Bob Foster v Jim Corbett and Bob Fitz

Corbett is as big as somebody like Doug Jones, so clearly in the zone where Foster has problems.

We can't be sure what Fitzsimmons weighed at heavyweight, but it was likley around the light heavyweight limit, and his physical atributes speak for themselves.

Lets be honest, these are both going to be problematic opponents.

 

You mean LHW Foster's generally considered very much pre-prime then, Jones is very underrated and Foster certainly didn't lose that because of a couples of pounds of weight disadvantage, plenty of his LHW opposition were as big as the natural LHW Doug Jones

 

Foster knocks them the **** out.

 

You see my problem here though.

Foster didn't just loose to the best fighters of the day over 175 lbs, he prety much lost to every world class fighter he met over that weight, including those that had previously been light heavies.

This should absolutely be a concearn when matching him against Corbett, or even Fitzsimmons.

 

During Foster's prime he only faced Ali and Frazier at the weight, most would expect Corbett and Fitz to be similarly dominated.

I'm a big believer in Fitz and Corbett been part a semi-pro low talent pool participant sport and think they'd be seriously out of their depth in this era. Foster clearly seems to be far more skilled from what we can see, technically far better and seemingly more athletic. Technically Fitz and Corbett seem to be Carl Froch's inferior with their technique. This will be a big issue in an era where better technique is much more common all athletic/strength/size issues aside

 

Maybe they wouldn't beat Prime versions of Doug Jones, Folley and Terrell either. This was a very good era, but Foster was very green for his none Frazier/Ali HW

Various sources point boxing participation massively increasing after the multi-millions Dempsey made in the 20s. There are far more recorded fights both pro and amateur are on record in this era than in the 1890s

You seem to ignore these facts

It was effective against other opponents with sub standard technique. But fighters making mistakes like those below would be badly exposed by more skilled boxers

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Not necisarily.

For one thing, the depth of the talent pool often turns on the single country with the deepest talent pool, rather than the number of countries with a significant talent pool. On the other hand, the GOAT might just end up croping up out of Luxembourgh.

What we had when Corbett and Fitzsimmons swaped the titlein 1897, was a period of flux. The previously masivie talent pool in the UK and Ireland was in decline, and becoming absorbed by other countries. There was a big explosion of talent in the USA and Australia. Canada was producing talent, but it mostly wandered over the border. The talent pool in South and Central America was growing rapidly. Then as always, you got the occasional talent from a country with no obvious boxing base.

Lets not forgett that America was so productive, in large part due to its burgeoning imigrant population, from all over the world.

 

The only problem is the United States turned out tons of talented guys in Fosters era too. They produced Ali, Frazier, and Foreman. Following on Fostersa back they produced Matthew Franklin and Marvin Johnson and Michael Spinks. Bennie Briscoe was during this time frame; Marvin Hagler turned pro during Fosters reign. I left out tons of quality heavyweights: Quarry, Shavers, Lyle, Young. Larry Holmes was a young prospect. The cup of American talent runneth over, in addition to the global boom.

 

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Fitz vs Foster would look awkward, for as long as it lasted anyway.

I don't see any concern for matching Foster with Fitz or Corbett, they weren't bigger than him. The likes of Ernie Terrell, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were, by a large margin. Foster did not have a style that matched up too well against heavier men as he liked to be the "boss" and the punching threat in his fights, stalking the opponent instead of being stalked himself.