The 1990's seems to be off the most. Hamed, Lopez, and Tapia don't belong.
Jeffries should be added to the 1900's.
Vincente Saldivar should be added to the 1960's.
Frazier and Foreman to the 1970's.
Holmes should be added to the 1980's as mentioned. As mentioned Curry probably doesn't belong.
Is it a rule that no fighter can make it in 2 decades? (ie.- Louis in the 1940's ,Robinson in the 1950's, Ali in the 1970's)
Overall a pretty good list though. Interesting topic.
bjermaine wrote:mayweather will probably win fighter of this decade unless someone like pacquiao or cotto steps up and has some huge wins. the bwaa named jones the fighter of the the 90s and i believe named leonard fighter of the 80s.
you can argue some of these and change a fighter or two during some of the decades but any way you have it, this is a list of all-time great fighters. there's no question.
i also vote john l. sullivan fighter of the 1880s and bob fitzsimmons fighter of the 1890s.
I would rather pick Peter Jackson, Tommy Ryan or Jimmy Barry as the best fighter of the 1880s
Not terrible. I would just say that I don't see why someone should be left off the list of notable mentions simply because they were named in the prior decade. Robinson should be an honorable mention for the 50s and Ali should be an honorable mention for the 70s.
Whitaker declined in the 90s and some of his good years came in the 80s, while Jones was in his prime in the 90s, so you can't really scream about that, even if you think Whitaker is the better fighter as I do.
Ezzard wrote:America, which has dominated much of boxing history falls off the scale in 1960s and 1970s but then comes bacvk again in the 80s... Any thoughts on this?
I think the 76 American Olympic team with all those golds helped generate some real interest in boxing in the US.
Probably sent some kids to the gyms to try to emulate those stars of that team.
And of course a few of the guys on that team were succesful in the 80s.
Amateur boxing was strong here back then .
And that is the farm system of the 80s pros.
Great point! I think we need this in America now to generate some interest in the sport at the youth level again. We also need some mommy's to let their kids fight. It's funny to me that they will let them play football which is much more dangerous, but won't let them box.
Ezzard wrote:America, which has dominated much of boxing history falls off the scale in 1960s and 1970s but then comes bacvk again in the 80s... Any thoughts on this?
I think the 76 American Olympic team with all those golds helped generate some real interest in boxing in the US.
Probably sent some kids to the gyms to try to emulate those stars of that team.
And of course a few of the guys on that team were succesful in the 80s.
Amateur boxing was strong here back then .
And that is the farm system of the 80s pros.
Great point! I think we need this in America now to generate some interest in the sport at the youth level again. We also need some mommy's to let their kids fight. It's funny to me that they will let them play football which is much more dangerous, but won't let them box.
Boxing is so full of shit now days. Why they should let them fight?...Boxing is a total garbage now.
