how have your views on fighters changed through the years?

When I was a boy It annoyed me that older fans thought the then present fighters were inferior or even fraudulent compared to their own hero's and I swore I would never be like that. I read up on the older generations era's, collected tapes so I could argue the case for the modern guys but fell in love with the old guys. I decided however not to forget my original decision to not to dismiss modern fighters to younger fans in such a sweeping way that older fans did with me. That has become increasingly difficult.

What I tell youngsters who ask me is this, I always start by saying a great fight is a great fight if it happened today or a hundred years ago and it is great fights that make great champions. So long as we get great fights we will still get great champions. the very best we have now are good enough to compete with the very best but that there are less good ones to go around now.

 

Roy Jones.
Going by youtube and shallow boxrec use I thought he was 1 of z gr8s.
2day I know that he was always a fraud. A bigger fraud than Miguel Cotto whom was not always a fraud. Jones has less meaningful wins than Cotto has and took less risky fights.
If Cotto is a prima dona, Jones is the queen of them all.[/quote]

I agree with Roy but not Cotto. I think more of Lennox, Wlad and Floyd.

 

When I was a youngster in the 1980's the NFL went on strike. Our house had HBO who had a show called "Inside the NFL." But with no NFL to talk about the show was replaced with the best show ever.

They replaced it with Boxing Greats Biographies. Every Monday morning from 6 am to 7am I would watch shows devoted to Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Harry Greb, Stanley Ketchell and others.

 

Oh yea, you hit the nail on the head..

 

I wish to hell I had a time machine, I would go back to the 70's, free championship boxing on live TV, 15 round fights, and guys fought 3 or 4 Times a year, guy's today are wimps compared to the men 30 or 40 years ago..

 

:goodYou beat me to it SS66!! Yeah, it's almost a curse if you came from that era...the Great 70's,....and have to endure the mediocrity and inferiority that makes up THIS era.

 

I'm so sick of the tired yarn about the quality of fighters having gone down, a charge usually leveled at the heavyweight division.

What do Randy Neuman, Chuck Wepner, Stan Ward, Johnny Boudreaux, Howard Smith, Kallie Knoetze, Leon Spinks, Occassio, Domingo d'Elia, Scott Ledoux, Jack Bodell, Jose Luis Garcia, Jose Roman, Henry Clark and Larry Middleton all have in common?

All of these phenoms were rated in the annual top 10 for the heavies by Ring Magazine. Hell, Spinks was even champ.

 

Today's era PALES significantly compared to the 70's...from the heavies on down....and in every other way....12 "title" fights, "interim champions"...NO FREE TV....hell, it's no wonder boxing is in the doldrums. **** like MMA, etc., would be relegated to the level of freak side shnows in the 70's....like midget wrestling.

 

I agree as far as the multiple belts, weight classes and FREE TV

However, the quality of talent hasn't really diminished. It fluctuates. But all the above guys were highly ranked in the 70's and I don't seen any of them making a dent in the division today.

 

Sandy Saddler I thought he was only known for his rivalry of Pep. I now consider him a top 5 fighter of the pre Ali era.

Also his first win vs Willie Pep stands alone as the greatest win in the history of boxing

 

I thought Diego Corrales had a legitimate shot at beating Floyd Mayweather.

I thought Zab Judah would beat the **** out of Kostya Tsyzu

I thought comebacking James Douglas looked great against Quinn Navare and would easily defeat Lou Savarese

I thought Paul Vaden after knocking out Vincent Pettway in the late rounds would box circles around Terry Norris and unify the title.

I thought Rosenda Alvarez would alway beat Ricardo Lopez.

Gerald Mclellan would destroy anyone in his path after killing Jackson in two consecutive fights.

Robert Allen always had Bernard Hopkins number after the first fight.

Oh well you cant be right all the time.

 

Today's hwts are a complete joke. Never seen things worse than they are today. No one even knows how to throw a left hook anymore!

 

I appreciate Lennox Lewis more than I did in the 90s. I wasn't much of a fan then, but now I feel he would be problematic for any heavyweight, regardless the of era.

I appreciate Ridd ick Bowe less. His prime was too brief and he was often a dirty fighter. I overlooked the latter because I was too much a fan of the 90s heavyweights.

 

I used to think Harry Greb was Top 5 all-time. Now I realize he's Numero uno and titty ****s any fighter ever.