If there had been 4 versions of the heavy weight title in the 70 s, do we lose the thriller?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Fergy, Jul 13, 2017.


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  1. Fergy

    Fergy Walking Dead Full Member

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    If the heavy weight division in the 70 s resembled the 90 s and onwards, and had four main versions of the heavy weight title, would we possibly have lost out on the big fights of the era?
    If there had been more belts to choose from would this have possibly stopped us from seeing Ali v Frazier s series, Frazier V foreman, the rumble,?. It happened to a degree in the 80 s with Holmes been the main champion but other heavy s fighting over the spare belts about. And the 90 s missing on big name fight s because of the abundance of belts to pick up. Frazier may have lost to foreman and decided to fight for another version. Therefore no second or third fight with Ali.
    Ali perhaps challenge s for some one else s belt rather than foreman?
    I like to think that the 70 s guys would say screw the trinkets and fight the main man rather than a cheese champ. Or possibly the governing bodies mess up the golden era?
     
    Fergy, Jul 13, 2017
    Fergy, Jul 13, 2017
    #1
  2. HerolGee

    HerolGee Loyal Member banned Full Member

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    There is no doubt Ali would go for the number one prize, not the trinkets. He only started backdooring in his early Parkinsonians days (leon Spinks), understandably. ANd he still faced the ATG holmes at that stage.
     
    HerolGee, Jul 13, 2017
    HerolGee, Jul 13, 2017
    #2
  3. JackSilver

    JackSilver Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Holmes wasn't considered a atg when Ali wanted to fight him.Wasnt even considered a future atg back then. Ali only picked him to fight because in his mind, Holmes was still one of his old sparring partners and he thought he had the measure of him.
     
    JackSilver, Jul 13, 2017
    JackSilver, Jul 13, 2017
    #3
  4. Fergy

    Fergy Walking Dead Full Member

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    I believe Ali would do that, but the rest of the division would possibly have been splintered. Back in the 70 s you were either the champion or a contender, which is how it should be. With 3 other belts to go with, you may have had Frazier as one champ, foreman another with Norton as yet another. It would have taken away a lot of the fighting to get a crack at the main man. Can you imagine if Norton had been the wbc boss and foreman wba? Norton may never had to meet big George. Frazier picks up a belt and tells Ali to swivel.
    Every holder would have demanded a bigger slice of the pie to fight a unification match. I believe if the division of the 70 s had been corrupted by the alphabet boys, then we'd have lost out on a lot of classic fights.
     
    Fergy, Jul 13, 2017
    Fergy, Jul 13, 2017
    #4
  5. Nighttrain

    Nighttrain 'BOUT IT 'BOUT IT Full Member

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    If you have 4 champions you don't have a Champion. These alphabet circus "governing bodies " only serve the promoters whose interest are often not served by having the best fight each other. It is often better for promoters to protect their properties fighting for a single sanctioning body and not sharing the purse,
     
    Nighttrain, Jul 13, 2017
    Nighttrain, Jul 13, 2017
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    Glass City Cobra and McGrain like this.
  6. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    Ali's people thought Frazier was done and Frazier would have fought him for buttons if necessary.

    Fight would have happened.
     
    McGrain, Jul 13, 2017
    McGrain, Jul 13, 2017
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  7. Fergy

    Fergy Walking Dead Full Member

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    I hate the various sanctioning body s with a vengeance. They've done more damage to the sport than any other factors in my opinion. The last 30 or so years has gotten ridiculous, wbc, wba, ibf, wbo, and Lord knows what else!
    It wasn't until the late 70 s that the heavy s starts to suffer with the alphabet boys, after Ali lost to spinks. If that had been the case through out the decade, I'm pretty sure that at one point Ali and foreman would have both been champions at the same time!.
     
    Fergy, Jul 13, 2017
    Fergy, Jul 13, 2017
    #7
  8. Fergy

    Fergy Walking Dead Full Member

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    Could have been a costly mistake, if Ali really was close to death!
     
    Fergy, Jul 13, 2017
    Fergy, Jul 13, 2017
    #8
  9. Longhhorn71

    Longhhorn71 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    The USBA-International....now known as the IBF.....got Holmes to jump aboard to be their "Champion", and the multi-titleist ABC situation went downhill from that point on.
     
    Longhhorn71, Jul 13, 2017
    Longhhorn71, Jul 13, 2017
    #9
    Fergy likes this.
  10. andrewa1

    andrewa1 Boxing Addict banned Full Member

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    No, it wouldn't have happened as we understood it. Would Ali have fought Frazier? Sure. But the whole context would have been different. There wouldn't have been nearly as many good fights, the top guys wouldn't have been as proven, and some of the very top guys would likely have been happy with one belt and never tried to unify. If Ali fought Frazier, it probably would have happened only once and it wouldn't have been as remarkable an incident.

    Now, add social media into the equation and it becomes even worse!
     
    andrewa1, Jul 13, 2017
    andrewa1, Jul 13, 2017
    #10
    Fergy likes this.
  11. Glass City Cobra

    Glass City Cobra H2H Burger King

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    I think people are forgetting that generation was cut from a different cloth. They would not have been ok with reporters accusing them of ducking, scathing criticism in articles, social media clowning, etc. Especislly Ali and Frazier, they were true warriors and would not have accepted someone else being called the champ.
     
    Glass City Cobra, Jul 14, 2017
    Glass City Cobra, Jul 14, 2017
    #11
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  12. JackSilver

    JackSilver Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Yeah but don't forget you brits were desperate for british bodybuilder Frank Bruno to win a world title. If there weren't so many separate governing bodies and only one champion, do you think that he would have got four chances to win a belt? Plus he was fortunate with so many champs that he could finally pick a titleholder in McCall that was beatable to him. So for fans of some fighters that if there was only one champion,might never have the chance to even fight for the title let alone win it, having so many different governing bodies has been a good thing.
     
    JackSilver, Jul 15, 2017
    JackSilver, Jul 15, 2017
    #12
  13. Fergy

    Fergy Walking Dead Full Member

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    But we already had a champion anyway in Lewis. Remember that guy? Kicking all those Americans ass
     
    Fergy, Jul 15, 2017
    Fergy, Jul 15, 2017
    #13
  14. JackSilver

    JackSilver Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Lewis who won Olympic gold for Canada was never as popular as Bruno with the brits.
     
    JackSilver, Jul 15, 2017
    JackSilver, Jul 15, 2017
    #14
  15. Perry

    Perry Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Fortunately the boxing game did not start to ruin itself until the 80's.

    Holmes was not considered an ATG when Ali fought him but there was no doubt that Larry was one formidable undefeated heavyweight. His bout with Norton showed he was made of the stuff of a true champion.
     
    Perry, Jul 15, 2017
    Perry, Jul 15, 2017
    #15
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