I agree with Boffa, Part to Blame are HBO who approved this potential Clincefest & Running Dancing show & Pay those Boring fighters Millions. The reason I'm watching boxing again is Because of Pacman's excitement . But lately with the string of Bad fights, now I can afford to miss a Telefutura or ESPn fights & even HBOs & SHO shows. I'll just wait for Pac fights, Will not Pay again for PPV not named Pacquiao, Cotto, & Kelly Pavlik. DLH, PBF, Winky, Hops, Hatton won't get any of my PPV $$$ unless they Fight one of my 3 Favorite Fighters.
Not every fight in the 80s was Hagler versus Hearns. A lot of the fights back then were boring dance and hug contests as well. Camacho Sr.?
Its all objective. You are looking only at the interesting fighters of yesterday. Look at guys today like, Mosley, Trinidad, Oscar, Vargas, Margarito, Gatti, Cotto, Pacquiao, Vasquez, Marquez, Kessler, Lacy, Pavlik, Miranda, Katsidis, Kostya, Darchinyian, Arce, Juan Diaz, Corrales, Morrales, Barrera, Mayorga ect. I could go on for days. Boxing is superb right now, and we have an amazing talent pool. Probably the only thing spoiling it is that a selection of the truely elite guys right now are technicians (winky, floyd, bernard). Even so i still enjoy watching them fight, as they help diversify the sport and can make for some interesting match ups of styles.
That said I can see the point you are making about the elite guys of the 80's. The main thing that made it so good then was having so many great fighters so close to each other in terms of weight. I think we are approaching another great era in boxing right now. There are plenty of great matches to be made. It just gets disappointing when you see matches like Spinks vs Taylor. Keep in mind though some of the great fights we have seen in recent years like MAB vs Morrales, Gatti v Ward, Corrales v Castillo, Oscar v Mosley, Trinidad v Vargas ect. Boxing will never die.
Yeah, it's really unbiased if you list the most exciting 80's fighters you can think of and then the most boring current generation fighters you can think of. By that logic, you could say that Wlad would've dominated the 70's because Ken Norton had a glass chin. No need to mention any other fighters, that's proof enough, thank you.
He also picks from a whole decade of fighters; 10 years vs one moment in time (the present) so it is impossible to pick a list that matches up.
This is half true. Camacho only got gay after about '86 so he provided us with a lot of excitement as well. Hey, he's an all-time great, you know. Watch your tone.
OK ill stop whinging when some of those fighters grow a pair of nuts. hows that sound. but my point wasnt about just those fighters it was that the culture of Boxing is becoming more political and putting more pressure on fighters to take **** fights in order to keep there record intact and the fans watching but for me its doing the oppisite. yeah there have been some great fights this year but look at what fights they were none were really big time fights and most were international's. like Katsidis vs Earl Cotto vs Judah (great fight) Pavlik vs Miranda NDou vs Rabah Marquez vs MAB and i was delighted with all those fights but for some reason the really huge fights were shockers PBF vs ODH Spinks vs Taylor anyway you get the picture. maybe i dont remember the bad fights of the 80's but i think i know why that is because most of the bad fights were not the biggest fights. The big time fights always delivered but for some reason the big fights these days dont deliver.
Truer words have never been spoken...... ......I just saw a few Youtube clips of the great Roberto Duran, and Duran often held and got into just as many if not more clinches that Ricky Hatton does today. Respected fighters like Roberto Duran and Bernard Hopkins were masters at the art of subdueing an opponents offense by smothering and and getting themselves into clinches....its part of the boxing game, always has and always will be...... .....the important thing is that unlike a fighter like John Ruiz, both Duran and Hopkins subdued an offense but put up a significant offense of their own. Both Duran and Hopkins were masters of getting themselves into a clinch and positioning themselves to get the upper hand and fight themselves right out of their own clinch. .....its called boxing, its part of it, always has, and always will be. Ricky Hatton does much the same today. Great post Coolidge, you nailed it dead on....people are not educated or just have selective memory and only want to remember whats convenient for them that sides with their position. Get it straight you knuckleheads.....Ricky Hatton is an amatuer at the art of hugging, clinching, and plain dirty tactics when you compare his deeds to the thuggery tactics employed by the great Roberto Duran. In fact, what Hatton does now can be called finesse if you compare it to the tactics often employed by such greats as Duran and Hopkins! :yep
i have thats my point. i havnt bought a PPV since Mundine vs Soliman. 5 years ago i would have bought Tszyu's fights Hopkins fights Lewis's fights Tysons fights Jones's fights Castillo's fights Dela Hoya's fights Holyfields fights Tua's fights Gatti's fights now i only get Aussie fights because the other fights lately have been ****.
Then you missed a great fight in Cotto/Judah and a horrible fight in Briggs/Ibragimov. There will always be both kinds. If you are just looking at the heavies, then yeah this era sucks. The lighweights and welters are as hot as they have ever been today. There have been several fights that every fan should have recorded forever, and at least one that is in the top 5 of all time.