1931 v 1981 heavyweights - who wins?

That aside, was he any good at world level?

 

Where was he ranked at heavyweight?

Loughran was ranked at #2, in a division where Primo Carnera was champion.

 

I like Max Schmeling plenty but he was also a bumbling fool following around a completely amateurish Baer and getting pelted with glacial jabs and the most telegraphed right hands since Samuel Morse. Larry had a quick-twitch jab and a sneaky, versatile right hand that played well at long distance, a place Max wasn't particularly comfortable.

 

My point is that although Loughran was little more than a light heavyweight, he still had to fight opponents the size of modern superheavyweights.

Being small yourself, doesn’t necessarily make your opposition small.

 

It's a tough fight for both as far as I'm concerned.
It's hard to find anyone on the list of Holmes's victims that were as good as Schmeling.
Both were great fighters.

 

He beat such opponents as Paolino Uzcudun, Jack Sharkey (2nd fight - robbed in the eyes of many), Young Stribling, Mickey Walker, Joe Louis, Steve Hamas .... that's a varied range of styles. Which makes him a versatile operator.

 

a bunch of midgets, a headcase and a lumberjack... a great range of "styles"...

The Louis victory is obviously great.

 

Ray Impelletiere was rated top 10 by RING, which would make him of note.

Schaf was 6'2" with 75" wingspan
Baer was 6'3" with 81" wingspan, he filled in as high as 220 quite comfortably.

Berbick began his career under 200 lbs until "modern nutrition" beefed him up a bit.

 

OK, so which era is stronger?

The paper evidence suggests that while neither era was particularly strong, the 30s was the stronger era.

In a strong era such as the 1970s at heavyweight, or the fab four era, you see a handful of fighters (outside of the dominant champion of the era)who distinguish themselves from the rest of the top ten ranked contenders.

You do have such fighters in the 1930s, but none rally emerged in the 1980s.