Is it impossible for the fighters of today to ever reach the greatness of SRR or SRL?

Occasional tuneup? The old timers fought more than the occasional tuneup against the local garbage man.

I'm a SRR fan, I think he was a great fighter, but the games changed and I'm not one to believe that the old timers were any better than the elite today.

People do this in all the sports though.

 

Occasional tuneup is a bit of an understatement, but he was still fighting top fighters multiple times every year. Over the course of his career, he still beat many ATGs, many more than Roy Jones has, many more than Bernard Hopkins has, many more than Floyd Mayweather has. Nobody would criticize any of these guys if they fought a shitty fighter every couple of weeks if they fought every few weeks. But they don't, so we don't afford them that luxury.

 

thats possible, thats what they used to say about pele and maradona and look at leonel messi and ronaldinho now days

 

Seriously, who is saying that Ray Robinson was unbeatable at middleweight? Who are these nuthuggers? They certainly aren't in this thread.

 

ajohnfp, if you've been around the ESB long enough, you know these people exist.

 

Tell you what: I'll start a thread in the classic forum, and see who these nuthuggers are.

 

It's almost impossible to reach Robinson's greatness.

But today it's still possible to reach Leonard's status. Floyd can do it if he beats Mosley or Cotto, Hatton, etc

 

It is impossible to match the number of fights that the fighters of yesteryears accumulate. If you analyze their records, apparently they were fighting 5-6 times per year or more. But the degree of oppisition is not as stiff as today's PPV era where at least matches should be competitve at least in paper. Example, After Duran fought Marcel who had a record of 24-2-1, he fought in succession mucino, herrera, castaneda, acosta, castaneda with a combined record of 16-18-4, after de jesus he fought vazquez and vanegas with a combnined record of 3-1-1. I am sure that if you analyze the careers of other greats, you would get similar picture.

So to use one criteria to compare today's fighters with that of the past would be wrong.

 

When I look at footage of Sugar Ray Robinson, I'm impressed. The man has, just from watching him, speed, power, ferocity, incredible coördination, a good chin and ring generalship.

Then I hear that there is no footage of him in his prime at his best weight -- that he went undefeated for a seventy-three fight stretch and that everyone agreed he was slightly over the hill even in the best videos available.

I'm no longer impressed. I'm scared.

What Sugar Ray Robinson did was incredible. Give the man his ****ing credit. I'm pretty sure he deserves it.

No-one is unreachable. Had Tyson continued as he started starching everyone and retired undefeated, people would rank him above Ali. Some still do. I don't see anyone fighting 200 fights at the level Robinson did, though.

 

Here's my take...Roy Jones,purely as an athlete,is probably the best we've seen.Bar none.No body had his combination of power and speed,movement,unothordoxy etc....No even SRR.In fact there's a few fighters who are much closer to Jones than SRR.Mayweather,SRL,Hearns etc...come to mind.

However,purely as a fighter,RJJ does'nt even come close to SRR.If we measure by what SRR actually did in the ring,there is no comparison.The Sugarman's resume and accomplishments stand undisputed in boxing history.In the ring,Ray was a force of nature,....even when he was outgunned,Ray came back with a PlanB.And to think,this was nearly 50yrs ago,makes it more awe-inspiring.SRR revolutionised the sport.Up until then,there were none quite like him.

IMO,Roy Jones had the talent and tools to KO anyone his ever met in the ring.Bu it never happened.In fact his KO ratio does'nt reflect the physical attributes he so well ardoned with.Could he beat SRR one-on-one?I say ver possible.But certainly not a forgone conclusion.He had the tools for sure.But would he be able to use them to win?We'll never know....

SRR is not the P4P king because of his physical attribute,but because of what he did in the ring.In that regard,no-one comes close.

 

yeah. good gods. what will the ps3 generation think

 

no he cant.
SRL beat arguably the best middleweight ever (Hagler).
SRL beat arguably the best Jr Middle ever (Hearns).
SRL beat arguably the best lightweight ever (Duran).
SRL beat one of the best Jr Welterweights ever (Benitez).

Floyd doesnt have the comp to surpass that.

 

pretty much sums it up i reckon

 

Nope. It's impossible because of what SRR accomplished during his time.

Skillwise, absolutely. Boxers of today have learned from the boxers of the past and have better technique because of it.

Talent wise, without a doubt. Athletes of today have systematically surpassed the athletes of yesteryear in every catergory.

The only thing that cannot be surpassed is the legacy that those from the past have created.

It's impossible to be the first again....