The forgotten light heavyweight division of the late 80's - early 90's

Some very good talent at light heavyweight during that time frame, or at least I thought so. Very good fighters and good matches which seem to have been forgotten.

Bobby Cyz - ( can never spell his name right )

Virgil Hill

Prince Charles

Dennis Andries

Jeff Harding

Michael Moore

Leslie Stewart

Don Lalonde

Thomas Hearns ( briefly )

 

Would never have thought Dennis Andries would become a 3x champ after Thomas Hearns made him impersonate a yo-yo for 8 rounds

 

Dennis was tough. If you haven't seen his fights with Jeff Harding, you should check them out. The last and final bout wasn't that great, but the first two were wars.

 

I definatly will, need to see more of him. Nothing is better than a underated great trilogy (cough Zaragoza vs Banke cough)

 

Rubbish, the third fight was the best (and not because I went ) and Dennis was the victim of a rare occurance, a home fighter who was screwed...

Their first fight was very dramatic, but Dennis dominated the second fight IMO.

As you mentioned, it was a fun era.

Andries/Czyz was interesting, Williams/CzyzI was an epic, often forgotten bout. I loved Hearns/Hill, arguably Tommy's final hurrah. Never got the Moorer thing, a past it Stewart made him look very ordinary. Lalonde looked awesome against an ancient Davis, but again another one I was never sold on, although I did take great delight when he decked his Sugarness in their farce of a fight.

 

Merqui Sosa vs Charles Williams= pure carnage

 

Remember watching that first Czyz-Williams fight, definitely was epic.

 

Excellent brutal fights.

 

I remember just as I was going to bed, switching on ITV and being told, with no previous advertising, in a matter of fact way; Hearns/Roldan would be screened live, with the undercard.

Truly 'the good ol' days' of boxing in Britain.

It was the first time I had seen Williams fight, after three rounds I was not impressed...

 

That's how I saw it, live on ITV!

 

You lucky old *******s.

 

kind of like the bulk of the 80s junior welter scene...loads of great fights, not many notable talents.

You dont need a division full of monsters to have a great entertaining era though.

 

Shouldn't McCallum be there too, then? He beat Harding for the WBC belt after all.

 

I think McCallum's defeat of Harding finished the era that was being discussed.

 

ITV spoilt us in that 1985-90 period. I think any fight that mattered from the States was shown live with full undercard. Then we got Sportsworld Extra to expose us to the Galaxy's, Chang's and Yuh's. Then as well as ITV basically dominating domestic boxing, with their live prime time Saturday night shows, Midweek Sport Specials and 'Seconds Out', the Beeb tended to pick up what was left on Sportsnight and Grandstand, and they too occasionally had a prime time Saturday night show for the likes of Bruno, Honeyghan, McGuigan and McAuley.


So yes we were indeed lucky *******s!