in the way that it allowed them a greater chance at becoming great. how? easy. no or very little tv.........in other words little money. so the shows had to sell at the box office, which meant they were matched tougher and had to fight more often. so once they became contenders, they fought fellow top level contenders on a regular basis. cause nobody would have bought a ticket at the box office to watch say kid gavilan take on say tucker pudwill. sitting back in front of a tv without having to pay for it (much less get your ass off the couch) would have made a gavilan vs pudwill fight alot more "attractive". in other words: every boxing fan knows the fight sucks, but its for free and not much else is on............so why not watch this fight on tv. so "back in the day", you had the "advantage" of actually having to show what you were made of. even so called protected fighters back then like chuck davey had to earn their way to a title try. so in fighting quality opposition often (and often even the same opponent several times), they more often got the chance to get a win over a good opponent. compare say billy graham to ike quartey. graham got to fight someone like gavilan 4 times, winning once. or basilio he met three times. so no wonder he got into the hall of fame. quartey on the other hand.............gee, just looking at the stats is far less impressive. who was the best opponent he actually beat?? Crisanto espana?? or oba carr??? maybe vince phillips?? so its easy to say that graham has a better rep sheet than quartey, no question. but if you watch both fight, its clear that quartey could match graham for talent (and that is understating the issue. to me, quartey was a clearly superior talent and would have beaten graham clearly had they met). but cause quartey didnt get to fight alot of other contemporary greats like say mosley and only got the one shot at oscar (and that coming after a 14 months layoff), his record does not match his ability. think about it: what if quartey had gotten to fight like say graham did?? to me, its easy envisioning the following: he fights oscar 4 times.........going 1-3. tito he fights twice, going 0-1-1, 1-2 vs mosley. he also knocks out six heads lewis and ricardo mayorga and decisions vernon forrest. and he scores an eighth round tko over yori boy campas in a title fight, after winning a ten rounder non title fight on points. oba carr he stops in a rematch, going 2-0 vs him. derrel coley goes in three. past his prime he loses a decision to up and coming pbf. to me, such a record for someone of quarteys abilities would have been totally realistic. he would be a sure thing for the hall. but he never got the chance cause he was fighting at a time of alphabeth titles, where even as champ you can lead a life of near absolute isolation. so in a way having a better/easier life as a pro today clearly lessens your chance of getting the recogition your abilities may deserve.
Yeah, I've always felt due to the circumstances of today, with HBO contracts and all, that it's very hard for modern day fighters to compare with the older days. Generally, fighters in the past were more active so they tended to have better resumes against more quality guys of the past. I have little doubt that Ray Robinson in today's era, with Robinson's hard-nosed negotating tactics and business-like mindsey, would be fighting less often and getting mega HBO dollars, sometimes against softies, as many HBO fighters have been criticized for. It's just hard to compare due to the circumstances.
