BoxRec

What is YOUR favourite decade of heavies ?

It doesnt have to be considered the best, but which decade of
big men do you enjoy the most and watch the most ?

Thanks again guys.

Kym

Has to be the 70's, loads of depth and they largely all fought each other, the golden era.

The 70's for me also - for the same reasons as Flump.

Second half of the eighties. The rise of Tyson and the fact I was old enough to witness it and follow it when it happened.

A personal favorite is the 'post-Tokyo' era of the 90s, which would be 1990 to about 1994 (when Foreman regained the title). Lots of competetive and entertaining matchups after a decade which had not been a good one overall for exciting HW matchups.

The 1970s are a given, but I think the 1960s were even stronger overall from a depth standpoint; Liston, Machen, Williams, Folley, Clay/Ali in the first half, then Frazier, Quarry, Ellis, Bonavena in the 2nd half. Patterson and Chuvalo made interesting matchups through the whole decade.

Though the 70's gets alot of hooplah, I grew up during the late 80's and 90's and saw alot of great heavyweights come and go, even the grade D-C level guys like Peter McNeeley and Bigfoot Martin were entertaining in their own ways. It was an exciting time for heavyweights, and in a way, I think the 90's guys could have taken on some of the 70's guys, and vice versa.

can ya really go past the 70's

From the Old Timers, I like the ten-year period from 1895 to 1905. I agree with John Durant, who wrote in his classic The Heavyweight Champions (Hastings House 1971):

“This . . . was at a time that is rightly called the Golden Age of the American Ring . . . when the sport produced more great fighters than it ever has before or since. There were three superb champions – Corbett, Fitzsimmons, and Jeffries – and the near champions such as Peter Jackson the perfectionist, Joe Choynski the fabulous hitter, and Tom Sharkey, the rugged sailor who might have been champion in almost any other era of the ring. There were several other fine performers, and just as the era was closing Jack Johnson, who was on his way to greatness, appeared on the scene.” The Heavyweight Champions at p. 51.

Alexander Johnston wrote in Ten – And Out! The Complete Story of the Prize Ring in America; 3rd ed. (Washburn 1947), agreed, calling “this period between 1899 and 1905, when Jim Jeffries was king of the big boys, . . .the Golden Age of American pugilism, in the heavyweight division, at any rate.” Ten – And Out at p. 152.

Ray, I have to agree that was a great era for boxing, and HWs. Along with those you mentioned there was also Ruhlin, Maher, Griffin (one of my favorite “forgotten” HWs), Schreck, Burns, Hart, Martin, Childs, Klondike, Everett, Armstrong, Goddard. What an era, and highly under rated now.