Why does it feel like people are so unfamiliar or misinformed about the late 70s-mid 80s when it comes to Heavyweights? The way certain people talk about the fighters and fights from that era makes me feel like it was the 1890s.
This might be because everyone was so focused on the excitement and intrigue of the lighter weight classes that everyone ignored everything else going on, but I don't know.
It's rightfully remembered as a transitional period populated by aging holdovers from Ali's era + young, up-n-coming future titlists of Tyson's era.
Drugs and lack of match making. 80s was the beginning of the horrendous match making for heavies. When the top ranked men stopped fighting each other as often. Matchmakers saw that undefeated fighters bring a higher mark up. They would go on to avoid any real threats till they could get title shots. Nonsense has been going on till today. Makes for a worse boxing product and also difficult to determine quality of opposition. Boxing needs a Dana White at the helm to make the quality matches that’s makes u remember guys.
Were there really that many holdovers from Ali's era? Norton for only a couple fights, Young became a stepping stone journeyman, Lyle got in a couple, maybe Shavers was the most prevalent, but it was mostly fresh fighters. I guess Dokes had an exhibition with Ali, but that's about it. I also don't really think most of them were titlists in the Tyson era, I think Tillis was the only real holdover from the Shadow era that he fought other than Berbick.
