Was the 80s actually stronger than the 70s heavyweight era

Aside from an upset win over Ali Norton didn't accomplish that much.

Why would he rate above Thomas, Witherspoon etc?

You can rate him however you like but for me that's roughly Norton's level

 

You just cancelled your argument by rattling off so many talented heavies off the top of your head, not even mentioning Holmes, Weaver, Bonecrusher, Cooney, Tyson, Spinks... too many to name.

But thanks for starting the heavy lifting with the above comment. Now you can return to your Mando Ramos highlight reel.

 

I could have mentioned more “talented” heavies from that era that didn’t do squat legacy wise, Holmes and Tyson excepted (Spinks was great at Lt Heavy of course but not so much at Heavyweight ) you just did it for me. I mean Mike Weaver was a good sparring partner for Kenny Norton though.

Now I’ll leave you to fap yourself to your David Bey, Greg Page and Quick Tillis highlight reels (better skip the ones where ancient Aussie Joe Bugner a has been from the 70’s boxed their ears off though lol)

By the way Mando Ramos was a lightweight boxer. Bloody good fighter but not germane to a conversation about the big boys surely?

 

Oh I agree with you about the 80's. The Top 40 talent was deeper as these were the progeny of Ali.

I disagreed about 1990 being in the 80's.