No they did not put up the barriers. Eubank did not want it and he admitted as much. He said fighting RJJ and Toney was lunacy.
I'm not quite sure, what you mean... are there not today far more boxers, taking part in far more fights, than in the 90s? And by "today", I of course mean before the pandemic seriously dampened the activity.
Yes they did. Arum said as much on ITV’s 1992 year-end show when Eubank stated he wanted to face and beat Nunn and Toney in 93. He asked to face Jones when he made his comeback in Aug96 and was turned down. “Chris gets nothing from me. When I was coming up, trying to make a name for myself, he wouldn’t give me a shot. Oh but now he’s at the end of his career he thinks he can make some money off Roy? I don’t think so.” If he fought Benn in 1990, Calzaghe in 97 and Carl Thompson then he’d of had no quarrels facing Toney, Jones or anyone - you’d of had to carry him out.
But if you’re in the world top 10 and fighting for the world title then you’re obviously world-class? You don’t make sense.
your reply seemed to imply rochiggiani was elite or something like that, when he was just a decent world champion just like eubank
How do you define world class? Malinga, Holmes and Rocky were former and future world champions, in fact Rocky went on to dominate Maske and Michalczewski and beat Nunn. Thornton was ranked #1 by everyone and gave a peak Toney a competitive fight. Quality operator. Ray Close was European champion which automatically made him WBC #1. Henry Wharton was WBC mandatory. Amaral gave Liles a tough fight. Collins was very good. Ronnie Essett looked to have been robbed in Korea and Italy for world titles. Sherry had 100+ amateur fights and beat world #1 Cuban Solis before turning pro with Sugar Ray Leonard. Giminez had Duran down heavily in the first round. Hardly pushovers. And Dan Schommer beat Virgil Hill in the amateurs around the time of the Olympics and looked high class in the fight, avoided like the plague
He certainly was ‘elite’. The great Henry Maske looked unbeatable pretty much before the Rocchigiani fight. And Michalczewski was very good and beaten up by Rocky.
I thought we were talking about worldwide activity - but what goes on outside the US, apparently doesn't count. I get it.