Remembering the 80's

[scottedogg]

Hi first time poster long time visitor I have been a fan of boxing since the early 80's with a special interest in the UK scene, have just gone through my old tapes and was filled with nostalgia when looking at my early tapes

Is it my imagination or was boxing a lot better in the 80's? I must admit through a variety of reasons I don't really follow the current scene but still long for the old days when you had real small hall shows on the Fight Night series every week (if anyone has any early 80's shows from this series then please let me know, especially the Carl Crook v Brian Roche bill) good honest fights with the great Reg Gutteridge commentating

Can anybody argue if there has been a better decade since

[Rambo]

Im a bit young for the 80s, I preferred the 90s, here in the UK it seemed like there was a Eubank/Benn/Bruno/Hamed/Collins fight on nearly every week either on normal TV or sky, none of that PPV shit, free and there was lots of highlights of fights from America, Holyfield, Tyson, Bowe, Lewis, McCall, Golota, just seemed more frequent in those days, or that might be a rose tinted glasses

Dont reall give a shit thesedays, passing interest

[boxbible]

Nostalgia always makes yesterday seem better than today... especially the older we get.

But in reality, today's fights are just as good as yesterdays.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Today's fighters may be as good, but the fights most certainly are not. They only fight twice a year and contenders rarely face off.

It's definitely human nature to wax poetically about yesteryear and I agree that current fighters get short changed in mythical contests against older guys. But the product was definitively better in the 80's, that isn't even debatable.

[dempseyfire]

Today's fighters may be as good, .

I would vehemently argue against that. Compare the divisons today to ANY year in the 1980s and the gap in talent depth across almost all divisions (save a couple of exceptions) is astounding.

[RScarf1]

I think the 1980s will always be my favorite decade and not just because of boxing. The music and movies from that time are still popular today. I talk to some fans (maybe former fans would be more appropriate) who tell me that they are not as interested in boxing as they used to be. One told me that "It is not like it was." Another was in a restaurant he owned and had photos of boxers from the past on the wall and he was staring at them while I was talking to him. I told him what he thought of the heavyweight champs (the Klitschkos) and he did not care about them. Boxing is losing fans who are alive today and the ones who die of old age.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Today's fighters may be as good, .

I would vehemently argue against that. Compare the divisons today to ANY year in the 1980s and the gap in talent depth across almost all divisions (save a couple of exceptions) is astounding.

I think it's the state of the game more than a lack of talent. The more money guys make for doing less, the more the product will suffer as a whole. Sugar Ray Robinson would have never achieved everything he did in the modern game.

[Diamond WEAPON]

Today's fighters may be as good, but the fights most certainly are not. They only fight twice a year and contenders rarely face off.

It's definitely human nature to wax poetically about yesteryear and I agree that current fighters get short changed in mythical contests against older guys. But the product was definitively better in the 80's, that isn't even debatable.

Absolutely true. You don't see a lot of young up-and-comers clash against one another for notoriety anymore, they largely work their way up the ladder and go straight from journeymen to a title shot sometimes without ever facing a comparable peer until after they already have a belt locked up. The Gamboa-Lopez situation is a perfect example of putting off logical top clashes way too long, but I was reminded of it again with Rios-Antillon as a recent exception. More often than not clashes of young talent wind up more like Ramos-Shimoda minus the KO.

[elmersalsa]

Today's fighters and fights, the majority of them are full of crap. I only care for one boxer and that is the great Manny Pacquiao. The other ones could go straight to hell, including "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

I miss the 80s and 90s. I miss the 70s. There are fights in the 70s and 80s that should have happened like:
Leonard vs Hagler in 1982 instead of 1987
Sanchez vs Pedroza in 1981 or 1982
Leonard vs Pryor, circa 1983
Duran vs Arguello in 1978
Foreman vs Quarry in 1973 or '74
Duran vs Tony Ayala in 1982 or '83
Hearns vs Donald Curry in 1985

And in the 90s:
Tyson vs Holyfield in 1991
Bowe vs Lewis in 1993
Tyson vs Foreman in 1991
Jones, Jr. vs Benn in 1996
Jones, Jr. vs McClelland in 1993

[elmersalsa]

Another great fight that should have happened:
Trinidad vs Norris in 1996, but Norris ducked Tito big time!

[dempseyfire]

Today's fighters may be as good, .

I would vehemently argue against that. Compare the divisons today to ANY year in the 1980s and the gap in talent depth across almost all divisions (save a couple of exceptions) is astounding.

I think it's the state of the game more than a lack of talent. The more money guys make for doing less, the more the product will suffer as a whole. Sugar Ray Robinson would have never achieved everything he did in the modern game.

There's far less depth in the talent pool, plus the inactivity. Put Chris Arreola or Kelly Pavlik in the 1950s and they won't become all-time greats.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

No question there was more depth. I was talking about the upper echelon. Arreola is a modern David bey. That's actually a hell of a fight.

[Ezzard]

The 1980s bring back some great memories for me. I was born in the 70s but boxing became my sport in the 80s.

Everything was on colour on TV. And the fighters looked back to the guys they grew up watching and reading about. We still had 15 rounds. The heavyweight scene was mostly a mess.

The Soviet bloc had not come on line which was a shame but there were superstar fighters out there. Boxing was the number 2 sport in the UK. Now it barely makes the papers at all. And you have to sort of whisper your affection for the sport in polite company.

I like to read about that 70s-80s crossover. When Monte Carlo was still a big venue for boxing. Monzon was getting older and Hagler was coming through. Leonard and Tommy were about to light up the sport. Heavyweights got fat.

The lower divisions were full of talent (and still are today).

I think 12 rounds has made the port much more about speed and power, much less about skill and endurance.

The first half of the decade and the end of the decade are massively different.

[llabwons]

Absolutely no comparison, the 80's produced an incredible amount of ATG's who came together all at the same time.

The difference is the greats of the 80's were true fighters who wanted to actually FIGHT each other when they came together to prove whose best. The so called 'greats' of today are more businessmen than fighters. You only have to think of how many times in the last 10 years or so you've felt disappointed when two of the best fighters in the sport come together, the fights have generally been complete crap. Hagler v Duran was classed as a letdown in the 80's!! That's how good the other superfights were, if todays top fights had half the action of that one the sport wouldn't be dying of death like it is now.

IMO the 80's was probably the best decade ever, the first half especially was unbelievable.

Watch what happens IF Pac and Shitty boy Floyd ever get it on, my bet is we won't be mentioning it in the same breath as Leonard v Hearns 1, more like Johnny Nelson v James Warring!!

[Ezzard]

With all the technology around today and all these bu11sh1t theme parks why can't they invent/create a 'West World' style complex where I go onholiday for 2 weeks and live back in the 1980s or 1970s?

Some kind of computer sim of Hagler-Hearns II but so good it looked real? Do all the things I used to do back then...