In retrospect, the '90s was a great decade of HW boxing

The 90's are like night and day, in comparison to the garbage Heavyweights we have today. Not only in the talent department, but their was a certain excitement about the fighters of the 90's. You also had fighters with enertaining personalities, I mean you had your bad guys like Tyson who you never knew what he will say or do next. You had your hereos like Holyfield, who you can never count out. Foreman, who fought for the older generation.

I miss the old days, when I was in school everyone was talking about a Tyson or Holyfield fight. Now it seems the younger generation could care less about boxing, and unfortunately jumped on the UFC boat. It just makes me wonder, if we had colorful characters like Tyson and some of the fighters from the 90's fighting in todays climate, would the UFC gotten as popular as it has?

 

The 90's get plenty of credit, the only problem was that some of the best fights never happened or didn't happen at the right time.

 

Agreed,good decade.
Let's not forget Foreman,Golota,Byrd,Bowe,Mercer.
The Golota vs Bowe fights and debacles were a great part of history.

 

It's amazing how much a division can change in a decade. The 90's were great for the heavy div. as far as I'm concerned. I enjoyed the 90's heavyweights possibly more than any other decade...but that's because I'm more familiar with more of the fighters probably. Still, nobody can say it wasn't competitive and interesting. For god's sake man, David Haye pulled out of a fight because he pulled a back muscle or something...gimme a break. Man up, take a cortisone shot, and get out there.

 

The 90's was one of the best heavyweight eras ever. Just watching some of the fighters from then and compare them to the guys going at it now. It'd disgusting. The 90's fighter seems so athletic and actually seemed to know a thing or two about boxing.
Just think about this, second rate guys from the 90's are still fighting and sometimes beating contenders of today.

 

I think if you want to get the mainstream fans attention, a good character will go a long way. The Tyson/Lewis fight would of never broken PPV records if wasn't for Tyson's outbursts and confrontations before the fight even took place. By him doing that, ESPN and other sports station gave it free advertisement to a massive audience, everybody was interested in seeing this fight and what was going to happen when these two men stepped in the ring.

We are not only lacking talent in the heavyweight division, but even more important to boxings growth, were lacking excitement. The Heavyweights of today have no personality, I'm sorry, but throwing up a gay ass peace sign after you win an uneventful fight (Wlad), isn't going to make me want to see you again if I'm just an average fan of the sport.

 

Jimmy Thunder > Arreola

 

In fairness, I think the 90s era does get enough credit over here in the UK. Then again, it was when our golden boy was dominating the division and we also had the massively popular Frank Bruno flying our flag. To sum up the 00s- as a benchmark, if Tua was in his prime now I GUARANTEE he would be a belt holder. Hell, Tommy Morrison probably would be!

 

It was somehow entertaining, but a closer look reveals:

The 90´s HW-division was alive, due to

-a blown up Cruiserweight (Holy)

-a 46-year old grandpa (Foreman)

-a short time champ named Bowe who found an opponent in Holy

-and Lennox.

In the end without Holyfield the 90ies would ve been a mediocre era.

Lennox was often boring and calculating, Morrison a chinless overhyped actor, Ike overhyped, Moorer blown up Light-Heavy and Tyson a shadow of his pre-prison version. It was more entertaining than today, no question, but its a little bit hyped. We had also titleholder like Botha, Axel Schulz and Bruce Seldon....

 

Yet, most of the guys you mentioned would of made Wlads glass chin shatter on contact. Todays Heavyweights fight boring and have no personality what so ever, and their lack of talent speaks volumes. Anyone who grew up in the 90's and watched the heavyweights of yester year, could see the difference in skill level right away.

 

90s were awesome.

Moorer, Holy, Golota, Bowe, Witherspoon, Foreman, Tua, Rahman, McCall, Mavrovic, Lewis, Mercer, Morrison, i mean damn those are just some names... list could go on...