which one of these awswome fighters could be champion today and what divisions? i mean burley,marshall,williams and the whole list of others were tough tough men who unfourtenately were either mis managed or lost their shot because of the color barrier.
Charles/Moore would be the champions at 168-175 Marshall - sticks around 160, beats Pavlik Burley - would stay at 147-154 and beat everyone Williams - may have stayed between 135/147 and been dominant Cocoa Kid - would have stayed between 135/147, would win and lose some Some may have used weight draining and day before weigh ins to make a much lower weight to bully smaller opponents. Charles could conceivably have been a career middleweight if the financial demand was such by using weight draining methods Then again Charles and Moore may have used strength training and bodybuilding diets to add 30lbs of muscle and be solid 210-220lb heavyweights. A 220lb Charles whips the hell out of any heavyweight today
They would all win a title but wouldn´t be as great as they were then because they wouldn´t fight each other. Today´s risk avoiding management is one of the worst thing about boxing today.
Burley would hold versions of titles between 140 and 168 and 175 if there were good fights there and if he turned out to be that kind of guy. I think he would do his best work at 154 after getting tight at 147, but he would almost certainly be a dominant champ at 160. At 168 and 175 I feel he wouldn't be dominant but would certainly hold title these days. He's got the range, the strength, the punching and the speed to compete at these weights and is very adaptable. The kind of fighters that beat him - Marshall, Bivins, Charles, these guys are rare, but he could get smashed at the higher weights. Williams - no footage so this is guesswork. I think he'd be widely dodged with that style. Tough to pin down, a counter-puncher, it might be a while before he could cheat his way into the mainstream. Then there'd be no stopping him between lightweight and light-middle, for the most part, although he could quite possibly come unstuck against someone like Winky Wright or Bernard Hopkins at the higher weights.
Wll, I think today´s guys would be all rated and be competative in the era of the BMR, not the top guys but rated and competative. You also have to take into account that these guys would not fight as often now as then and so lacking in refining their skills and experience. Should be taken into account imo.
