Most people think that this was the strongest era for the heavyweight scene.What i wonder is that during the 70's did the boxing public and experts think that it was the strongest?
At the time, nobody talked about the division as being at its strongest point historically. People knew that Ali, Frazier and Foreman were all-time greats or near greats, but that same high esteem wasn't necessarily extended to the era's contenders. Only in the '80s and '90s did people look back on the depth of talent in the '70s and accord it high respect.
No, people weren't saying that it was the strongest era ever, but it is notable that pretty much no one was saying it was the weakest ever or one of them, which a lot of people usually are saying in any given era.
I agree. People enjoyed the competition and the great fights and didn't complain, so that means they thought it was a good era.
I must say. All great comments. No doubt with the lack of stations then, a (non- pay-per-view)heavyweight televised championship bout was huge.
it was the biggest era for the heavyweight division. the division was so strong that they had excellent contenders like bonavena who in todays era he would have beat almost everyone and would have been a very solid champion.
I'm not really sure that guys like Bonavena, Ellis, Quarry, Lyle, Shavers, Bugner, Norton and Young where that special each and one of them. It's just that you had so many quality contenders and then four ATG champions in Frazier, Foreman, Ali and Holmes. That of course makes it a very special era.
The Contenders fought each other.....then the de-throned champ fought the best contenders to get a shot at the championship again. ABC Wide World of Sports, CBS Sports Spectacular, NBC Sports World all brought top of the line heavyweight fights to you. Then the very best fights were on Closed Circuit which was like going to the fight in itself. Great days.....not like the "marketing system" we have today...boxing was truly a major sport back then.
As well as the Top Guys, it was a time when nearly every couple of months, a new heavyweight "One to Watch" would Emerge, Jose Luis Garcia, Big Dave Matthews, Ron Stander, Al Lewis, Morris Jackson, Ted Gullick, Al Jones (x2) Pedro Lovell, Biff Cline, Boone Kirkman, Jeff Merritt, Walter Moore, Gord Racette ect ect the local Prospects just kept coming, most ultimately faltered and fell away but they added some good ink to the Trade Journals of the Time and it was interesting to see who would come through or who would fall at the first hurdle, like most Periods the Top end was bubbling Away nicely, but at grass Roots Level it was also a very fertile period.
I think one of the most notable things about the 1970s was how non-chalant many observers were about what we today would regard as FOTY candidates. For instance, Lyle-Shavers was nearly totally ignored by the press and was only filmed for archival purposes, yet it was a fight between two experienced, well-known and entertaining punchers. Great scraps like that were just so common that they weren't seen as too special. It's also worth noting that, thanks partially to Ali's loud mouth, the greats of the 1960s and 1970s got a lot more respect from many observers in head-to-head matches than their predecessors. There wasn't the same cult of nostalgia that is present in the modern era. One thing that's interesting is that even when the top of the division was boring (during some periods of Ali's later reign) the division was well-regarded due to Ali's personality, promotional skills and the very strong competitive layer of contenders below. Managers also took more risks (I cite Foreman-Young and Berbick-Norton) which made for a less predictable division.
I think he means Duane Bobick vs Ken Norton ( Bobick takes a big right hand to the Adam's apple from Norton.... now that really hurts......and is ko'ed in one).
Indeed I do. Berbick vs. Norton would actually have been pretty interesting, considering that they were both only really good when they were on the front foot.