Exactly. Under modern conditions Owens probably would be the best today, he was a rare specimen, the type of athlete that comes around in their sport once every 50 years. The difference is that with boxing, while every other sport has progressed and gotten more popular, boxing has gotten far less popular. Boxing used to be the #1 sport in popularity, it isn't even top 10 anymore. The other difference is that boxing's 2 thousand years old whereas most sports are barely 150-200 and has had 2 thousand years of trial and error and progression. This makes this era just a blip in the sports history, in reality the last 125 years could all be grouped into one era because little has changed in what's effective, especially by the 1940's. The sweet science hasn't really progressed since then, there's way less boxers meaning a far smaller talent pool and what worked best back then as far as training and ring effectiveness still works best now with the exception of vitamins/supplement etc... but the old timers would have access to those now as well if they fought nowadays. Other sports have grown popularity and changed in tactics but not much has changed with boxing besides it being far less popular making a shallow talent pool. Lewis would beat Dempsey though. Has nothing to do with the time period they fought in, it has to do with styles. I'd pick Dempsey over anyone today besides Vitali.
Examples? This is for another reason entirely. Those sports still have the same general talent pool, if not a higher one, than they did in previous generations. Whereas boxing has fallen off drastically in that regard. It used to be that the best natural athletes and hungriest competitors immediately flocked to one of the many boxing gyms that ran rampant through every city in America. Nowadays you're lucky to find one anywhere near you due to the ever-decreasing interest in the sport in favour of the other sports you named. As a result, the next potential great Heavyweight champ might be in training to become a football running back. Combine that with the dying off of the great trainers (things I've already mentioned but you've completely ignored), the *******ization of the sport due to the sanctioning bodies, etc. and you've got a dying art. That goes without saying. That's not what I'm arguing. My argument is that: If they don't learn their craft as well, and they lack the experience of another fighter, then their supposed edges in strength training aren't going to give them an edge when it comes to throwing a proper counter, controlling the ring, handling themselves in the pocket, dealing with dangerous situations they aren't used to, etc. Boxing is, above all, a thinking man's sport (and a sport built around natural aptitude, not sheer speed, strength, etc.). It's why guys like Zab Judah haven't been nearly as successful as I'm sure someone like you would've pegged him to despite his athletic tools. The baser athletic abilities aren't as useful as natural tools like timing, reflexes, etc. which allow you to bring the best out of your acquired technical skills.
Get off the Kiltschko's dick fan boy. People like you that insult the fighters from the golden era are fools that know nothing about the history of the sport they follow so aren't worth arguing with. :hi::hi:
I don't believe that, Valuev was destroyed by Chagaev not long before that as well as quite a few other shoddy performances against fighters below Haye's level and smaller that could have gone either way. Valuev is no great. The amount of top ten fighters he could of fought but didn't is staggering.
But when you fight a variety of different people in the ams and spar them its downright amazing how little "strength" and "core" and all that has to do with punching power. One of the worst beatings I ever got was against a tall skinny guy (6'2'') who was about 155 lbs. He wasn't strong at all, his workouts didn't look intense, but he could hit really hard and quickly and accurately to boot. I never found a way to impose my superior physical strength on him. In boxing NATURAL ABILITY and INSTINCT means so much more than strength, conditioning, nutrition. Sure, you have to be fit enough to go for 12 rounds at the championship level. Duran and Toney as old fat men found ways to do it: by being completely relaxed in there. Someone like Roy Jones combined all those attributes: fitness, natural ability, unorthodox instincts, freakish athleticism, but he is the very great exception, probably the only great fighter who didn't have amazing intangible toughness or killer instinct.
Lewis is old-timey. No way he could hang with the guys of today. Supplements and training have come a long way since the 90s.
This thread is reason enough for the entire forum to be shut down completely! Dempsey beating Lewis? Dempsey beating Wlad? Dempsey beat Willard so he beats Lewis? Please just get yourself to ****. This is the reason I take long breaks from this shithole because nonsense like that is beyond insanity.
State your case. Or here, I'll state it for you: "Boxxin hazz uhvolved since da past, i now dis becuz usain bolt run faster den jesse owens! lewis is more bigger den dempsey, who juss a white boi! word up, fa shizz, praise be to Allah!" This content is protected
This whole post is spot on, especially the bolded. Acting like the level of skill in boxing has simply been increasing constantly over time is extremely naive. The fading away of great trainers has caused an erosion of skill in the sport that all the athleticism and workout regimes in the world cannot make up for.
the guys who think these old time boxers would have any chance have no experience being an athlete at a top level, dont pay them any mind
These guys who think Badr Hari would have any chance have no experience being anything. At all. Don't pay them any mind.
So, this is really just a thinly veiled "I'm in love with Lennox" thread and you want everyone else to love him too. You aren't really so dense to equate running faster on a track to an evolution in boxing skill. There has only been an overall DEVOLUTION in the skillset of fighters since the 80's. Lennox would most likely beat Dempsey with the same tactics that he used against Tua, but you have to give Dempsey the proverbial puncher's chance against the China-chinned Lewis.