Briggs calls the 90s the best HW era ever

GGG doesn't get past Foster

 

I agree

 

In the '90s, Foreman was still at the top, as was Holmes, who seemed to be finished in the '80s. But he came back with a belly, even older, and was more competitive. McCall, Bruno, Seldon, Bentt, Hide, Botha, etc.... they were champions!! Bruno was clearly broken, and a past prime won the title in the '90s. This era was much weaker athletically but well-promoted. However, I remember a time when, at the end of the decade, it was considered the worst era in heavyweight boxing history. It's incredible how marketing and revisionism changed those opinions.

 

Absolutely true.
Frank Bruno is a good example. He got two shots at world title in 1980s and failed. Retired for almost 3 years with a bad eye and comes back in 1991. He got two shots at world title in 1990s, and won on his fourth attempt. Then he lost again a lesser Tyson in 1996 than Tyson in 1989, and was less competitive.

 

Nobody can deny its entertainment value but in terms of actual substance 90s HW division was an absolute sh*tshow.

Era literally started with the prodigy-child Tyson getting manhandled and stopped by a relative nobody before going to prison. Tyson was pushed as the "man" and star of the division for about 5 years now, so with all that hype being broken, HW didn't have anyone else to catch the attention of viewers. Then Holyfield made an appearance, which made everything worse. People doubted and clowned on him a lot for being a pumped-up CW and Holyfield didn't make it easy to respect his abilities when he had toe-to-toe brawls with washed-up contenders of 80s and took the title from a fat Douglas that could barely move around the ring. He then proceeded to defend the title against two 40+ year old men that were seen as circus acts, and had rocky moments en route to winning a decision when he was expected to brutally KO both. He also defended it against a journeyman Bert Cooper and got dropped before winning. Then he FINALLY tried to defend the belt against a young, skilled, geniune HW in Riddick Bowe and got whooped all over the ring.

After this, the attention shifted to Bowe. He was already known as a talent since his amateur days and looked amazing against Holyfield. Around this time his Olympics rival Lennox brutally KO'd Ruddock in an upset and people were expecting to see these two men who did not like each other one bit settling it in pros. But it didn't happen. Bowe had two almost make-believe defenses against journeyman Ferguson and a shot Dokes, then rematched Holyfield and got controversially beaten by decision. What happened to Lewis you ask? A year after Bowe lost to Holyfield he got chinned by McCall in an upset.

Entering 1994, Holyfield attempted to have his first title defense against Michael Moorer, a pumped-up LHW whose best wins were Bert Cooper and a 39 year old James Smith. And he lost. Moorer beat him and now the HW belts were in the hands of a literal LHW. Then somehow, things got even more embarrassing when Foreman used his connections to secure a title shot and KO'd Moorer, holding the belts at the age of 45 before gradually losing it piece by piece via refusing to fight with mandatories.

But a short while later, some hope for the division re-emerged when Mike Tyson returned from the prison in 95. Took a few tune-up matches and walked all over Frank Bruno and Seldon before signing for a super-fight with Holyfield. This was "the moment" for many fans, the prodigy child was back and he'd show everyone what a true ATG HW looks like. But it, once again, did not happen. Tyson got slapped around and stopped by Holyfield despite being a 6-1 favorite. And with that, the last hope for the division died down as well.

After 1996 everything just faded into quiet. Moorer beat some decent names like Schulz, but got dominated by Holyfield then just left and didn't return until 2000. Bowe took two life-altering beatings from Andrew Golota before retiring. Holyfield went beat Vaugh and 0-1-1 (in actuality 0-2) with Lewis. Tyson turned into a can-crusher. And a peaking Lewis took over the era, bullying the old shells of what his opponents used to be.

What made 90s exciting were the interesting characters, ungodly amount of KO artists and exciting styles / matches. Overall it wasn't that good of an era imo, so many missed match-ups, wasted talents and underwhelming moments.

 

I remember Steve Farhood and Jeff Ryan of Ko Magazine calling the Heavyweight division 9f the 1990s one of the worst ever circa late 1994 and 95 speaking of Tyson having to ' save the division again".

I do think the 1990s starts to become overrated after that point. The very fact Foreman and Holmes and a Tyson way past their prime were able to compete tells me something.

Lewis is now a heavyweight who like Joe Calzaghe has seen his reputation soar in retirement having beaten a past it rival in Holyfield,Tyson and Jones Jnr respectively.

The 1990s was a good era but if Lewis,Bowe ,Mercer,Morrisson ,Ruddock,Moorer ,Seldon were the young up n comers to the top tier of Tyson/ Holyfield/ Foreman as the decade started 90/91...than the mid 90s crop of Golota,Ibeabuchi, Briggs and Tua for various reasons although they didn't pan out ..... it is a measure of the sheer volume of talented ,capable and diverse heavyweights the 90s had the interesting angles...that I think it deserves the perception of having been a good interesting era but not great or special ...no way.....most those 1990s prospects failed or crashed and burned quickly for an array of reasons...that's why Foreman and Holmes were competing throughout

I'd argue the 1990s HW division started in 1991 and ended in 2002 with Lewis's brutalisation of Tyson.

For it to compare to the 1970s it would've needed a Golota,Morrison, a Bowe to fulfill their potential and compete consistently and throughout ( echoes of the 80s for different reasons)...it would have needed Tyson to have been more than an empty shell from 92-2002.....so yes its a good era definetely the last one a cery interesting one ...but not great like the 70s.

 

Lennox barely squeaked past a fading Holyfield in their second fight. He isn't destroying Ali. He does not have the speed or the work rate. And he was often cautious when fighting quality opponents. Peak Ali beats Lewis 9 times out of 10 if not 10 times out of 10.

Holyfield has nothing to beat Ali with. Ali is way faster of both hand and foot. Holyfield would get his head boxed off.

The same Lewis that barely edged past Mercer isn't destroying Ali or Foreman. Need i remind folks that an old Larry Holmes dominated Mercer. And Holmes was not as talented as Ali even at his peak.

The fact that Holmes and Foreman had success in the 90's, even limited success, alone shows that the 90's is not the greatest heavyweight era ever.

 

No ATG beats another ATG 9/10.

But I do agree that Ali has a better chance against Lewis than most people think.

 

To underline what myself and others have noticed.
Mike Tyson was a 1980s era fighter.
Larry Holmes was 1970s/1980s
George Foreman was 1970s.
Evander Holyfield was well established before 1990, but he's a 1980s/1990s fighter.
Razor Ruddock was 1980s/1990s fighter. He was over in 1992.
Tim Witherspoon 1980s.
Frank Bruno 1980s mostly.

The heavyweights who became legit ranked after 1989 ..
Lennox Lewis
Riddick Bowe
Ray Mercer
Michael Moorer
Michael Grant
Ike Ibeabuchi
David Tua
Bruce Seldon?
Tommy Morrison?
Shannon Briggs??
Henry Akinwande?
Oliver McCall?

Eric Esch deserves a mention.

 

The only problem with the argument for the 90s being the best Heavyweight decade is that Briggs was successful in it.

 

If I told you that the heavyweight decade, where a crusierweight, a light heavyweight and a 45 year old were champions (not some title holders, unified and lineal champions), was the best, you would laugh in my face. But there you go, that's the 90's. Great era, no doubt, but saying it was the best, is just hyping your own time, to make yourself look more important than you really are. Almost every fighter did that to be fair.

 

Briggs didn't beat any top fighters, he was carefully managed and had an impressive W-L record. His best wins were over 44 year old Ray Mercer, and he came from behind to beat Liakovich (who would lose more than he won for the rest of his career). Briggs lost to Darroll Wilson, Lewis, Sedreck Fields, McCline, Ibragimov, and VK, the only other "names" he fought.

Briggs "earned" his title shot with Foreman by getting stopped by Wilson. Not being durable and having asthma made him a prime opponent for the Foreman team.

 

Briggs would have knocked out Joe Frazier

 

As crazy as this sounds on paper I would actually go with this outcome

 

Sad thing is, people here actually think you’re serious. That’s how much this place has declined.