Our Generation we have been Blessed.

When I think back on the fre-televised era of the 70's, especially '71 thru '78, I realize more and more that THAT was the Golden Era of the sport..every bit as much as the 50's..another era I'm enamored of. 15 round championship fights, great fighters appearing on Wide World of Sports, with defenses of the middleweight title by Carlos Monzon, televised from Europe, Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran, and Jose Napoles, all taken for granted. CBS Sports Spectacular (I think that was the name of the program), with Tim Ryan and Gil Clancy calling a title defense by Wilfred Benitez, Wilfredo Gomez, Alfredo Escalera or Alexis Arguello. Occasionally an evening telecast on a Friday night, with such greats as Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Bob Foster, Victor Galindez, Emile Griffith, John Conteh, Ken Buchanan, etc.,..these fighters and fights I was privelidged to see on FREE TV...ABC, CBS, sometimes the relatively boxing-shy NBC...like eating red meat and potatoes, before you worried about it killing you, taking it for granted that the old title rounds limit was for 15...and there was sooo much familiarity with thw big names of the sport, and as yet, fewer "titlists" and unknown names. All this before boxing was put behind the glass display case of pay-per-view and hidden from the public.

 

but of course cable tv was difficult to come by at the time.

 

They did have the NET, though! :good

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