Larry Holmes.... one of the funniest things i have ever seen!!!

Actually I am. The headgames played back then was real action (from streetfights or extreme dropkicks by Holmes to blocking a champions departure by lying on the hood of the car by Ali. Quotes spoken that were so real and extreme that they were immediately known by everybody).

Nowadays the headgames are reduced to......5 second snatching the hat of the challenger during a photoshoot (I'm taking the Klitschko-Haye confrontation as an example). That's what I call a big difference in action.It proves that there has been a shift in action since the old days.

I recently saw how supposedly THE hw champion (Wlad Klitschko) was against his will engaged into a confrontation (with Haye) and all he could say was "get back in the line" while the challenger was doing all the agressive talking. Hardly impressive if you compare that to the confrontations of the old days (where you had to stand your ground and where you were talked into the ground by the champion with quotes that left you speechless).

It proves that the champions of the old days were barbarians compared to the dignified champions of today. The clips that you all are praising and loving right now......are from the old days. And you won't see any of the dignified champions producing anything like that. How unfortunate (imo)

Those are the very few guys who actually try to pull off some of that stuff and are somewhat old-skool (hopkins and toney sure are).

 

Can you imagine if Vitali had TRIED to take Larry's hat? LOL. Vitali would have gotten his knee taken out by a sidekick!

 

A good example would be Ali getting smart with Liston at a Casino, I believe, and Liston slapping his face and telling him to get the **** out. Liston was one of the baddest champions in history.

 

You keep talking about these street fights that happened when the fighters accidentally met up before the fight... what street fights?

 

Liston wasnt so bad when Ali came into the weigh in shouting and yelling, and banging his cane on the floor, with the Press snapping photos like crazy!!!

 

Eventually was Ali that got to Liston. I believe that Ali was genuinely nervous about Liston himself, but what makes him great is that he overcame this in fine form.

 

What street fights... I am waiting.

 

When did I talk about street fights?

 

I believe the Holmes-Berbick confrontation qualifies as streetfight.
But the focus of the piece above is about the loss of the art of headgames due to the arrival of dignified champions.

That art looks to be more softened down because some champions are simply too dignified (see the examples above).

The champions who acted like bad-ass instead of scholars lived more up to the imagination of people and were in the long run more praised and appreciated (see this thread alone).
The champions who were bad-ass produced more exciting press conferences (with real head games) than the dignified champions (who only come up with empty praises and only the line "get to the back of the line" when they are pushed in a word-confrontation. When Ali was pushed in a word-confrontation, you had some badass humiliating lines that left you speechless. When champions like Liston and Holmes were pressed in a confrontation,...you probably had a premature fight).

 

Homes-Berbick, Holmes-Spinks, Frazier-Ali, Tyson-Green, and Lewis-Rahman at ESPN Studios for starters.

 

Hilarious

 

People used to be extremely lame. Humans evolve. Anyways, like I stated... you were overexaggerating "street fights", and things of that nature, because that simply wasn't true. As far as head games and trash talking... there are still plenty of fighters who do that.

 

You didn't clarify here because you seem to clearly be limiting your scope to the HW division. There has been some of this type of stuff that goes on in the lower weight classes, but I agree it seems less so these days and also seems to be more about selling fights than to be about true anger. I can't count how many times Floyd and Bernard have had faux anger prefight, only to say they were just trying to sell the fight afterward.
But quite frankly it just depends on the fighter. Liston was the champ when Ali did it to him, and David Haye is trying to do the same to the Klitschkos and if he beats Vitale, you know he's going to go on an onslaught of insults on Wlad. Quite frankly that's one of the main reasons I want to see him beat Vitale. Even though I like Vitale, the **** talking that would be directed at Wlad if Haye got a belt, would be great.

 

these clips are classic
:rofl:rofl

 

True, in that piece I've indeed limited my scope to the HW division.
The reason for that is because in the old days, the hw champion was considered THE (baddest) man. Hardly the case now unfortunately as we have to go to other divisions for some exciting headgames and talks.

That's what i'm seeing too. In the heavyweight division I would say the cause of it all is the rise of the dignified scholar champions. Nobody really wants to see a dignified champion who's best line is "get back in the line". We all want to see the headgames and talk (maybe even a premature fight). Hence we're still talking about this clip from the old time when champions were real fighters desiring to fight at all times instead of dull scholars.