Are you this shallow minded? You are obsessed with weight and nothing else. If weight was the be all and end all history would be altogether different. Guys like Ezzard Charles were flogging top flight fighters substantially heavier than themselves and at those weights pounds mattered much more than the 215-250 bracket. Wilder hasn't weighed as high as 230 in his entire career but i'm sure you will spew forth umpteen excuses as to why he has been successful against all these super heavies and outpunched every guy he's fought
Wilder is 6ft 6 1/2 with an 83 inch reach. This probably has a lot to do with his success. All these bigger guys he is beating are at a height and reach disadvantage. You really think Wilder is a good example to bolster a case for Ali doing well today?
I don't think there's much to criticize Holmes reign for the years 78-82. He beat what there was to beat. As did Rocky during his three year reign. Neither era was really packed full of quality. But there's a lot to say about the last three years of Holmes reign, when the quality of the division increased while Holmes declined, and not much of it is good. In his prime, Holmes cleaned house with what was available, though. As did Rocky. Not much more a fighter can do.
Well you've been harping on about nothing but weight yeh? Why did Thomas Hearns lose to Hagler, Barkley and SRL? He was an ATG with height and reach advantages?
I've always said this, Holmes didnt fight many great opponents. His best win (imo) was against Earnie Shavers, who could barely land a single punch on Larry because Shavers was slow and had no stamina nor boxing technique, and when he finally had Holmes on the ropes he swung so wildly that even Jess Willard would be able to dodge it. Holmes would gas trying to keep up with Marciano's pace, if he doesnt get caught beforehand.
Absolutely - there are certain guys that no matter the era they fought in, you have to put your money on them to be just as great provided that they can get the fights to prove their worth.
Is it that the division has outgrown Ali or is it more a case that the lack of true championship rounds i.e. 15 round title fights, steroid abuse, increased level of growth hormones in food, lowered activity (modern HW fighters might fight thrice a year if they're lucky once they reach highly ranked contender level) and lazier work ethic in gyms, much more weightlifting and a smaller circle of elite trainers than before are contributing factors to the division growing bigger to yesteryear? The one thing that you have to factor in comparing Ali against today's fighters is that he was perfectly adapted to the requirements of his time. Un-body builder physique but functionally very strong, relaxed and conditioned in his prime to go 15 rounds. If he were in today's era, he has all the advantages that today's fighter has in terms of sports science and possibly takes full advantage of functional weight lifting training to emphasise his natural abilities. Even without the benefits of today's fighter, I don't see too many fighters of the last 20 years that the guy who survived Manilla couldn't handle.
I don't think modern heavies are incapable of fighting at a high pace take the Tua Ibeabuchi fight for example
Excellent fight but a rare fight amongst modern fighters - do you think that they could keep up that pace for 15 rounds? If you answer yes, the next question is could they then put out that output for another four or five fights that same year and then go and do the same thing for another three to five consecutive years? I'm certainly not a older era is always better than the new era kind of boxing fan, but yesterday's fighter was just more proven than today's fighter to me. You had fighters turning out the equivalent of some modern fighters' entire careers in a five year period.
Back in Ali's day people were smaller on average and the total population was smaller. There is a much bigger pool of guys 6'5+ than there were back in Ali's day. I think this is a rational explanation as to why bigger heavyweights have come to dominate.
The major problem for Ali and Holmes is that the bigger heavies have dramatically improved since the 70s, they are fast, athletic and agile with devastating power and the means to deliver their power against a fast, elusive target. They are not really comparable to the big guys back in the 60s and 70s who rarely even made it into the top 10. Until the 1960s men the size of Marciano and Dempsey consistently beat guys the size of Foreman, Holmes, etc then they improved and the smaller guys abruptly faded away. In the 1990s we saw bigger heavies improve and the Ali, Holmes sized heavies in turn faded away.
If Ali or Larry Holmes were around today those taller fellas would probably take up basketball. The gap in coordination would be evident.
