1970's Great Middleweight Era

[oogiebe]

I see a lot of fights between 90's Middleweight Champions who were ATG Middleweights... Not too much from the 70's.

Ok

[Kalan]

There were no personalities like Sugar Ray Leonard of course... Leonard got so much attention that he made his era.

I often wonder how big a fight between Michael Nunn and Sugar Ray Leonard would have been if Leonard fought Nunn instead of fighting Terry Norris... Fighting Leonard would have shut out James Toney... Toney was unknown... He would have had to wait if Leonard wanted to fight Nunn -- which of course he didn't want to do.

I think it would have drawn really big... Mike McCallum too... A lot of people wanted to see Leonard flattened.

[sweetviolenturge]

The 1970's was a classic time for the Middleweight Division. Chock full of great fighters who fought each other throughout the decade. Look up any one of the below and see how much crossover fights they had! Note the dominance of Philly fighters (Philadelphia, PA)

C - Carlos Monzon

Gratian Tonna
Bennis Briscoe - Philly
Bobby "Boogaloo" Watts - Philly
Vito Antuofermo
Billy Douglas - Philly
WIllie Monroe - Philly
Eugene Hart - Philly
Rodrigo Valdes
Tony Licata
Alan Minter
Armundo Muniz
Mustafa Hamsho
Tony Mundine
Nino Benvenuti (at end of his career)
Marvin Hagler
Jean Claude Bouttier
Emile Griffith (great welterweight champ but included here out of respect)
Tom Bogs (went on to LHW)
Vinnie Curto
Denny Moyer
Juan and Antonio Aguilar
Et Al. Who were the others missed by me?

I believe the most exciting decade in the division of all-time.

It was, indeed, a hell of an era in the middleweight division. Without a doubt one of the best of all time.
Hell, the Philly fighters alone made it so. It's just a shame that of them only Briscoe got title opportunities. It's really too bad that Bobby "Boogaloo" Watts was left out of the championship picture during his peak between March of '73 & January of '77 when he went 13-0 with victories over Casey Gasic, Eugene "Cyclone" Hart, Willie "The Worm" Monroe & "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler while all were at or near their peaks.

[oogiebe]

The 1970's was a classic time for the Middleweight Division. Chock full of great fighters who fought each other throughout the decade. Look up any one of the below and see how much crossover fights they had! Note the dominance of Philly fighters (Philadelphia, PA)

C - Carlos Monzon

Gratian Tonna
Bennis Briscoe - Philly
Bobby "Boogaloo" Watts - Philly
Vito Antuofermo
Billy Douglas - Philly
WIllie Monroe - Philly
Eugene Hart - Philly
Rodrigo Valdes
Tony Licata
Alan Minter
Armundo Muniz
Mustafa Hamsho
Tony Mundine
Nino Benvenuti (at end of his career)
Marvin Hagler
Jean Claude Bouttier
Emile Griffith (great welterweight champ but included here out of respect)
Tom Bogs (went on to LHW)
Vinnie Curto
Denny Moyer
Juan and Antonio Aguilar
Et Al. Who were the others missed by me?

I believe the most exciting decade in the division of all-time.

It was, indeed, a hell of an era in the middleweight division. Without a doubt one of the best of all time.
Hell, the Philly fighters alone made it so. It's just a shame that of them only Briscoe got title opportunities. It's really too bad that Bobby "Boogaloo" Watts was left out of the championship picture during his peak between March of '73 & January of '77 when he went 13-0 with victories over Casey Gasic, Eugene "Cyclone" Hart, Willie "The Worm" Monroe & "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler while all were at or near their peaks.

[Nile4000]

Would have been an interesting scenario if Watts had a shot at Monzon, and.made him look bad, and get props like his cousin Jimmy Young did against Ali.