I think of the early to mid 1970s as an era of great boxing champions. All of these all-time great, head-to-head monsters dominating their divisions at the same time. What I found out was that Muhammad Ali, Bob Foster, Carlos Monzon, Jose Napoles and Roberto Duran were never world champions simultaneously.
Hi Fogger. Fully agree, that span of 5/6 years spawned truly great champs, as a teenager and loving boxing, these were the golden years for me, you could have included - Olivares, Rodriguez, Ohba, Arcari, Saldivar, Pimentel, Galindez, Canto, Zarate, Jofre, Chionoi, Valdez, Arguello, Chacon, all very good to great fighters, I will go with the years 69/75 as the finest for great fighters, I stand to be corrected, and I it would be a sort of topic, as to any 6 year period as being more fruitful. stay safe buddy, chat soon.
Hi Mike, You are a couple of years older than I am but these were essentially my teen years as well. Even then, I knew these guys were of very high quality, I just didn't know they were historically great. It really was an amazing era.
I can only imagine what it was like, it sounds like it was a great time to be alive for boxing during 69-75. I'm just making a case that the 90s should be in the conversation imo. I have always felt the boxers of the 90s could hold up to any era in boxing. This list is not in any particular order or ranked. To be fair theses fighters are during the 90s decade vs 69-75 which is only 6 years as you stated. Mike Tyson Evander Holyfield RJJ Lennox Lewis Manny Pacquiao Bernard Hopkins Pernell Whitaker Oscar De La Hoya Felix Trinidad George Foreman Marco Antonio Barrera Julio Cesar Chavez Erik Morales Kostya Tszyu Riddick Bowe Vitali Klitschko James Toney Larry Holmes Hector Camacho Naseem Hamed Floyd Mayweather Jr. Julian Jackson Terry Norris Frankie Randall Buddy McGirt Yori Boy Campas Ricardo Lopez David Tua Johnny Tapia Nigel Benn Gerald McClellan Chris Eubank Tommy Morrison Meldrick Taylor Ike Quartey Ray Mercer Michael Moorer Andrew Golota Mike McCallum Frank Bruno Buster Douglas Fernando Vargas Michael Carbajal Vinny Paz Donovan Ruddock Vigil Hill
Hi buddy. Thanks for taking the time and effort to reply, for sure some great fighters contained in your list, honestly only a few get my blood racing, JCC being one of them, I think it's more of a coming of age scenario, by that I mean the 69/75 fighters, we grew up together, they were young and carefree, as was I, also a bit like Jaws, the best parts didn't contain the shark, likewise the fight fan of my time period didnt see the fighters ! we had to rely on Boxing News / The Ring, etc, so there was something mystical about my fighters, we had to use our imagination sometimes, sure there was the printed copy of the fight, but you still had to think how the fight would look, so yes, I believe they were part of my youth, they framed it, made it a wonderful time to be a fight fan, whenever I see an old photo of Briscoe, Napoles Olivares, et al, bit like my fav Dusty record " Going Back " that's me done, thanks for your patience fellow posters. stay safe buddy, chat soon.