Did the greatness of the 70s last only a year?

The heavyweight class of 99 would humiliate any line up from the second half of the 70s.

 

A prime Lewis, in particular, really throws the 70s in a loop. I really don't like trying to be realistic about what would happen putting him against post-exile Ali.

 

Like Briggs did to an almost 50 year old Foreman in '97?

And you do know that Ruiz was very much a part of the "class of '99"? You shudder to think what he would do to the best of the 70's?

 

Do you like being realistic about how a prime Lewis did against Mercer compared to how the 42-year old Holmes did?

 

Holy was the second best HW in the late 90's and while I'm not too fond of these hypotheticals between eras, I don't think the best of the 70's would be out of their depth against him. Prime Holmes in all probability beats him seeing how prime Holy did against the 42-year old version.

 

If we could time machine the 70's crowd to meet the late 90's guys, maybe the latter would win over all. That seems quite possible, but looking at Holmes's and Foreman's exploits in the 90's, when they were in their 40's, I don't think there's levels to it in any way.

Was Byrd much better than Young? Ruiz than Lyle? If they were it sure escapes me. Holy than Holmes? That would be a hard "no".

Late 90's Lewis vs late 70's Holmes? I wouldn't dare put much money on this result.

Late 90's Holy vs late 70's Norton? Same.

 

Yeah, Mercer gave Lewis hell but got his ass whooped by 42 year-old Holmes who had a detached retina at the time. Bad performance by Lewis, one of Larry's best performances.

 

Yeah, and how a 45-year old Holmes performed against the guy that just had knocked Lewis out, isn't great for the 90's case either.

Incidentally, McCall named Holmes as the best he has faced.

 

Nice cherry pick.

99 had the following:
Lewis
Wlad
Vitali
Holyfield
Tyson
Ibeabuchi
Sanders
Tua
Rahman
Grant
Byrd
Golota
Brewster
Maskaev
And your pals, Briggs and Ruiz.

They would’ve done a demolition job.

 

In 1999, Wlad has a stoppage loss to Ross Puritty and his biggest wins are Bigfoot Martin and Axel Schulz.

Vitali at that time is four months away from quitting against Chris Byrd and his biggest wins are Obed Sullivan and washed Herbie Hide.

Hardly a demolition crew.

In the 2000s they had grown formidable. In the 1990s club fighters weren’t terribly intimidated by them.

 

Who are the heavyweight class of 99?

 

Your nr 1. Lewis had a close fight in '99 against your nr. 5 Holy, who would go on to struggle against said Ruiz in his very next fights, which i why I thought he was worth a mention.

I think Holmes looks pretty good against that crowd (not that he would every fight, of course), but Norton looks ill suited against many of them even though I'd favour him against the ones that aren't big punches (which includes Holy). Young I'd expect to do about as well as Byrd. But, yes, that is a very good line up.

 

See above

 

I see it.

it ain’t bad.

 

Vitali wasn’t that far off from his top form. Byrd wasn’t coming close to beating him and if you know what a torn rotator cuff feels like, you know. Holmes is the only guy in the late 70s who I see as having a significant chance of beating that Vitali.

As for Wlad, he gassed against Purrity but otherwise looked good. Similarly, Foreman gassed against Young and almost did against Lyle. Norton and Young would have little chance against Wlad in 99.