Anyone think The 1940's Heavies Were On A Par With The 1970's?

Brion may have also deserved the nod against Layne and Norkus. Maybe one of the all time sturdier chins as well, only one stoppage loss at the end of his career against Holman in 11 defeats.

 

Yeah, Thompson and Chageav are simply better fighters than Wepner. Even now.

I do believe Takam is probably the better fighter at the moment, given he has a win over Thompson, a draw against the higher rated Perez, and was looking good against Povetkin. If he can continue to rebound well I suspect he'll probably replace one of them in the ratings soon. Joshua likely will as well.

 

The heavyweight division is currently on the rise.

Wladimir Klitschko
Tyson Fury
Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Alexander Povetkin
Kubrat Pulev


These are legitimate world class fighters

 

I have yet to see this Joshua kid, though I imagine some of his footage is on youtube. Just don't sit down and watch youtube clips much lately. Lot's of good prospects out there right now. division is showing signs of life.

 

Q,

The Amatuer super heavies is a loaded group. Maybe there isn't anyone as good as Wlad or Lewis but there are some as good or better than Povetkin.

Medzhidov ( Russia/Azerbaijan) - Huge puncher type with decent skills. Best amatuer super heavyweight puncher in at least a decade.

Hrgovic (Croatia) - A super heavy with good skills, durability and power. Has not put it all together yet, but if he does he could be the best of the bunch.

Dychko (Kazakhstan) - 6'8" tall. Looks a bit like VItlai Klitcscko. Moves liked a middle weight. Very fast for his size. Has decent power. Decent chin, but KO'd in the World Am's in the finals by Medzhidov

Omarov (Russia) - Young. Super heavy with skills. Has the tools to become a top pro. We'll see how he does in the next Olympics.

Kuzmin (Russia) _ Went pro. A bear of a man with a lot of power, I dinf him a bit slow. He can hit though. Might be the worst prospect I'm listing. If he losses 20 pounds, he has a good shot to be ranked in the top 15 in a few years/

Nistor (Romania ) Short pressure fighter, with a lot of power, and a chin to match. Beat Joshua.

Joshua ( England ) - Went Pro. Very good prospect. Excellent size, power and speed. A little chinny though and average on defense.

Usky - ( Ukraine ). Went pro. 6'3 south paw with pound for pound type of skills. He's a crusierweight for now I view him as better than Povetkin.

Savon ( Cuba ) The cousin of Felix is very fast and can fight.

If half of the above names go pro by 2017, the heavyweight division will be teaming with young talent.

 

Sigh.... No one from the good ole' US of A.

 

Chuck Wepner did not deserve to be world rated in the 1970s.
He was a run-of-the-mill New Jersey clubfighter.

 

I know this explanation is getting to be a cliche with every shady fighter who didn't deserve to be ranked, but Chuck did have mob connections. and when Don King was looking for an easy fight for Ali I believe he and the Jersey crew had some dealings about it.

 

Yeah, that's true, and a couple of the newspapers at the time picked up on it a bit, I think.
I think it was King's Cleveland mob connections too that helped.

Chuck was probably RING ranked on the strength of a decision over a washed-up Ernie Terrell, which apparently was one of the worst sole referee / hometown decisions ever.

Wepner's best legitimate wins would be two against fellow NJ heavy Randy Neumann, a prospect for a while who never became a contender but did go on to be a championship referee.

 

Yeah I really don't see any justification for Wepner having any legitimate rating. As you say the Terrell win was likely a robbery and Ernie was washed up anyway. His wins over Terry Heinke and Randy Neuman were average at best. Chuck was a journeyman in the purest sense of the term... Jesse Ferguson was probably a better fighter.

 

Yeah, I'd put Wepner closer to Mike Jameson level.

 

Probably a good pairing.

 

George Foreman - who was known to be a 'protected' fighter built on a long line of mediocre fighters - was matched with Wepner in his fourth pro fight (Wepner was 18-4-2) .... that illustrates Wepner's ability and standing in the heavyweight scene.

Sonny Liston, washed up semi-alcoholic, and coming off a devastating KO loss to Leotis Martin, was matched with a "prime" Wepner as his comeback fight, and battered him.

 

They'd put on a decent fight. :good

 

Of course, it has to be said - and with no exaggeration - without Chuck Wepner being rated a contender as his challenge to Ali, a huge part of the last 40 years of cinema history and the cultural mainstream would be missing or largely altered !