Best era for MW contenders?

great list of fighters,

however Stature wise, Height & Weight, without months of weight cutting time, those fighters in more Classic Era's would be every inch of Light - Heavyweight cum Heavyweights...

and that truly makes all the difference to whom they would actually be fighting and be compared too.

 

I also most times respond from memory rather than double-checking sources before I post, thus sometimes shooting myself in the foot. I like to correct inaccuracies just to make sure they aren't picked up and repeated until they are thought to be the truth. I appreciate it when somebody sets me straight. All this to emphasize that I was not trying to score points. I enjoy your contributions immensely.

 

A few of them were definitely fighters that would have spent substantial parts of their career above 160 in the '40s/50s but certainly not all of them....weight bully G-man could have started at 168/75,...Jones jr and Toney (and Nunn/Eubank/Watson if they were around to still be on that list) are the sort of fighters that would have spent a similar amount of time at 160 back then as they did in their own same day weigh-in period..Toney might actually have lasted longer at 160 back then, as it was his lifestyle outside the ring that caused him to be regularly above 175 (plus he had the durability and stylistic attributes to get away with a lot against bigger men), not having a massive frame. They definitely weren't big light-heavy that can comfortably fight cruiser sized huge weight cutters except maybe G-man.

Hopkins is interesting because he does have the frame to have started as a solid sized 175lber without needing to grow into it, but the guy was a genetic freak gym-rat and might have stayed longer at 160 than you might expect. He stayed at 160 for a long time before the sort of cutting edge sports science recovery methods we see over the last decade were available.

Johnson, Jackson, McCallum, Kalambay...these guys were same day weigh-in natural middleweights no different in size to the Giardello's, Fullmers, etc...

None of these fighters were ones that categorically would never have managed to fight at middleweight for a good portion of their career in older era's, except probably Gerald.

 

Yes I get what you are saying, but that is still an understanding from the present, the thing that always gets forgotten in these conversations is Real Time life & practices.

we. none of us, do things different to the times & practices that we live in and in this example, Boxing in the past, 6 foot tall men, except for really skinny ones, 6' ft, men/fighters aren't running around with the mind set & constant weight cutting, just to do so, than their 'Then' peers, who at 6 ft were running around at 170 - 195 lbs kind of weights and fighting near monthly too.

they wouldn't buck the way it was, with a sudden light bulb moment, saying "Hey I can do 160 and fight a Division or two down in weight"... it wouldn't have even entered their minds, as MOST people of that Height & Stature were naturally either sides of 180 lb Men.

you see what I'm saying,

Most 6' footers back then were L-HW's cum HW's... and as I equally state too, that changes a lot when comparing whom they would actually been fighting against!

 

While we're on the subject of Lamar Parks...

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Early 90s talent level at 160 was pretty remarkable.

 

I get what you're saying, but I don't really agree. Plenty of 5'11'ish guys in all of the post-war decades that were natural middleweights for a solid part of their career before outgrowing the division eventually. Was Sugar Ray Robinson really a light heavy as well?

Besides, the only ones of those fighters that were 6 foot or over were Nunn, Hopkins and McClellan.

Reggie Johnson, Kalambay, Parks, Tate, Toney (as well as Benn and Eubank) were all around 5-9, 5-10

 

it would make for an interesting bit of research,

a comparison of Fighters in all divisions, but particularly from LW - L-HW's, their Height & weights (Stature), from the early days verses the modern times of the last 35 years or so...

 

Hi Buddy.
Not for one second did I think you were point scoring, we have had many a polite and informative chat over the years, and I have found you to be on all occasions, well mannered, civil, and a gent, so dispel any thoughts to the contrary, informative and knowledgeable posters like yourself, are the backbone of the forum, long may you continue to be a active member, and a voice of reason.
stay safe KK, chat soon.