Joseph Parker vs prime Ken Norton

Based on what ? you keep repeating the same statement but all it is a baseless opinion with no facts or examples to back it up.

Let's look at some of the most prominent fighters of the 70s/80s in each weightclass.

Heavyweight = Ali, Holmes, Norton, Tyson, Thomas, Witherspoon, Frazier, Foreman.

Light Heavyweight = M.Spinks, Conteh, Foster, M.Muhammad, Qawi, Johnson, E.Muhammad, Galindez.

Middleweight = Hagler, Monzon, Nunn, Kalambay, McCallum, Barkley, Hearns, Griffith, Valdes, Briscoe.

Welterweight = Leonard, Hearns, Duran, Napoles, Benitez, Starling.

Lightweight = Arguello, Duran, De Jesus, Buchanan, Whitaker, Chavez, Ramirez, Rosario, Camacho, Mancini.

Featherweight = Sanchez, Lopez, Nelson, Pedroza, Fenech, Lockridge, McGuigan.

So again......how are any of the fighters now mostly superior to the fighters of the 70s/80s ?

Parker struggled to beat 6'0 obese Andy Ruiz and many people think Parker got a gift, and he also struggled vs Chisora who many thought he also got a gift in their 1st fight.

Wilder was crap in their fight and threw a pathetic 202 punches which is less than 20 punches on average a round, Zhang is over 40 years old and has no gas tank after 5 rounds he landed a grand total of 0 punches in round 12!!!!!

Norton has fought 15 rounds at a very good pace with two Heavyweights in Holmes, Ali, who are ranked among top 5 Heavyweights of all time.

You keep mentioning about Parker's power based on his size but that's not using good logic, because size doesn't necessarily make you a big puncher Tyson Fury is a perfect example of that. And Parker wouldn't be considered a big puncher in the 70s, 80s, or 90s neither would Fury.

Actually your wrong there Norton won a vacated belt against Jimmy Young just like Parker also won a vacated belt vs Andy Ruiz. Although Parker is now a two time world champion so credit to him for that he has bounced back well.

Why Berbick ? he has also been blown early by punchers Mercado put him away in 1.

Norton a Light Heavyweight ? have you seen pictures of Norton ? the man was naturally built with very good genetics, he easily could've been a body builder or an athlete in a different sport 220 pounds is not a Light Heavyweight.

 

And who's Whyte beat since? Certainly nobody in the top 5.

Yes, skills count in boxing. But pretending past fighters would clean up in this division is silly when modern day athletes have much greater advantages.

 

So by your logic a modern super heavyweight in AJ would beat a prime Tyson or Ali just because he’s bigger and stronger hold on why did he get smacked up by the smaller Usyk twice

 

It makes me laugh people think Usyk is the only smaller skilled Heavyweight in history.

Have they never heard of Holyfield, Ali, Holmes, Byrd, Tyson.

 

I didn't say that. What I'm saying is that it's silly to write off modern day heavyweights based off nostalgia while ignoring modern day athletes advantages. Size, strength, training and nutrition have all improved massively. They even have the benefit of watching the "greats" fight and incorporating that into training.

 

Yeah that certainly has worked for Tyson Fury, Andy Ruiz, i mean they have great bodies right ? and Zhang who has no gas tank.

 

So why isn’t AJ the favourite against Tyson or Ali given his superior size, strength and all the other advantages you suggest

 

Here's the thing what good is all that size if you have no stamina ? perfect example is Zhang as i keep mentioning he's a unit yes and he's dangerous early. But once he gets past the 6th round of a fight he has no stamina because he's "too big" and not in good enough condition with a poor punch output. I mean conditioning at the elite level is one of the most important things is it not ?

All these people claiming Heavyweights are physically superior now with better training is utter nonsense, show me a Heavyweight now that could go 15 hard rounds like Norton/Holmes did ?

 

AJ is your assertion not mine.

 

If you wanna cherry pick sure. Plenty of fat boxers in the 70s too.

 

With that logic throw some lightweights in then.

 

So if your not referring to someone like AJ who embodies modern training techniques and is a much bigger fighter than Ali and Tyson who exactly are you referring to when it comes to all this modern size and training advantages

Surely not Usyk who’s really a cruiserweight, Fury who’s more of a freak with his size and movement, Wilder at 215 lbs and Bambi legs, Whyte, Zhang, Joyce, Parker none of these guys would be top five during the 70’s or 90’s

Boxing is nothing like athletics or weightlifting where previous records just don’t hold up you can’t train for a better chin or heart or endurance you either have it or you don’t and the training used to develop boxing skills is the same as it was 60 years ago if not longer