Isn't it a bit naive to expect past era fighters to be competitive against modern fighters...?

At 126 lbs Lomachenko fought a welterweight, underhanded, 50 fight veteran in his 2nd pro fight and still took over late to lose an SD. Not an ATG who ever lived would have won that fight under those circumstances.

 

Most of the atgs wouldn't though have had 400 hundred amateur fights and already be in their prime physically and skillwise with mostly just the longer distance to adapt to, would they? Lomachenko was at a size disadvantage, though, true enough, albeit against a fighter of distinctly average talent in the scheme of things. Plus it was a close, dirty fight etc with no rematch etc.

People need to make up their mind with Lomachenko though. When the Salido fight gets brought up, it was only his second fight and his amateur background gets discarded. But when his lack of pro fights either as a legacy hinderance or h2h perception against greats with more experience gets brought up, he's had 400 amateur fights and two Olympic golds and ain't no style he never seen blah blah. You can't have it both ways.

 

This. The dissonance is amazing, really.

Loma also had plenty of 5 rounders in WSB.

 

I'd forgotten about the WSB fights mate, well said.

 

Loma will always have trouble, or possibly lose to, a (very) good pressure fighter or swarmer.

 

No excuses for that, either. They were pro rules. But suddenly forgotten.

 

I'd agree with that, I don't think he throws enough counterpunches to interrupt the flow and looks a tad uncomfortable taking body shots. Decentish on the inside but no whiz there either.

 

Agree. Loma is special, but still very soviet in his ways. I've said for some time now that he doesn't exchange and counter when an opponent is throwing. He'd rather turn the angle and reset in center ring after working, which is very 'soviet style' ala Arbachakov. This is why Loma had to stop Linares, who is defensively naive after throwing, on a body shot.

 

True. I do think Arbachakov was one of the few ex-Soviets who could incorporate his attack into his defence though. Not like a Duran you understand, his footwork and angle creation were his primary tool, but he could defo make a fighter miss and quickly counter back, especially with that right after shifting backwards. He didn't use his left hook enough though imo and didn't quite have notable enough defensive reflexes to perfectly compliment his minimalistic defensive manoeuvres, though no slouch either.

 

I watch these modern heavy weights and think there is no way anyone of them are competing (exception of Tyson Fury) with any champ Lewis down. You can’t compete against high level competition and be absolutely winded before six rounds. May be good enough to get bums out that quick but the best will take them down

 

Possessing knowledge of something and putting it into practice are 2 completely different things.

I agree with the other posters.

On average, the fighters of yesteryear were in he gym more, as they fought much more often. And it was back in the days of same day weigh-ins. Those guys were sometimes fighting once per month, whereas most guys today only fight 3-4 times per year once they've got to the highest level.

Although we now live in a world of sports science etc, many fighters today don't stay in shape all year, and many of them would struggle to fight for 15 rounds. So not everyone takes advantage of what's available to them.

 

As a more modern example name any hwt today that Bobs and weaves as good as Joe Frazier.

Joe was in his prime 50 years ago.

Name a hwt today that throws combinations as good as Joe Louis.

Louis was in his prime 80 years ago.

This type of list is endless. The truth is that every generation produces talent that would stand out in any era.

 

Those guys fought every month because they had to not because it made them better fighter's. That is why so many of those guys ended up with up dying young. I am not knocking the old greats of this sport, all I'm saying is that I believe a lot of those guys tend to be overrated when compared to post 1960 guys. Not on terms of toughness but in skill. And as far as guys from the 15 round era vs. 12 round, it all comes down to pacing. I have seen top level amauter guys completely spent after a 3 round fight because of the pace of the fight not because they were in lesser condition.

 

I’m not criticizing the outcome. Just bringing context to the equation.

 

It’s easy to be called champion with multiple champions. It’s easy to be a top ten contender with 40 top ten contenders. Lomenchencos achievement needs to be considered with this in mind. Would he have been successful against a universal true singular champion who had to fight through a true top ten who all had to fight tooth and nail to get where they were? Doubt it.