How Do You Compare This Heavyweight Era With Others?

I'm not sure Bowe struggled with Hide. Although, he did help Hide move to the canvas very well... ...I mean often...
...So many times, in fact , I lost count. And, all inside 6 rounds.

 

He lost the early rounds and looked really clumbsy not being able to pin down or catch Hide, Bowe also said Hide was the hardest puncher he fought during his entire career.

 

You mean Bowe lost rounds 1 & 2, out of five full rounds, and then saw to it that Hide visited the canvas in rounds 3, 4, 5 and 6 - the last in which Hide was counted out. Not bad for a clumsy Boxer, who was unable to pin down his quarry ('quarry' being, to all intents and purposes, what Hide represented in this match up).

Bowe might well have made that claim about how hard Hide punched but, in reality, Hide didn't make a dent in Bowe. So, somewhat of a minor consolation for Hide, for what was an inevitable paneling.

 

Nice to see you back Fella!

 

Hello Chap and thanks.
Although, I thought you'd been missing in action, too, tbh.

 

Yes I was ,I got back via an exchange of prisoners.

 

The points you make here and later are perfectly valid (though, ultimately he did end up knocking the hell out of Hide, so the ends justified the means).

When I talk about Bowe being really great, it's only for the first Holyfield fight. Despite the no-joke wins later over excellent competition like Holy and Hide (yes, the champ Hide), and even the undefeated Gonzalez, he was never close to that good again. But, like Frazier at the FOTC, I'd put Bowe up against my top ten ATGs, ONLY ON THAT HOLY NIGHT, and I think he'd at least do well against any of them, probably beat at least several (and yeah, I know Bowe wasn't anywhere near Joe Frazier overall as an ATG).

You've probably seen that first Holy fight plenty of times. If you find the time, watch it again and watch how poised Bowe is for such a big man. He had heart, best jab since Holmes (imo), a more powerful uppercut than Holmes...

but yes, he got hit way too much, even during that fight. It might have mostly been his iron determination and heart to win that impressed me about him in that fight...at least as much as anything else.

Something happened after that...one of the worse things is, he apparently, practically begged Lewis to fight him after beating Hide (I could be wrong about the time), but apparently Lewis was still pissed off about the ridiculous amount offered the first time, so he nixed it.

Even if it had happened around the time of Hide, it's more than possible Bowe would have lost (though Lewis at that time also got hit just a bit too much, and if McCall kayoed him...). I don't see the Lewis active around the time of Holy-Bowe I taking it though. One-handed fighter against a two handed monster with a far better jab. No. And yes, I count Lewis as a way up higher ATG than Bowe, too.

 

In the 1940's, 50's, and 1960's just about every contender was facing each other, especially if they wanted to get a title shot. In today's era, all talk, no action. It takes forever to see a title fight happen, and fighter's have too many excuses. I guess it happens because of consumer robbing pay per views.

 

It does seem like the trash-talking is more pervasive than ever. I don't even bother with prefight yawn. I just want to see the fight.

Trash-talk was done best by Ali (in my old man's opinion), and everyone else just looks either like a wanna-be or ridiculous punk. The most boring and hackneyed part of boxing today is all the talk imo.

 

The best of all time!
You have all these guys such as Potvekin, Ortiz, Wach, Chisora just hitting their primes @ 40yrs old.

All the prime and hungry amateurs like Mihai Nistor, Tony Yoka, Majidov, Usyk, Joe Joyce, finally taking off their diapers and waddling into the heavyweight pool well into their late 20's early 30's

Then you have former champs and contenders auch as Robert Helenius, Serghei Liakovich, Sam Peter , Sherman "Conch Punch" Williams on the comeback trail.
It's a firecracker of an Era.

 

I do agree, like I have said in previous posts, it was not Ali's original gimmick. He has said he copied wrestler Gorgeous George,from the early 1960's, to sell tickets. Trash talking is boring, if anyone has ever been in a street fight in their youth, knows that the trash talker, while their talking usually gets a punch on their chops. When I see an Ali wanna be jawing, I turn off the sound. If you are going to fight, then fight, if you are going to talk, then talk. I really enjoyed your post. Thanks.

 

Is on the upswing...

 

There have never been this many obese and overweight fighters in the top ten in the division's history. Fighters like Ruiz, Kownacki, and Miller are absolute disgraces physically and Whyte isn't far off either. Outside of Usyk and Fury the skill level is poor, and Wilder is one of the least-skilled top-level heavyweights I've ever seen.

The era is more entertaining than the Klitschko era only because none of its top fighters have the skill, consistency and professionalism to dominate, so for that reason I prefer it, but I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that makes it a stronger division. It isn't.

 

It's a result of too much easy money floating around. Look at the Cruiserweight division which historically has had little money or attention paid to it. Almost everyone there fought everyone else, resulting in some corking FOTY type fights that (sadly) flew under the radar for most mainstream fans.

The more money that's pumped into a division the less its fighters are willing to risk on a regular basis.