Earky 1980's heavyweights vs early 2000's heavyweights

I was thinking about this earlier today and came up with a number of good match ups that could be put together between these two era's of heavyweights. The early 1980's was riddled with many skilled but under achieving heavyweights while the early 2000's was of many big heavyweights who had their ups and downs as well and are often not given a lot of credit for their effectivness in the ring. I thought up the 10 best match ups if you were to take 10 of the best heavyweights from the two era's, please give me you're in put on who'd you'd favor in the match ups and which era you feel would win more. I know many of these fighters had their ups and downs in their careers but I'm talking about the 1980 fighters at their best between 1980-1985 and the 2000's fighters at their best between 2000-2004.

Larry Holmes vs Lennox Lewis
Tony Tucker vs Vitali Klitschko
Gerry Cooney vs Wladimir Klitschko
Tim Witherspoon vs David Tua
Pinklon Thomas vs Chris Byrd
Mike Weaver vs Hasim Rahman
Gerrie Coetzee vs Corrie Sanders
Tony Tubbs vs James Toney
Michael Dokes vs Sam Peter
Trevor Berbick vs John Ruiz

 

Thanks for all the good responses so far!

The way I see it playing out is.

Holmes vs Lewis- Very tough fight to call, Holmes never faced anyone like Lewis and Lewis never faced anyone quite like Holmes. I see it being very close and contrary to what some may expect I think it would be a very entertaining fight with back and forth action. I could see either champion scoring a knock out in the mid to late rounds but I'd predict this bout is more likely to go the distance. I slightly favor Holmes as he was a master of winning close rounds and I see a few close rounds in his favor being the difference.

Tucker vs Klitschko- This fight is the one exception where I'm thinking Tony Tucker of say 1986-87 instead of the 1980-84. I see Tucker being a very tough test for Klitschko with his good boxing skills and hand speed but overall I think Vitali will be a bit to strong and will push Tucker back with his jab and following power punches. I see Klitschko winning the majority of the rounds and possibly knocking down Tucker sometime later in the bout on route to a UD.

Wladimir Klitschko vs Gerry Cooney. This fight is very interesting when you look at Wladimir Klitschko of the early 2000's and Gerry Cooney of the early 80's. Klitschko in the early 2000's showed to be very vulnerable especially against opponents who had power and could withstand his punches and fire back. Cooney in the early 80's was tearing through his division and gave Larry Holmes a very tough challenge in their great world title fight. That being said Cooney never showed the greatest jaw though he had one of the greatest punches and I see Klitschko the more skilled of the two who had a lot of power himself being able to get to Cooney likely early in the fight and score a knockout. Though it is very possible that it could go the other way around with Cooney getting to Klitschko early and taking him out he certainly had the power to do so. It also wouldn't surprise me to see Klitschko wear out in the middle rounds should Cooney still be in their especially if he is able to get to Wlad's body I could see Cooney sitting Klitschko down with a body shot. Overall I gotta go with the more skilled puncher in this match up in Wladimir but as I said I could easily see Cooney taking this one as well.

Tim Witherspoon vs David Tua- This I see being a very good fight. I think Witherspoon would take this one as he was the more skilled of the two and had good enough defense and was durable enough to likely withstand Tua's on slaught. I think Witherspoon would use his jab to pile up points and score with a number of big looping power punches throughout the fight. I think a lot of the fight would be contested on the inside where both fighters would have their moments. I think Tua would work the body and come up to the head with big punches while Witherspoon would whack away with his looping power shots. But I also think Witherspoon would spend time on the outside carrying the fight with his jab and boxing skills. UD win for Witherspoon.

Pinklon Thomas vs Chris Byrd. I see Pinklon Thomas getting to the slick Byrd with his jab throughout the fight and pretty much winning the fight with the jab. I don't think the slick Byrd would be able to get around Thomas's jab and I think Thomas would constantly back up and bust up Byrd with the jab and win a clear decision.

Mike Weaver vs Hasim Rahman- This is a very even fight in my eyes. Both guys were pretty stiff but very strong and effective. They had similar styles I feel Rahman's boxing skills were a bit better but Weaver had more power. I'm really 50/50 on this one I favor Rahman should to fight go to decision, I think its very possible Weaver could knock him out. I'll call this one even.

Corrie Sanders vs Gerrie Coetzee- I think Sanders would be able to get to Coetzee with his straight left and put his lights out early. If he isn't able to do this Coetzee could take over late should Sanders not be properly conditioned but overall I gotta go with Sanders to starch Coetzee early.

Tony Tubbs vs James Toney- This is another match up which is pretty even. Two overweight but very skilled fighters. I think Tubbs would move around and flurry with his fast hands while Toney would come forward and counter. I also think a lot of the fight would be contested on the inside. I see Tubbs landing more punches while Toney connects with the cleaner punches. This one could really go either way and I think would be close no matter how many times they fought, again gotta call this one even.

Dokes vs Peter- I think Dokes with his much faster hands and boxing skills would carry the day in this fight. I think he'd land a number of flurries on Peter to win rounds and overall would win the majority of the rounds on his way to a U/D

Ruiz vs Berbick- I think Ruiz would implement his hit and hold strategy and this would lead the fight to very close and very sloppy. I think Berbick would have something for Ruiz everytime Ruiz does throw and also see Berbick pushing the pace and being just as rough on the inside. I'm gonna take Berbick to win this one by UD as I think Ruiz's effective awkward hit and hold style wouldn't be as effective against a guy like Berbick who was just as awkward and rougher on the inside with the better jab and stamina.

Overall in the 10 match ups I see the early 1980's winning 5-3-2.