1980s to early 1990s. Look at the talent: Alexis Arguello. Ray Leonard. Roberto Duran. Thomas Hearns. Salvador Sanchez. Marvin Hagler. Wilfred Benitez.
This talent isn't bad: Muhamad Ali. Bob Foster. Carlos Monzon. Jose Napoles. Roberto Duran. Vicente Saldivar. Rueben Olivares. that would have been late 60s to mid 70s .
The 80s and 90s. Duran, Hagler, Hearns, Tyson, Holyfield, Roy Jones, Morrison, Toney, Prior, the G-Man - I enjoyed watching all of them. The one exception is that cowardly ***** runner Leonard who robbed Hagler with his powder puff shoe shinning punches at the end of the rounds.
Similar to my era (I started later but stopping going to all but big shows in 95ish). But I think you are looking through rose tinted glasses. The British title did mean things, when the right fighter had the belt or was challenging, and yes there was often good scraps in the Halls. But the quality overall is down on what we have today. The money from the Olympics has really helped with quality a decade and a half on. Fighters are generally fitter and smarter today, and for good or bad, fight less often.
Apart from the advances we've made in heavyweight division (which may, in some part, be a consequence of America's severe decline), I'm not sure we have fighters better or even as good as we had in the 1980s.
If it were not for good old Dennis Andries, there would be times in the 80s when we did not hold any other of the 51 world title belts on offer. There was some excellent talent in the 80s, that benefitted from a golden era for British boxing, TV wise. But overall, we struggled to produce top notch talent. I would agree we did have more solid domestic level talent, possibly because there were a lot more pros then. I am sure someone from the 50s would suggest the same thing, because there were more fighters back then than the 80s, and I am sure someone from the 30s... You get my point!
We had a decent crop of fighters at middleweight and below, I'd say were world class or close to it : Alan Minter, Tony Sibson, Herol Graham, Lloyd Honeyghan, Maurice Hope, Colin Jones, Terry Marsh, Barry McGuigan, Pat Cowdell, Charlie Magri, Dave McAuley, Duke McKenzie.
Nothing succeeds like nostalgia I guess. I still enjoy watching some of the Welterweight and Middleweight wars from that era though.
The fabulous Aughts and Early Teens of the heavies... Wlad, Vitali, Ruslan, Nikolai, Alexander, Eddie, Sultan, Samuel... Those were heady days, indeed
I remember Bunny Sterling's European Middleweight Title bout against Jean Claude Bouttier in 1972 before Bouttier fought and lost to World Champion Carlos Monzon in Paris, France.
As many have posted previously, the 1980s was a great few years. It was when I really got into boxing. Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Duran etc, plus the exciting UK middleweight scene ( Tony Sibson was my favourite & hometown fighter ). It seemed nobody dodged anyone, there were so many huge fights domestically & in the U.S. A great time to get into this great sport.
