Anyone On Here That Thinks The 70 s, Golden Era, Is Overrated?

Money the man. In all his glory.

 

No.

 

It was arguably the best era in heavyweight history so if it’s overrated then every era is probably overrated. But it’s more about it having hit a saturation point in terms of discussion. Not sure what is new to say about it.

Not having lived through it, it’s hard for me to say definitively but I lived through the 90s heavies and that era is definitely overrated in my book.

 

a lot of the really good guys were from the previous decade in both cases, like Ali and Frazier in the 60's, Tyson in the 80's, pre Evan Fields Holyfield

 

Tyson—Ruddock x2(close enough)
Mercer—Morrison
Tua—Ibeabuchi
Golota—Lewis
Tua—Rahman
Grant—Golota
Mercer—Lewis
Akinwande—Lewis

Holyfield was still decent in the mid 2000s.

Vitali was elite in his 40s after 2010.

Wlad almost beat Joshua while in his 40s.

Povetkin starched Whyte while way past his prime.

I don’t see it as some amazing proof that an entire era was the greatest ever because Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer (while losing) and he and Holmes have Holyfield a decent fight each.

 

It was certainly one of the most entertaining decades for HW boxing.

 

If we are talking heavyweights then definitely not

 

Imagine that, imagine if Cooper caught Frazier cold and retired with no rematch.

 

I think they are overrated but as a new boxing fan, to lend my perspective, the 70s of Heavyweights is what began my obsession. Over time, I've learned to appreciate other divisions but it took awhile to look at the HW era and give credit to the guys who followed after. The 80s is a strong division, the 90s is a strong division. And rightfully between these three decades and eras of heavyweights, all of them could be argued to be the strongest.

I had to learn to love the 80s and 90s and take off my rose tinted glasses that made me laud the 70s to death.

Some of my favorites, Witherspoon, Page, Bowe, Tubbs, Weaver, Ruddock, Pinklon. Yes these are the most popular names, but the alphabet belt holders from these eras were damn impressive and exciting fighters.

 

IMO, not overrated at all and I’m still young enough (LOL) not to have been fully cognisant of the whole era as it went down - so I’m not necessarily trapped in a nostalgic bubble.

The 70s have more ATGs figuring in most top 10 lists and most at the top end. The 70s also have more fights figuring in most top 10 lists - not just based on their competitiveness but the quality therein also.

The 70s also had two of its ATGs straying outside their own era, into the 90s with excellent degrees of success, one ATG winning the title again 20 years after the original fact.

As already stated, in the 70s most everyone fought one another - so there wasn’t so much OTT hypothesising/extrapolating as to who might beat who - and a fertile, interactive bed bears the most outstanding crop of contenders and champions….

 

Only Ali, Frazier and Foreman are about right. The others will be just good contenders in other eras.

 

Holmes?

 

I consider him more 80's, yeah he had the Norton fight, but he did not "Rule" the 70's or was a major highlight fight wise. Like is almost like calling Dempsey a 1910's fighter or Wlad being called a 90's fighter when there best work was the decade that follow.

 

Definitely not overrated, but perhaps over discussed - but if any HW era in boxing is deserving of heaps of praise, it's surely the 70's. I was just a pre-teen back in those days, but those fights made a huge impact on me. As eloquently stated in a prior comment, it felt like the whole world stopped for those big fights!

Not to mention all the coverage in the newspapers & on TV, all the discussions in the bars, clubs, schools etc. - boxing was so much more respected and ingrained into the culture of America at the time. I was proud to be a fight fan in those days, one didn't feel like a 2nd rate sports fan, so to speak. Boxing was treated with dignity.

 

In terms of non-heavyweights, the quality of the champions was superb, with many divisional all-time greats competing during that era. The best of each division:

Heavyweight: Ali
Light-heavyweight: Bob Foster
Middleweight: Carlos Monzon
Welterweight: Jose Napoles
Junior welterweight: Antonio Cervantes
Lightweight: Roberto Duran
Junior lightweight: Alexis Arguello
Featherweight: Ernesto Marcel, Alexis Arguello, Eusebio Pedroza
Junior featherweight: Wilfredo Gomez
Bantamweight: Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate
Flyweight: Miguel Canto, Masao Ohba

That’s not even all of the best of them but that’s a heck of a roll-call of great fighters.