Heavyweights - The 70's

The 70's had the benefit of the first closed circut TV and Television sport shows. Ali was a large media star and even the non-boxing fan was a fan of his. Fighters like Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Ken Norton became enlarged because of Ali. It was also the real beginning of media hype. That being said I think the 70's were a good era but many overrated fighters have become legends...George Foreman was a monster puncher but was beatable. Jimmy Young was a very good defensive fighter but he was no Jersey Joe Walcott. Earnie Shavers could punch but got beat in his prime by 5"9 Bob Stallings with a 20-25 record and could not stop a man, Vincent Rondon that was KO'd by 2 middleweights, Briscoe and Jose Gonzales. Lyle and Foster were dominated by Quarry, they were solid contender but beatable. Norton was a very good rhythm breaker but was stopped by every puncher that found his sweet spot.

The 70's were good but I do not see any of the opponents dominating in any other era from the 20's to the present and the 60's, and 70's was my boxing era.

Ali was great but would have his hands full with top contenders and champions of the 40's, 50's up till today.

There is no golden era in boxing.

 

The other side of the coin is if you did not show up with your A game back then, you could easily lose. And it's hard for the heavies--especially those guys on the undercards--to be razor sharp for like 10 fights in a row. Stumble a little & the competition was strong enough to get the W.

That factor & there was far less cherry picking as far as matchmaking up to about 75, made pretty much everyone having to take the hard road to get to the top of the rankings.

Another issue is that those guys bounced back from a defeat much better. And they fought again immediately instead of the dreaded take a few years off and re-group thing.

 

I have always felt the same way about that era. Like you said, prosects fought hard, often, and against everyone. Earnie Shavers has been criticized for picking up the occasional loss to a lesser fighter, but if we look at his activity from the point of his debut to the time he became a force in the division, he was fighting anywhere from 8-10 times per year.. Its gotta be damn hard to fight one night, then get back to training and sparring within days so that you can be in the ring again 3 weeks later. Even at the world level, top guys were keeping busy as well. From the time Muhammad Ali lost to Joe Frazier in 1971 to the time he faced Foreman in 1974, he fought 14 times in 3 years, facing Ken Norton, Jerry Quarry, Floyd Patterson, George Chuvalo, Mac Foster, Buster Mathis, Jimmy Ellis, Bob Foster, Joe Bugner and Joe Frazier ( again ) - all of whom were top flight opposition... You just don't see **** like that anymore.

 

And probably won't either.

They rebounded from a loss much better as well. Even if it was a bad ko loss, usually it'd be 6 months off and right back at it. And maybe a few softies but there was a lot more emphasis on footwork and there really weren't too many chubby face first guys to fight back then.

 

I know. Almost everyone back then was in trim shape.. Even a lot of the journeyman, clubfighters and trial horses were noticably well trained and could go the distance if need be. Another thing is that everybody knew everybody, and was constantly trying to get to the top. There was a large sparring pool back then, and a lot of these fighters were very familiar with each other. Even if you were the best guy around, it didn't take much to let up just a little so that they man right beneath you could take advantage on the right night..

 

Agreed,

Ken Norton and Joe Frazier fought under the same managerial umbrella and had Eddie Futch as their trainer... The two guys sparred regularly, with Frazier usually getting the better of it.. Foreman Sparred with Liston. I think I heard or read somewhere that jimmy Young began his career by being a sparring opponent for a lot of good fighters, but have no source.. There was no such thing as being "protected" in those days... You either had what it took to cut it, or you didn't..

 

Yep. Jimmy fought out of Smokin Joe's gym in Philly.