I think the mid 70s to late 90s. It was the perfect blend of better athletes and more refined skill sets, but they still fought with more of an old school mentality, and weren't filthy rich after just a couple of fights.. Segregated eras were long gone, film was readily available so we can actually see these fights for ourselves (funny how fighters' mythical status and outlandish praise decrease with the availability of film) And all the premier divisions HW, MW, and WW were thriving during this time. HBO Boxing after Dark, Tuesday Night Fights on USA, and even ABC were putting on regular, high calibur matches. No need for all the ridiculous apps
Best is a subjective term. Some will interpret the question as the most entertaining, with the best fights, whilst others will associate it with the period they most enjoyed watching boxing &/or most closely related to the sport and the fighters. I'll answer the question based on which decade I think had the greatest boxers. Or, specifically, the decade in which the greatest boxers did their best work. Looking at my top 25 x fighters for each decade from the 1890s to the 2010s, in Rummy's sticky thread, I think the strongest decade is the 40's. My top 4 for that decade - SRR, Ezzard Charles, Willie Pep & Joe Louis, all appear in my top 11 P4P fighters of all time. To give an idea of my view on the depth of the decade, the great Lloyd Marshall did his best work in the 40's, but I have him all the way down at #13.
Well, my choice isn't there but since it has to be two consecutive decades I would go with 1970s-1980s. From, Ali, Monzon, Napoles, Duran and Olivares to the Four Kings, Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez. Then throw in guys like Arguello, Pryor, Wilfredo Gomez, Carlos Zarate, Larry Holmes, Khaosai Galaxy and Michael Spinks and you can see that those two decades were truly amazing.
And Wilfred Benitez, Salvador Sanchez, Lupe Pintor, Camacho, Ramirez, Rosario, Ken Buchanan, Chacon, Limon, Jeff Chandler, Mancini, Ken Norton, Shavers, Tyson, Danny Lopez....Frazier, Foreman, even Miguel Canto for the purist fan...uffff exciting times certainly!
No worries! I became a member here before starting my social transformation but here it will explain it all: This content is protected PS: Once you choose a member name here, there is no way to change it. I asked. But you can all call me Jeanette.
