Is this the deepest group of light heavyweights since the 1980's?

Yes, none of them are the best since then, guys like Spinks or Roy take that but it's a deeper era than Roy's imo.

It's only competition is the 2000s, which had Tarver, Past Prime Roy, Hopkins, Calzahge, Dawson, Adamek, Pascal.
That's an insane era, one of the most underrated, but H2H I rate that today's era would beat them pretty badly.

 

I'd argue that cruiser and LHW have never looked better. It's decades and decades since it was stacked like this. Then there's a gulf in SMW, with only a few decent guys, and then MW is stacked again.

 

looked better competition and skill wise. More important, we are finally getting matchups between these caliber fighters.

 

Kovalev is now shot. The rest of the bunch are good fighters. Beterbiev is the best out of group. Too bad he was sidelined so long. Hopefully he fights a minimum of 3 times a yr now.

 

Beterbiev will be 35 in a couple of months and has only had 15 fights so far. Could be he's already past his best though he's still the best in the division at the moment. Kovalev is almost shot which is why Canelo has targeted him. Even if Canelo wins he won't be sticking away. I always thought that Gvozdyk was overrated even before he lost. Beating the 40 year old inactive Stevenson to win the title wasn't as impressive as people think but he'll never be the same after the beating he just got from Beterbiev. I think Bivol will eventually be the best of the bunch but he doesn't have the style or firepower to become a star.