james jeffries in the 1950's

You must hate modern heavyweight boxing Pachilles...

Jeffries would do fine in the 50's. A lineal champ for sure if he was in his prime. Many felt heavyweight boxing was in decline in the 50's as many of the top contenders had numerous losses not only to each other, but in many cases to Joruneyman. See Walcott and Valdes. An Older versions of Charles and Moore were competitive in the era. Lastarza was decent enough. Marciano did not stick around for most of the 50's, and Liston came around at the tail end but wasn't champion until the 60's

 

Would you concede an entire, very large talent pool of potential heavyweights (coming from a stock of folks who tend to go rather large) was prohibited from competing in the division before the 1990's?

 

No i dont hate modern boxing but ive got nowhere near the interest in it i had in the 90's. Fights are so few and far between ive lost interest. Basically, i only watch the biggest fights.