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

Why would Lewis duck a guy who was thrashed by Andrew Golota

 

It was a strong era, but the title was getting passed between weak champions.

If there had been one title to shoot for, it would have been a different story!

 

Lewis having the WBC belt was a problem. Nobody really wanted to fight him unless they had to. Nobody with anything to lose that is. Not blaming him for picking it up. It brought $ and recognition. It also kept him on an island for about 6 or 7 years.
Most of us looked at the IBF/WBC title as the genuine champion. Holyfield wouldn't fight Lewis until he had to much later. Foreman? Moorer? Bowe disgraced himself, slid very fast. Tyson offered Lennox his lunch $ as soon as the big Brit glanced at him.
Would have loved to see Morrsion/Moorer
Mercer/Moorer
Foreman/Tyson (90)

In the summer of 95 we had two heavyweights fights on back to back weekends
Mercer/Holyfield
Ruddock/Morrsion
And don't forget the most important thing...we had Bert Cooper and that is always fun.
I thought it was 1972 again

 

Great summation.

 

I truly believe Foreman would have retired if he had to face Lennox. Not saying he was a coward but he knew his limitations at that age.

 

Moorer won the lineal title (as well as two of the three titles) off Holyfield who had won it back off Bowe. That's a pretty good claim. Yes Bowe had dumped the WBC title to fight Holyfield again but the fact is Moorer was lineal and had beat the man who beat the man.

 

That was amazing. It really was. That a legendary champion could more or less throw a fight without catching hell for it. Basically watching that bout is no different than watching Leon Spinks punch a heavybag. It's one thing to come in fat it's another to not try once the bell rings.

 

After Lewis and Holyfield it was not a great amount of talent imo. Both Bowe and Tyson had short primes but were big names.

Lots of eras have had talent in the neighbourhood of Lewis and Holyfield with a couple A past prime great for company. Overrated era imo. It was not that special.

If Tyson had of kept what he had going in the late 80s then it would have been a great era. Or if Bowe has of had a longer prime, he went down hill to fast.

 

What sold the 90's short? With the general public and boxing's ability to bring in a lot of new fans?

• No Muhammad Ali type. Ali was the high tide that made the other ships (Frazier, Foreman, Norton - as great as they were) rise.
• In the 1970's there was a lot of boxing on free network tv. This was a time when we only had a few channels, so you watched whatever was on and potentially had your horizons broadened. Boxing benefitted from a lack of entertainment choices, so more people were aware of what was happening, which resulted in more mainstream media coverage, which... made more people aware of what was happening.
• In the 1970's even when big fights were shown on closed-circuit tv in theaters and arenas, they were an event. Something people went out to, and thus, something people talked about and were aware of.
• 1970's - No split titles for the majority of the decade. The undisputed heavyweight champ was literally undisputed.
• The 90's got off to a good start in that department, but Riddick Bowe chipped away at the undisputed title by trashing the WBC belt and then George Foreman REALLY turned the title into small piles of near irrelevance by getting himself stripped by all the sanctioning bodies. 'Course if there was only one or two sanctioning bodies things wouldn't have gotten so confusing to the potential casual fan.