Do you believe that IN GENERAL, fighters from previous eras were superior?

If Julius Long were born before 1940 he'd be 235(235)-0-1(NC):deal

 

Olympic weightlifting was better in the mid to late 80's but that was due to the less stringent PED testing protocols. That is really the only example I can come up with where a collective group of athletes consistantly outperformed their current day counterparts.

 

Weightlifting may be overrated in many aspects.

I believe a bodyweight trained athlete is probably stronger, faster, and more nimble than a man the same size as one who strength trains by lifting weights.

 

they were better because they fought the best and looked for the competition. Nowadays that is rare. Pacman is one of the only fighters to fight everyone.

 

its only in boxing where i think fighters declined. Other than that, your argument is true for other sports. Main reason is boxing is a declining sport, the mainstream sport for fighters is MMA. In boxing I could only name a few that could do well with other fighters of the past, Boxing used to be more mainstream and had more people tuning in but after the 90's which is a golden era in boxing it died down. Part of what is killing boxing right now is a **** HW division and robberies like pac-jmm 3, the more viewers generated for a fight of that magnitude the more people turn away from the sport. Greedy promoters etc.

 

Wlad has a much higher knockout percentage than ali, so even though you "feel" this way facts say otherwise

 

I believe the technique and skill level from fighters in previous eras was
greater, however clearly there are a lot more pure physically gifted
fighters in this era. The question is kinda loaded, it depends what
you like, "polished craft" or "more gifted athletes"

 

Yeah have you seen some of the guys that Ali fought? Not the HOF's of course but some of them looked like couch potatoes,they could just take a beating but did not have boxing skills..

A guy like Wepner would not be boxing in today's game,people just put the past fighters on a pedastal.. Can you imagine a fighter today quiting like Duran out of frustration and still be respected?

Of course some of them like Ali,Robinson etc.. would hold their own in todays game,but as a whole cmon..

 

Well, ALMOST everyone. :roll:

 

will to win at all costs and mental toughness are at an all time low and those intagibles are more important than all the skills in the world as long as you've got a decent skill set.....on top of that they were more experienced by actually fighting all the time, they were trickier and knew what to do in the ring more than todays boxers as a result. Only thing they have now that's advantageous is supplements etc... boxers trained just as hard back then, were tougher people, fought much more and learned the tricks of the trade by actually fighting all the time which prepares them better than all the gym work and scientific advances todays fighters are graced with.

 

Yes, the quality of boxing on the regular has declined tremendously compared to past eras.

 

You are an idiot and obviously a deluded Klitschko nuthugger.

Would you pick Wlad or Vitali to beat Ali, Frazier, Tyson, or Louis?

Would you pick Chad Dawson to beat Bob Foster or Michael Spinks?

Would you pick Martinez to beat SRR or LaMotta?

Would you pick Money or Pac to beat SRL, SRR, or Hearns?

Would you pick Marquez over Armstrong or Leonard?

Would you pick Gamboa over Kid Chocolate, Saddler, or Pep?

If so, you are a ****ing idiot and you are one more moron who thinks that modern creatine shakes are more important than skill, Chin, and dedication.

The only match-ups out of these that would be impressive would be Frazier/Vitali, Tyson/Vitali, Floyd/SRL, Floyd/SRR, Marquez/Armstrong, and Marquez/Leonard. Other than that, they aren't even close.

 

So wrong you don't understand!

 

Yeah, imagine a fighter like Duran holding titles from lightweight to middleweight, what a joker!

As for Wepner, have you ever seen Chris Arreola?!

 

George Benton was clearly a technically superior fighter to Floyd Mayweather, and not a negative bore either.