the fab of the 80s compared to the fab 5 of today...

the 80's for boxing were great and it will be hard to get fighters like that again ever i feel. because todays game isnt about Heart and Courage it is more about money and not losing.

the 80's had guys like

Mike Tyson
Larry Holmes
Marvin Hagler
Tommy Hearns
Ray Leonard
Julio C Chavez
Azumah Nelson
Roberto Duran
these guys knew the word heart and they went in with killer attitudes.
Todays fighters are more worried about the losing and if they do they think the money might dry up.
there safer more tactical weary and only fight if the money is perfect.
but it is slowly getting better with fighters now taking the big fights as we are starting to see.

but if was to compare the fighters of today with the 80's i would say one thing guys back then had Killer instinct and had heart. todays guys are like Basketball players protected and care about the money more than there reputation.

 

Well its still hard to judge because they are still fighting and at least two are yet to really hit the peak of their career.

I cant consider them as good yet but they could all certainly hold their own against those guys at the very least.
Except I reckon any of those guys smash Hatton at 147.

I agree that people look back with to much nostalgia, boxing in the 80's is the same game it is now pretty much. Its silly to suggest that the guys of today that rise up to be the best of their era, are so much different to guys of only 20 years ago.

Comparing boxing today with boxing in the 30's, 40's and 50' is a lot harder because the sport was a lot different back then.

 

also i would have to say i miss the 80's. but it is slowly getting better with fights like
Hatton vs PBF
Calzaghe vs Kessler
Cotto vs Mosley
all these fights are great for the sport and its a step in the right direction.

 

The problem is the likes Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran were household names that even the casual fan knew of.

Maybe casual fans have heard of de la Hoya, possibly Mayweather Jr but that is it, and even if they had heard of Oscar and Floyd they would not know their achievements and big fights like they had of Hagler, Hearns Duran and Leonard.

 

We are in the middle of a very good era, golden age of boxing. There's some very good fights coming up this year, and there's already been some great ones. The only real weakness is the heavyweight division.

 

Um however you want to spin it Hagler, Duran, Hearns, Benitez, and Leonard were far far far greater than your modern fab 5.

 

Illmatic your forgeting most of the Fab 5 fought each other. Theres only been 5 fights between the modern fighters you mentioned compared to 10 fights between the Fab 5.

Also if you just want to look at great fighters from the era theres McCallum, Pryor, Tyson, Chavez, Spinks, Salvador Sanchez, Arguello. Allot of these fighters have claims to be the best ever in their weight classes.

So the 5 fighters you mentioned aren't light years apart but overal they are second best as a group. How would the following go:

Hagler-BHOPs (MH)
Pryor-Hatton (P)
Mayweather-Duran (M)
Leonard-Delahoya (L)
McCallum-Winky Wright (M)
Benitez-Cotto (B)
Hearns-Trinidad (H)

The 8-s win all but 1 of those 7 for me

 

nice call just goes to show they need to grow some killer instincts or maybe some heart.

 

Mike McCallum in his prime would dismantle all those modern day fighters you listed

 

Bingo. In 20 years, there will be people saying things like "There will never be another PBF" . The past is always a little bit more pleasing to people than the here and now

 

casual fans in the UK know hatton

at best they call mayweather merryweather so i dont like he has oscar like global popularity

 

You are right about Hatton, but even then there is a north/south split in this country (England) about Hatton.

It hurts his marketability that he is not from London.

de la Hoya is respected in Britain by sports fans, but I still think a casual sports fan would not be able to name a fighter de la Hoya has beaten...

Mayweather is a complete unknown force in Britain. If a casual fan has heard of him they still would not know who he has fought or indeed what he looks like.

The casual sports fan may of heard of Hopkins or Mosley but would have less of a clue about them than Mayweather.

 

this would be a great line up of fights if they could happen and who would you think would win.

1988 Mike Tyson Vs 2007 Wlad Klitschko HW

1986 Michael Spinks Vs 2001 Roy Jones Jr 175

1985 Marvin Hagler Vs 2004 Bernard Hopkins 160

1984 Tommy Hearns Vs 2002 Oscar Dela Hoya 154

1981 Ray Leonard Vs 2007 Floyd Mayweather 147

1983 Aaron Pryor Vs 2007 Ricky Hatton 140

1980 Roberto Duran Vs 2007 Miguel Cotto 147

1988 Julio C Chavez Vs 2007 Juan Diaz 135

1989 Azumah Nelson Vs 2006 Manny Pacquiao 130

Now although there will be debates about who would win just imagine watching all these fights no matter what the result.

 

Hagler > Hopkins
Duran > Mosley
Leonard > De La Hoya
Hearns > Mayweather (by the way, Hearns won titles at 147, 154, 160, 168, 175, and the IBO/WBU at Cruiserweight)
Benitez > Hatton

1980s was better!