We often hear that the heavyweight division was strongest in the 1970s or perhaps some other decades that were strongest in whatever division, but what if we flip that on its ear? Going decade by decade, which division was strongest, and IYO, why? I’d say go 1920s-2010s (we’re not enough halfway through this one so things could change, and before the 1920s especially it seems to me that the middle through heavy divisions are blurred a lot) and figure out how we see this. So, maybe it’s: 1920s: Light heavyweights — Greb, Loughran, Tunney in the early part of the decade plus Slattery and more. 1930s: Welterweights: McLarnin, Ross and Armstrong is good enough for me. And so on.
40’s: Light heavyweights. Charles, Moore, Bivins, Conn early, Maxim, etc. 50’s: middleweight. SRR, Fullmer, LaMotta, Turpin etc. 60’s: Middleweight possibly. Griffith, Benvenuyi, Tiger, Giardello 70’s : Heavyweight. Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Norton, Holmes late, Bugner, Quarry, Lyle, Shavers, Tate etc 80’s: Welter. SRL, Hearns, Duran. You can make a case for middleweight having more depth though.
Based solely on fights contested in each decade, my top 10's are as follows: 1900's top 10 - 1. Gans; 2. McFarland; 3. Ketchel; 4. Johnson; 5. Attell; 6. O'Brien; 7. Driscoll; 8. Langford; 9. McGovern; 10. Moran 1900's verdict = Lightweight - Clear, Gans & McFarland are both in my top 4 LWs of all time, whilst Driscoll, McGovern & Moran all did notable work at LW, too. 1910's top 10 - 1. Greb; 2. Langford; 3. Wilde; 4. T. Gibbons; 5. McFarland; 6. B. Leonard; 7. M.Gibbons; 8. Britton; 9. Dillon; 10. TKL 1910's verdict = Middleweight - Much closer, but during this decade Greb, both Gibbons brothers and Dillon all did a lot of work at MW. LW with McFarland & Benny Leonard not far behind. 1920's top 10 - 1. Greb; 2. Tunney; 3. B. Leonard; 4. Walker; 5. Loughran; 6. Mandell; 7. Fields; 8. Jack Delaney; 9. McLarnin; 10. Genaro 1920's verdict = Light Heavyweight - Clear, whilst all fought in other divisions, each of Greb, Tunney, Walker, Loughran & Jack Delaney did significant work at LHW during the 20's, that's half of my top 10. 1930's top 10 - 1. Armstrong; 2) Ross; 3) Louis; 4) Walker; 5) Ambers; 6) Steele; 7) YCIII; 8) Canzoneri; 9) JH Lewis; 10) Al Brown 1930's verdict = Welterweight - Close, Armstrong, Ross & YCIII were all WW champions in the 30's, whilst even Canzoneri had some fights there. LW would have been a fine choice too given Armstrong, Ross & Canzoneri, as well as Ambers, were all LW champs during the 30's. I choose WW primarily as Armstrong & Ross were more active at WW. 1940's top 10 - 1) SRR; 2) Charles; 3) Pep; 4) Louis; 5) Burley; 6) Bivins; 7) H. Williams; 8) Ortiz; 9) I. Williams; 10) Moore 1940's verdict = Light Heavyweight - Clear, Charles & Moore are most people's pick for the greatest 2 x LHWs of all time, whilst Bivins, whose run between 1942 & 46 is a contender for the most undercelebrated in all of boxing history, is also a lock top 10 LHW of all time. 1950's top 10 - 1) Moore; 2) Marciano; 3) Perez; 4) SRR; 5) Gavilan; 6) Patterson; 7) Brown; 8) Saddler; 9) Basillo; 10) Fullmer 1950's verdict = Middleweight - Close, SRR, Basillo & Fullmer all won the MW title during the 50's and even Gavilan did some work there. Bobo Olsen, my #12 for the decade, was also MW champ from 53-55. 1960's top 10- 1) Ali; 2) Griffiths; 3) Harada; 4) Saldivar; 5) Olivares; 6) Jofre; 7) C. Ortiz; 8) Napoles; 9) Tiger; 10) Benevuti 1960's verdict = Bantamweight - Clear, whilst Jofre did notable work in the 50's & 70's (he's the only fighter to make my top 25 in 3 x different decades) and Olivares in the 70's, they both did their best work in the 60's and Harada's whole career, apart from his very final fight, was in the 60's. 1970's top 10 - 1) Monzon; 2) Duran; 3) Ali; 4) Canto; 5) Arguello; 6) Naploes; 7) Foster; 8) Benitez; 9) Foreman; 10) Zarate 1970's verdict = Heavyweight - Close, no single weight division dominates my top 10, though Holmes and Frazier also appear in my top 25 & I feel the division likely had the most strength in depth outside my top 25 too. 1980's top 10 - 1) SRL; 2) M. Spinks; 3) Hagler; 4) JCC; 5) Hearns; 6) Sanchez; 7) Tyson; 8) Duran; 9) McCallum; 10) Arguello 1980's verdict = Welterweight - Clear, SRL, Hearns & Duran were all WW champ in the 80's. Curry & Honeyghan also make my top 25. Whilst I've done top 25 lists for the 90's & 00's, the advent of the in-between divisions & the top fighters fighting so infrequently make it harder and less significant to determine the strongest weight division, imo.
