The 90's Nearly was a fabulous h/w era (what sold it short)

It was arguably the greatest era in the division's history. The 70's is just vastly overrated by echo chamber nostalgia. From Manila on, it was pretty much rubbish. Ali and Frazier were both in decline the entire decade. Look at those Top Ten rankings from the 70's and often past the first 3 or 4 it gets real sketchy.

The 90's could have used a Bowe-Lewis match-up. That is for sure. And the multitude of straps didn't help. But for depth, and real powerpunchers, it was tops.

 

Tyson was there in name only. He wasn't the force he had been. Bowe ruined it the most by ducking Lewis and splitting the title. I do think Lennox losing to McCall hurt because it gave the others an excuse to ignore him. I think Foreman l was a distraction but also a star.

 

What makes you think it could match the 2010s?

 

I tell you something Gordon ,I wish we had the 90 s era right now ,I loved that time for the heavy s .But yep ,there were a good few match ups that didn't come off .Bowe v Lewis, Tyson v Foreman ,Foreman v Lewis etc but it did have some good fight s and the heavy s were back in the spot light .It wasn't a perfect era but no era ever is ,just my opinion pal .

 

It was good up until 1997, by the end of that year Tyson, Bowe, Moorer and Mercer were all finished and then all that was left were Lewis and a faded Holyfield who finally fought in 1999, they gave us a terrible first fight and then an entertaining rematch.

 

The end of the 90's meant the end of the domination of USA HW''s. And though boxing is now a truly global sport USA is still the capital of boxing and the deterioration of HW has meant less interest in boxing.

 

It was great compared to what we have now. It could have been better. A lot of talent.

 

it was ok. I don't think it was that great. There was a big separation of the top and the next level. Same as today.

 

1975 was the following in the Annual Top 10 Ratings... Bugner, Neumann, Bobick and Wepner.

1976 had Bobick, Howard Smith, Johnny Boudreaux and Stan Ward.

Leon Spinks was the unified heavyweight champion!

The division has never been particularly deep. Nostalgia plays a big part in the 70's estimation.

 

Its a very good HW division now , but history repeats itself. We have Joshua avoiding Wilder using the same tactics Lewis used to avoid Bowe.

However that fight will probably happen since AJ is not likely to get counted out by a guy like MaCall. Thats if Wilder doesn't lose to Fury also , which may be a possibility.

If that happens AJ vs TF becomes the biggest fight in British boxing history.

 

A lot of the guys took the Foreman route: fight someone in the Top 10, particularly lower half who didn't really deserve their ranking, and then wait for your title shot or big money PPV fight. Didn't happen nearly as often as today but the 90's were really the decade when this plan began to unfold.

Don King and Pay-Per-View had a lot to do with it.

 

I remember at the time it was often called a weak era. It’s true that the best fights to be made did not happen for the most part.