gold Medalist and a heavyweight champion. I hate to see him constantly derided as a joke and an embarrassment to the heavyweight lineage.

Antonio Tarver was one of my favorites while he was active and I'm curious to see how his reputation ages with time. He had big wins over Eric Harding and Montell Griffin which no longer seem so significant: Harding's career ended up being more or less a disapointment, while Griffin is basically forgotten. And its taken for granted that RJJ was totally shot when he fought Tarver, so that huge kayo is considered basically meaningless by modern fans.

Tarver also hurt himself with multiple PED failures, inactivity, and jumps in weight that ultimately didn't amount to anything significant.

 

Sugar Ray Robinson was unquestioned numero uno for a very long time. The huge amount of research into guys like Greb, Charles and Langford in the last decade or so mean Robby does have a few challengers now.

 

Roy Jones Jr was probably regarded as one of the best p4p fighters ever up to when he beat Ruiz. Since then and with each passing year, his rep is dropping like a stone though he didn’t help himself by carrying on even when clearly shot. Now people increasingly question whether he was really incredibly overrated with a weak chin and poor boxing techniques who only got by in his prime with his great reflexes and athletic ability.

 

For whatever the reasons which have been argued, I think he takes the hit because he missed a lot of better guys .. the " eye test " is great and all but competition/being battle tested are results . And it's his resume that puts him where he is imo

 

Grew with time...Larry Holmes. Lennox Lewis. Diminished ....Evander Holyfield ,Sugar Ray Leonard ,Roy Jones

 

Joe "Old Bones" Brown (May 18, 1926 – December 4, 1997) was an American professional boxer who won the world lightweight title in 1956,

This content is protected

before losing his crown to Carlos Ortiz in 1962. Brown was a classic boxer and a knockout puncher. Known as the 'Creole Clouter' and Joe 'Old Bones' Brown, he was managed by Lou Viscusi and named The Ring's 'Fighter of the Year' for 1961. Brown was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996.[1]
In all, Brown made eleven successful defences of his title – a record until Roberto Durán's arrival in the division –

This content is protected

. After demolishing Smith, Brown beat Orlando Zulueta, Joey Lopes, Ralph Dupas, Kenny Lane, Johnny Busso, Paolo Rosi, Cisco Andrade, Bert Somodio and Dave Charnley (twice). Brown's re-match with Charnley, was named The Ring's Fight of the Year for 1961.

Nemesis came in the form of the great Carlos Ortiz from Puerto Rico. Ortiz – intelligent, agile and ten years Brown's junior – stepped down from the Junior Welterweight division where he had been king until out-pointed by Duilio Loi, to focus on the richer pickings to be had amongst the world's top Lightweights. He met Brown in Las Vegas on April 21, 1962, and took the ageing Champion's title after fifteen lackluster rounds to begin his own lengthy domination of the division.