BoxRec

we were musing over whether the sport has followed a linear improvment since the early years of the 20th century with diet, training and video to assist fighters in the modern era. i disagreed with the premise of combatants getting better by using a 5 year timespan taken from anywhere in the history of boxing and comparing the greats from that time to the fighters in todays era.

i wondered what the guys on this forum thought was the best 5 year span ever seen in boxing and which greats of our sport presided over that time.

harrygreb wrote:we were musing over whether the sport has followed a linear improvment since the early years of the 20th century with diet, training and video to assist fighters in the modern era. i disagreed with the premise of combatants getting better by using a 5 year timespan taken from anywhere in the history of boxing and comparing the greats from that time to the fighters in todays era.

i wondered what the guys on this forum thought was the best 5 year span ever seen in boxing and which greats of our sport presided over that time.

1970-75. You had three consensus top ten heavyweights fighting at the same time and some that were just a notch below that level.

Might want to factor the social popularity of boxing....the fifties seeded things through to the eighties and then maybe things started to taper off as no fewer future greats from that point may be joining. (At least from the USA...not sure that holds up internationally). I think the HW division is the most affected overall if there is something to this.

come on then buzzy take a stab at a 5 year spell. 70-75 is a good era for the heavies but do the other weights from those years yield as much quality?

does anything come close to 1940-45? joe louis, robinsons best years, armstrongs best also, ambers was still champ, conn, bummy davis, angott, beau jack at peak, bob montgomery, lloyd marshall at his best, even fritzie zivic was in fine nick during this phase. (let me mention my all time fave - al tribuani - sending shivers through the well stocked middleweight division during 40-45)

jeez... forgot burley, holman williams, billy souse, and bivins!!!!

For mine, Greb's 40-45 choice is closer to the hypothetical mark, overall, than One's 70-75. Each was exceptional.

I enjoyed 1978 - 1983

I wonder what lipton, the well experienced referee, would pick as boxing's 5 greatest years.

Or how about Shannon Briggs?

1935-1940

Ok....I can afford to be optimistic and say...beginning now and into the next five years.

BoxBuzz wrote:Ok....I can afford to be optimistic and say...beginning now and into the next five years.

But what would lipton say?

Or Shannon Briggs?

1935-40? 78-83? reasons please gentlemen

buzzy, the next 5 years? oooowwweeee thats not optimism thats belief in fairies

harrygreb wrote:1935-40? 78-83? reasons please gentlemen

buzzy, the next 5 years? oooowwweeee thats not optimism thats belief in fairies

78-83

Roberto Duran
Ray Leonard
Marvin Hagler
Thomas Hearns
Larry Holmes
Michael Spinks

All at or near their peaks.

Some great fights in that period, harry.

I'll cheat and add one year:

1897-1903

harrygreb wrote:1935-40? 78-83? reasons please gentlemen

buzzy, the next 5 years? oooowwweeee thats not optimism thats belief in fairies

I hope you're not impuning the rugged nature of the current crop of boxing's elite.

harrygreb wrote:we were musing over whether the sport has followed a linear improvment since the early years of the 20th century with diet, training and video to assist fighters in the modern era. i disagreed with the premise of combatants getting better by using a 5 year timespan taken from anywhere in the history of boxing and comparing the greats from that time to the fighters in todays era.

i wondered what the guys on this forum thought was the best 5 year span ever seen in boxing and which greats of our sport presided over that time.

1966 to 1971, climaxing on 3/8/71 when two of the greatest heavyweights in history were clearly most closest to their true peaks in what was the most important fight of their respective careers and arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century.

Many other reasons for my choice of this era, great resurgence of heavyweights, past champions and otherwise, heavyweight tournaments. great middleweights and light heavies, classic Ali Euro defenses, and on and on.

collins fave era certainly had amazing fights, perhaps the contests were better than the guys in the era if you get my drift. strong 5 years though.
1966 -1971 at first glance relies on Ali a lot for its merit, but then again napoles was peak at that time as was monzon. i think the lower weights with olivares, chuchu castillo, fighting harada and eder jofre (maybe not at his real peak) etc were really strong too

thought there'd be more interest in this scintillating thread BUMP!!!

I'm going to throw in 1946-1950

Operating in this era were a number of boxers many consider to be the greatest in their divisions...

Louis
Charles
Moore
Robinson
Pep
Saddler

That's almost a p4p top 10... Throw in divisional ATGs like...

Walcott
Johnson
Bivins
Marshall
Zale
La Motta
Cerdan
Burley
Gavilan
Williams (Ike)
Williams (Holman)
Beau Jack
Montgomery

Look at some of the showdowns...and rivalries

Zale-Graziano
La Motta-Robinson
Charles-Moore

Got to be worth consideration...

def

many of those guys are in my 40-45 era - a cig paper between the two
what a decade the 40's were

I was an avid boxing fan in my Royal Air Force years 1951-1956, perhaps that to me they were so memorable with fighters such as- Rocky Marciano : Ezzard Charles: Archie Moore : Bob Satterfield : Randy Turpin : Kid Gavilan ; Gil Turner : Harold Johnson : Joe Brown : Art Aragon : Willie Pep : Jimmy Carutthers : Joey Maxim : Yolande Pompey : Roland LaStarza : Carl Olsen : Lauro Salas : Del Flanagan : Vic Toweel : Jake Tuli : Nine Valdes : Earl Walls : Rocky Castellani : Carmen Basilio : Joey Giardello : Robert Cohen : Pascal Perez : Tommy Jackson : Gene Fullmer : Tony DeMarco etc.etc. Still follow the 'noble art' though, but the shine is gone.

those were great years

the shine gone? not according to buzzy - he reckons on the next 5 years being the greatest of them all (sorry buzz couldnt resist it)

Collins2000 wrote:

harrygreb wrote:1935-40? 78-83? reasons please gentlemen

buzzy, the next 5 years? oooowwweeee thats not optimism thats belief in fairies

78-83

Roberto Duran
Ray Leonard
Marvin Hagler
Thomas Hearns
Larry Holmes
Michael Spinks

All at or near their peaks.

Some great fights in that period, harry.

some great fights indeed