Weakest Era for Heavyweights

Like your bench bro

 

Probably not compared to the 90s, but hear me out.

Fury and Joshua are clearly standouts.

Eras where two standout heavyweights face off, invariably go on to be remembered as strong eras.

Outside of the top two, you have dangerous fighters like Wilder, wild cards like Usky, and strong contenders like Whyte.

Even outside the top ten, you have dangerous guys like Chisorah, and guys like Joyce knocking on the door.

Overall a tough division I would say!

https://www.ringtv.com/ratings/?weightclass=272

 

Good argument @janitor

 

Its not a decade as such but things were ugly from 2005-2014

 

This is not a sign of strength of any era. Foreman and Holmes found success in the vulnerability of the division once Tyson got sent away. A division without a strong consistent Champion.

 

i dont know about the silent film era boxing but in recent times i think 40s were weak (obv there are exceptions)

but if we're being honest with ourselves now is not great. i'm not speaking to like h2h talent between eras but more in terms of entertaining fights. which is not just about the top 5 guys. the fringe guys gotta make/have good fights like in the 70s and 90s. where's our Mercer vs Cooper for this era? Joyce vs Dubois wasn't it, tho that was far from the worst hw fight i've seen. fights like ruiz vs arreola and the kownacki helenius rematch have potential to be good but they need to happen faster.

 

The 90s had talent but no consistency.

Holmes and Foreman got those title shots because the landscape was so barren, Evander had been struggling for credible contenders. Tyson was injured and soon arrested. Ruddock was injured. Damani was injured. The undefeated Olympian Mercer got humilated by old Holmes. Lewis wasn't ready. And we all love Evander but he was a vulnerable Champion, small, in his 30s, and lacking power in the HW division, Foreman and Holmes liked their chances against him and performed well in defeat.

This should have been Bowe's era but he split the titles, got fat, and lost to Evander. Bowe won a rubber match in a non title bout and pissed his career away.

The aging Evander lost to Moorer over some health issues. Foreman got the call again, and actually won. As you mentioned, Holmes ended up challenging McCall after Lewis went down. Holmes McCall was actually a close fight. So we are looking at a division so vulnerable we almost had Foreman (lineal) and Holmes (WBC) Champion...and people talk about depth. Only when listing names from a decade and not taking into account their standings or condition at the time.

Aging Bruno, McCall, old Foreman, Seldom...these were our Champions. Tyson started unifying but got upset by a 34 year old Holyfield, who ruled officially until Lewis became lineal.

Foreman didn't lose to Briggs lol. You're talking to someone who actually watched these fights. For the talent that passed through it, 90s maybe one of more disappointing eras in history.

 

This is potentially the best era ever. The reason I say that is that there are several seriously talented am standouts who are just lurking in the top 50. If they all start getting fights, we’ll be able to see how much talent is out there.

 

The 80's is greatly underperforming but deeply talented ... Don King wrecked the era by horrifically treating the fighters, ruining their careers, treating them as inter changable garbage and stealing their purses .. he did so before and after the 80's but that was his long streak of dominance .. fighters simply lost will under these circumstances .. one of Larry Holmes greatest strengths was his will and focus not to fall into that category ..

 

Utter nonsense.

The people who underperformed in the 1980s were people who underperformed whether King promoted them or not.

Probably 90 percent of the fights you love that took place in the United States in the 1980s were either promoted or co-promoted by Don King.

 

It becomes harder and harder to judge the eras as after the 70s you had the Super fight affect. Everyone wanted to remain unbeaten after that as they would make themselves a bigger draw. Even if the “unbeaten” label was a fraud. So now you have these last several decades of everyone avoiding each other till they can sign a big fight. When doing the five best wins thread it was clear the further back in time you went the more great wins contenders had. Now you have guys getting title shots with out actually beating anyone of note. But they’re “undefeated”. Makes it hard to judge an era like this which could be good but they don’t fight each other.

 

You're wrong. Period. The list of heavyweights he destroyed and how it did it is well documented. Start with

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Crimes-...ywords=don+king&qid=1612556073&s=books&sr=1-1

I'll go further .. the 80's with Page, Dokes, Witherspoon, Thomas, Tubbs, Coetzee and others was one of the deepest talent wise in heavyweight history ... they were mentally destroyed, like hookers by a master pimp.