What would you say was the strongest year in..

76 was strong

- Ali, Duran, Monzon, Zarate, Zamora, Canto, Arguello, De Jesus, Gomez, Lopez, Pedroza, Conteh, Foreman, Holmes, Cervantes, Cuevas, Valdez etc plus Ray Leonard and Mike Spinks turning pro

 

Don't know what you mean by strongest yr but I go with 1982. Top 5 fights
1. Limon-Chacon 4
2. Gomez-Pintor
3. Mancini-Kim
4. Pryor-Arguello
5. Sanchez-Nelson

Fighters
1 Sanchez
2 Arguello
3 Holmes
4 Leonard
5 Pryor

That is Leaving out Spinks Hagler Hearns Pedroza Gomez Pintor Watanabe Braxton Fletcher

 

agree with everything that has been said above.
1982-1976-1948 are vying with each other for the number one spot.

 

Proof you're your father's son. I loved his enthusiasm about early 80s fights.

 

Late 51-late 52 you had Charles losing his title to Walcott
Walcott losing to Marciano plus Marcianos crazy run that year
Archie Moore beats Maxim for the title had his bouts w Harold Johnson before that
Willie Pep losses to Saddler
Ray Robinson wins MW title and loses to Maxim later
Top ten in no order
Marciano
Charles
SRR
Archie Moore
Willie Pep
Saddler
Walcott
Maxim
Harold Johnson
Can’t decide on a tenth yet
Edit still can’t decide on LaMotta or Kid Gavilan choose between the two

 

1992 can win just with the middleweights...

1. Julian Jackson
2. James Toney
3. Reggie Johnson
4. Roy Jones Jr.
5. Mike McCallum
6. Sumbu Kalambay
7. Gerald McClellan
8. Lamar Parks
9. Bernard Hopkins
10. Thomas Tate

 

That’s absurd.

 

Thanks he grew up near Philly and went to fights endlessly all thru the 70s & early 80s. I was born in 82 and he always said that was the best boxing yr while showing me & my siblings the fights when they came on dvd. Before that he had us read all his boxing mags about the fighter & fight. It was fun. Have 1 room here at the farm loaded with boxing stuff.

 

Wow. Very very cool. And one of the best eras of boxing to grow up in. I wish I had been into boxing at such an early age.

 

Lets have a Captain Cook my era of 1982 -

Bantam - We have two fringe ATG's in Chandler and Pintor at the top of the pile.

Junior Feather - Not much depth but the GOAT Wilfredo Gomez sitting at the top of the tree.

Featherweight - Not one but two top ten ATG's at the top in Sanchez and Pedroza. Sanchez peak and Pedroza still prime. Decent guys like Lockridge and Laporte in the ten. Nelson emerged vs Sanchez late year.

Junior Lightweight - Camacho and Mayweather emerging hard by the end of the year, solid guys like Chacon, Limon, Navarrete and Boza Edwards going to war and a young Edwin Rosario in the top #5 and soon to campaign at 135.

Lightweight - ATG Alexis Arguello sitting atop the heap. Mancini, Davis and a host of other ex champs in the #10. Rosario making a permanent move there by the years end.

Junior Welter - Peak Aaron Pryor atop the heap considered by some to be the GOAT at the weight.

Welterweight - Peak SRL (who most rate at #2 behind SRR) at the top of the heap coming off a win over Hearns who is still willing to fight at 147 for a rematch. Cuevas and Duran still in the ratings at 147 if not the ring and Curry, McCrory, Starling and Jones all emerging.

Junior Middle - Peak (IMO) Wilfred Benitez ruling the roost. Hearns to dethrone Benitez by the years end. Moore and Ayala Jr emerging and the underrated Kalule about as well who actually gets beaten by McCallum late in the year.

Middelweight - Peak Hagler! A reasonable array of contenders.

Light Heavyweight - Peak Spinks and Qawi/Braxton reigning with freshly beaten Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Saad in the top #4. Wow.

Heavyweight - ATG Larry Holmes still prime, commonly top #5.

What a period of boxing.

12 guys in McGrains top 100 or 13 counting Jung Koo Chang from lower weights. Most of these were prime or peak.

14 of Ring's 80 greatest fighters of the last 80 years.

How does one reduce that to 10 and define an order?

Spinks prime
Holmes prime
Leonard prime
Hearns prime
Benitez prime
Pryor prime
Arguello prime
Hagler prime
Holmes prime
Sanchez prime
Pedroza prime
Duran aging but about to re-emerge and win titles
Gomez prime
Chandler prime
Pintor prime
Qawi prime

Rough order at that point in time per achievements (in coming days i will find a respectable year end mag rating) -

1. Leonard
2. Hagler
3. Arguello
4. Holmes
5. Hearns
6. Sanchez
7. Pedroza
8. Spinks
9. Gomez
10. Pryor

Via McGrains top 100 career wise with no consideration of time period they were in -

1. Duran
2. Leonard
3. Hagler
4. Arguello
5. Spinks
6. Hearns
7. Sanchez
8. Gomez
9. Nelson
10. McCallum

11. Holmes
12. Benitez
13. Jung Koo Chang

 

It's hard to go against 1982. It also gave us the Hearns vs. Benitez masterclass.

 

Great. GREAT...

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