Sick and Tired of the Nostalgia for Past Era Fighters

What a stupid post. Larry Holmes spanned the 70s to the 90s and was able to compete across the eras. Fighters from back in the day were also less pampered and more battle-hardened. Track and field comparison is hilarious.

 

Agree.

It gets rediculous at times.

Lewis, given his size and power, as well as skill, would have beaten the hell out of Ali, Frazier and a prime Foreman.

There, I said it.

 

The only ones agreeing with the threadstarter seem to have klitschko avatars.

Hmmmmmm....

 

I understand your point but I think you're taking past fighters out of their own era which isnt fair. Not only are people getting bigger in most countries, but we've come a LONG way in terms of diet and athletic science. So yes, athletes today in pretty much every sport have a lot of advantages over. But a fighter is evaluated by what he has done in his era.

Could Wlad beat Joe Louis head to head? Very likely he could, and it could possibly be a beat down. Does that make Wlad better than Louis? Has he accomplished more? No, he hasnt and he will never be as important a figure. H2H is not the only measure of a fighters ability, you mentioned the advantages modern fighters have so why wouldnt you count those as disadvantages for earlier fighters?

Wlad is an amazing athlete, however he hasnt had the types of era defining fights like Ali, Fraizer, Louis etc etc have had. So he wont be considered as great. Period.

 

The argument just doesn't hold any water. Firstly a lot more people boxed back then, the bottom of the pyramid was wider, meaning a deeper pool of talent and therefore a better standard at the top. Secondly, I always hear people saying "today's training"... look, those fighters trained old school but man for man were physically fitter than today's dross. Those guys went 15 hard rounds, no bull****. No pampering, no shitty stoppages etc.

 

if fighters today are stronger, bigger better nutrition, but they are pussies compared to the fighters of the 40's thru the 70's, guy's today only go 12, some can't even make it that far, they quit to easy, and ***** out of fight's and avoid fighting the best guy's because they are scared of losing:-(..
Guy's 40 50 years fought with part of their face falling off blood everywhere had more heart, guy's today only give a **** about their bank account and fight sometimes only once a year, guy's 40 years agou fought sometimes 6 or 7 times a year..

 

Prime Tyson would knock Wladimir out early though.

Prime Lewis would do to Wladimir what he did to Andrew Golota.

Yes, Wladimir is the best of this era, and yes sometimes people are too dewy-eyed about the old days, but by equal measure General Forumers seem to think that because the fighters of today drink Gatorade then they are automatically much fitter and more skilled than any fighters who have gone before them.

Bull****.

Larry Holmes would box Wlad's head off as well. :good

 

The Funny thing is that the threadstarter linked to an article to back up his argument, but that article clearly refers to imprinting of product preference in early life. What a colossal fail.

 

You should be very, very ashamed.

 

:deal

 

Too many people are overstating the role of athletic ability in this thread. It's true that nowadays we have better nutrition and training methods because we have a better understanding of the body but there is a whole lot more to boxing than being strong or fast.

 

Right! and now you have to take a dam PED test.....

 

I think it's possible that modern heavyweights would be a lot more formidable if they had to cling to the bottom of trains like jack Dempsey, suffer the hardships of a youthful sonny liston or the punshing training regime of rocky Marciano.

 

In general I agree with the OP, however I do believe there were a select few fighters who could have competed in any era and done well. I do notice a large difference in size and ability when looking at fighters from say the early 1900's until maybe the 1950's compared to now. Although this may be because a lot of those guys had other jobs and boxing wasn't their number one priority. Its hard to compare eras...