What made the 70's so special?

The fact that the top fights got made.

 

Colour television and satellite broadcasts.

.... and Ali of course.

 

I would say it is pretty much the first generation of post-war babies, no malnutrition issues, better rights for black folks, television being well and truly established, America prospering throughout that decade (most of the fights we are talking about were in America or with American fighters), England's glory time was the 60s and America followed in the 70s.
Plus there was a lot of competitiveness with the Soviet Union.
Plus you had true legends of the sport like Ali, they do not come around often. Who else has there been? Michael Jordan? Maybe Michael Phelps? Sir Steve Redgrave?

 

Top level talent, contrasting styles, upsets, and free TV for most fights. The 1970's was Boxing's golden age when the sport captured the publics attention.

 

The 70s were special. They were the best era for hws, well, the early to mid 70s at least. But I tend to think it´s a bit overrated and people get a bit carried away when talking about it.

 

Big personalities in the Heavyweight division all wanting to fight each other and all possessing a different style.

Jizztastic.

 

Of course :good The depth of talent in the division in this golden era has never been equalled,imo. The golden era, in my book,was between 1970 - 1976.

 

The lack of American domination, the exotic locations for world title fights.

 

What made the 70's so special?
Muhammad Ali
Joe Frazier
George Foreman
Jimmy Young
Bob Foster
Victor Galindez
John Conteh
Carlos Monzon
Rodrigo Valdez
Emile Griffith
Jose Napoles
Carlos Palomino
Jose Cuevas
Wildred Benitez
Sugar Ray Leonard
Roberto Duran
Ken Buchanan
Danny Little Red Lopez
Wilfredo Gomez
Ruben Olivares
MIguel Canto

15 Round title fights
Champions defending titles on network tv...
This is why the seventies were so special...

 

Yes, i agree with that...roughly between '70 and '76-'77

 

I don't know about "depth of talent". It's impossible to measure.
Sure enough, Foreman's peak happened in this period, and Ali was still very good (good enough to beat Foreman), and Frazier was peaking in '70 and '71.
But outside of those three, who for argument's sake were great, there is no special "talent".

 

For me Tony Mundine Snr and Junior are very good yardsticks for measuring the depth of boxing in the 1970's. Both had similar careers, top contenders but falling short in the big fights. But i swear watch a bunch of Mundine Snr fights and then a bunch of Jnr fights and draw your own conclusions.

 

Red cobra got it right. THATS why the 70s was so special. Also, I think to each person, it depends when you really got into the sport. If I were older , I'd probably be saying how the 50s were so great, and how nobody could beat Marciano. Or younger, I'd be sayin how the 90s were the greatest. But those 70s fighters are the ****, in every division. Every freakin wk on tv, there were great fights, for FREE! Its a real shame when people actually paid for those first few pay for veiw fights, if they didn't, the'yd still be on tv for free.

 

Hype. The 70's heavyweight remain the most overrated group in the history of the sport. Both Frazier and Ali had already done their best work by very early in the decade (Ali by the end of the previous decade) and were on a physical decline for the remainder. Foreman was coddled then deified for taking out a quickly declining Frazier and a fragile b-fighter in Norton. Then, a slew of b-raters soaked up the light cast by Ali, and in the process became demi-Gods, tho their performances and physical assets would not seem to justify it... Quarry, Young, Shavers, Lyle, etl al. The latter 4 years were bleak and desperate, with Ali "defending" the title against a collection of handpicked Euro-bums and upstarts, losing to a 7-fight veteran... the one beacon of hope arriving at the very end of the decade in Holmes.

What caused this glorification of an otherwise pedestrian era? A singular personality in the dawning age of the electronic media, a personality who ultimately had his schtick transfered to morning cartoons, record albums, t-shirts, lunchboxes, cologne, roach killers, comic books and every other consumable that can be named. He was the light in which all the others basked.