How do you know when you're looking at a good era?

"What makes, for example, Ron Lyle, Ken Norton, Ernie Shavers, and Leon Spinks better than Shannon Briggs, Tommy Morrison, Riddick Bowe and Ray Mercer? Or Byrd, Ruiz, Valuev, and Chagev?"

Historically a 'real' boxing champion is supposed to be black. The white boxers are more the niche fighter who briefly can annoy the black dominance a little.

So obviously, as the top fighters get whiter many consciously or subconsciously feel that former (more all-black) eras must have been better.

 

I think you're serious...

 

Actually it's a myth that past contenders fought each other more than they do today.

Let's look at 91(because it was posted a few days ago) and see how much they fought each other!

#1 Evender Holyfield:
In 91 he had fought no other contenders in the top ten.

#2 Mike Tyson:
Tyson had fought two other top ten fighters.

#3 Riddick Bowe:
In 91 Bowe had fought no other top 10 fighters.

#4 Razor Ruddock:
In 91 Ruddock had fought one other top 10 fighter.

#5 Ray Meercer:
In 91 Mercer had fought no other top ten fighters.

#6 George Foreman:
In 91 he had fought no one in the top ten.

#7 Tim Witherspoon:
Tim had fought no one in the 91 top ten.

#8 Tony Tucker:
Tucker only fought Tyson from the 91 top 10.

#9 Lennox Lewis:
Lewis had fought no other fighter in the 91 top ten.

#10 Michael Moorer:
In 91 Moorer had fought no other fighter in the top 10.

Now, let's look at the 2012 top ten!!

Champion Wladimir Klitschko:
Wladimir has fought two other fighters in the 2012 top 10.

#1 Vitali Klitschko:
Vitali has fought two other fighters in the top 10 today.

#3 Alexander Povetkin:
He has fought two others in the top 10 fighters today.

#4 Tomasz Adaamek:
He has fought two others in the top 10 today.

#5 Eddie Chambers:
He has fought two others in the top 10 today.

#6 Alexander Dimitrenko:
He has fought one other top 10 fighter today.

#7 Robert Helenius:
He has fought no one in today's top 10.

#8 Denis Boystov:
He has fought no one in today's top 10.

#9 Rusland Chagaev:
He has fought two other fighters in today's top 10.

#10 Chris Arreola:
He has fought two other fighters in today's top 10.

So you see fighters today fight each other far more than in the past!:hi:

 

First off, the fights speak for themselves. The beautiful combinations and head movement of guys like Sugar Ray Leonard, the toughness of guys like Hagler, the flattening power of Hearns are obvious - those guys just stand out when you watch their fights. Aaron Pryor, Arguello: watch their careers, count the punches thrown and the toughness involved, and tell me that the early 80s wasn't a golden age for boxing.

They have highlight worthy moments in almost every fight. Now, Cotto is a pretty decent fighter. But there's nothing great about him. Where's the toughness? Where's the speed? Where's the brilliant combinations and flattening power? And he is one of the best? Thus, the era near welter is not as deep. Then again, maybe it's hard to make a claim that the non title heavies in Ali's time were better than the pudgy non K brothers that are running around today, but if you watch his career the amazing intangibles he displays over a lengthy period don't lead you to question his greatness even if you doubt that, say, Norton is better than Briggs.