1960-70s top 5 heavyweights compared today

[them_apples]

Ok, I'll bite!

Can we agree, that a C class fighter from the past would never have made it into The Ring's Top-10 rankings?

If we can, then tell us about some of those non-ranked boxers from back in the day, who would beat the likes of Fury, Usyk, Parker, Joshua, Hrgovic - just to name a few of today's top HWs

well it’s a bit easier in the lower weights.

but for example, that group gets beat / starched / struggles with the likes of these guys :

Bert cooper, Doug Jones, Pinklon Thomas, Jerry Quarry, Bugner, Baer, Byrd etc.

Not all C class but certainly not the top dogs.

this isn’t a fame competition, just if you dropped them in to fight at their best I don’t see what a guy like Parker is gonna do when he’s worse at literally everything in every single category not named height.

[Bundana]

well itâs a bit easier in the lower weights.

but for example, that group gets beat / starched / struggles with the likes of these guys :

Bert cooper, Doug Jones, Pinklon Thomas, Jerry Quarry, Bugner, Baer, Byrd etc.

Not all C class but certainly not the top dogs.

this isnât a fame competition, just if you dropped them in to fight at their best I donât see what a guy like Parker is gonna do when heâs worse at literally everything in every single category not named height.

With the possible exception of Cooper (a courageus journeyman with a punch), the fighters you mention can hardly be called C class. They were all, at one time or another, in the top half of The Ring's heavyweight rankings. Closer to being A level fighters than C level, imo.

[Willow The Wisp]

well itâs a bit easier in the lower weights.

but for example, that group gets beat / starched / struggles with the likes of these guys :

Bert cooper, Doug Jones, Pinklon Thomas, Jerry Quarry, Bugner, Baer, Byrd etc.

Not all C class but certainly not the top dogs.

this isnât a fame competition, just if you dropped them in to fight at their best I donât see what a guy like Parker is gonna do when heâs worse at literally everything in every single category not named height.

I'm pretty sure that most of those you've mentioned were in fact more accomplished in their day than Joseph Parker is today. Or something very equivalent.

[Willie Pep 229]

With the possible exception of Cooper (a courageus journeyman with a punch), the fighters you mention can hardly be called C class. They were all, at one time or another, in the top half of The Ring's heavyweight rankings. Closer to being A level fighters than C level, imo.

Doug Jones probably shouldn't have been . . .

One big win, a comeback rematch with Foley and stopping a (great) LHW in Foster (who failed to defeat any important HWs), got him ranked and came up short in fights with Frazier and Ali.

One bogus title fight.

IMO Doug Jones fits his argument as well as Cooper.

Quarry, Thomas, Byrd should have (were) at one time in the Ring Magazine's top half.

Bugner doesn't count either way. Back then British HWs didn't count.

Funny, they had to go to a black guy, a Canadian black guy, and a gypsy to regain respect for British HWs.

(Damn it, Ivich is gone! I need a proud Brit to piss off!)

P.S. Who is "Baer"?

[them_apples]

I'm pretty sure that most of those you've mentioned were in fact more accomplished in their day than Joseph Parker is today. Or something very equivalent.

Bundana listed Parker in the group (best modern heavies)

[QueensburyRules]

- - To answer Wispy, most of the top turn of the century heavies whoop most of the top 60s-70s, and it's not even close.

Better to pick the best to compare, say an Ali who when he first fought his best heavy, Frazier whooped him a new one...

[Willow The Wisp]

- - To answer Wispy, most of the top turn of the century heavies whoop most of the top 60s-70s, and it's not even close.

Better to pick the best to compare, say an Ali who when he first fought his best heavy, Frazier whooped him a new one...

Which turn of the century?

[Bronson66]

They always say that the current generation learns from the previous. But how much has actually changed? Are there any tactics a modern top heavyweight like Parker, Zhang, Sanchez knows, that would stun a fighter of the 60s and 70s?

I suppose we would first have to establish whom the top 5 of each era are?
60's /70's
Ali
Liston
Holmes
Frazier
Foreman
In no order.
Today
Usyk
Joshua
Fury
Wilder
Parker
In no order
The older generation have superiority for me,Usyk is the standout for talent now imo,but I cant see any general improvement myself.

[DeeMoney]

Kind of a rigged question, you are taking the top heavyweights from a 20 year period, and then comparing it to just today (just a few year stretch). The obvious issue is the sample size difference, there are going to be more heavyweights to choose from in a 20 year span, than there are in just a one or two year span (today). Sonny Liston was dead a little more than a year after George Foreman debuted, yet they both get to count in the 60s/70s group- not really an accurate way to compare eras.

An additional issue is most people may struggle with, is perspective. Many people struggle with evaluating fighters in the moment, and they need perspective to accurately evaluate.

Get rid of those false equivalencies and you get something more like comparing top 5 heavyweights of the 60s & 70s with those of the 00s & 10s. That gives you a list that looks more like:

-Lewis
-Vitali
-Wlad
-Fury
-Aj/Wilder

Which is not as good as the 60s 70s group, but a lots closer.

[QueensburyRules]

Which turn of the century?

- - Answer in the header...duh...