Look at the physical shape the heavyweights were in during the 70's

[them_apples]

I disagree completely. These guys throw hardly any punches compared to the top fighters of the past and they fight fighters who throw hardly any punches. To top that off they're pretty much spent after 7 or 8 rounds. Can you imagine them having to fight a fight where they were forced to throw twice as many punches as they normally did? Can you imagine them defending against a guy like Frazier or Marciano who throws non stop for 15 rounds? I can, and its not a pretty thought.

co sign, there are a lot of factors. Even in a one sided fight, they might be able to throw a lot of punches without taking anything back. If they are eating shots, moving, and throwing leather back, then we would see an exhausted boxer.

Guys like Norton, Frazier Ali etc, fought at a very high energy consumption rate something the stationary heavies don't do any more.

If they fought like George Foreman they would be panting after 2 rounds.

[them_apples]

Than what made Muhammad Ali so tough? He was raised middle class and never got into fights when he was growing up, now he's considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight ever.

he didn't really have a nice upbringing either. If I recall, his reason to start boxing was because of his stolen bike no? Times back then kids just fought more anyways. Even in Canada my dad could always recall which kids were always scrapping and causing trouble.

It's nowadays, everyone seems to be so soft. They rely on intimidation and friends. It's a very easy generation to be honest.

[them_apples]

there's no excuse for showing up looking like arreola, but there's always been heavyweights in imperfect shape. i remember wepner looked blubbery as hell against ali. joe frazier never came close to a six pack. you could tell when joe bobbed under a punch he had a little meat on him. tim witherspoon and tony tubbs never looked great from what i remember. same with ray mercer. tommy morrison always had moobs. lennox lewis got pretty soft in his late 20s, early 30s. larry holmes had a good bit of fat on him in his early 30s. the klitschkos will never get credit because of a few fat guys in their division and it's pretty ridiculous.

Joe in his prime was only 204 lbs, he didn't have much meat on him. You wuold be suprised how light these heavyweights can get.

areolla has a 77" reach and is 6'3. If he was truly cut he would probably fight at 210.

Foreman was 218-224 in his prime.

He was 260 in his comeback, and he wasn't nearly as soft as Aereolla.

Toney was a middleweight in his prime, so he probably came in at 170 lbs on fight night. He went all the way up to 230+ at HW. He looked like the softies of today.

[donkim]

he didn't really have a nice upbringing either. If I recall, his reason to start boxing was because of his stolen bike no?

Well any kid can get their bike stolen.It doesn't necessarily mean that it was a rough area that he grew up in.


When your black and not dirt poor,you're usually regarded as middle class.If Ali was white,he and his family would be regarded as a simple working class family.


I have never heard of a middle class family who's occupations include cleaning houses and painting billboards for a living.

[The_Demon]

some people on here still claim the HW division is no better or worse than its ever been,what a load of s*it!

back in the 70's it meant something too be a contender,nowadays it means nothing,apart from getting jabbed by a klitschko for a few rounds and getting payed enough too not even bother about fighting back,its ****ing pathetic

[shogunn]

sad indeed. With all of today advancement in nutrition and physical fitness, there shouldnt be any excuses for ANY overweight boxers. Just look at everything below their classes. Aaerola telling us he can drink beer because michael phelps smoked weed (after the olympics mind you) makes heavyweight boxing in America almost a joke

I think Tor Hamer in a few years can give American heavyweight boxing some credibility again.

[them_apples]

sad indeed. With all of today advancement in nutrition and physical fitness, there shouldnt be any excuses for ANY overweight boxers. Just look at everything below their classes. Aaerola telling us he can drink beer because michael phelps smoked weed (after the olympics mind you) makes heavyweight boxing in America almost a joke

I think Tor Hamer in a few years can give American heavyweight boxing some credibility again.

nothing replaces hard work.

[Mikhnienko]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zW287BSApo

these guys all took there jobs seriously. Unlike todays fat bums

Even Vitali looks soft as hell compared to these guys.

remember to click HQ

Um, no.

Big part of the decline. Heavyweights then had to be in great shape to even crack the top ten. These days lazy fat guys like Arreola can walk into a ring and end up with a title shot. Heavyweights today outside the Klitschkos and David Haye are all fat.

Notice how Eddie Chambers turned his career around this year? He also got into shape this year.

Thanks to BALCO's Victor Conte who he and Ward are working with

I disagree completely. These guys throw hardly any punches compared to the top fighters of the past and they fight fighters who throw hardly any punches. To top that off they're pretty much spent after 7 or 8 rounds. Can you imagine them having to fight a fight where they were forced to throw twice as many punches as they normally did? Can you imagine them defending against a guy like Frazier or Marciano who throws non stop for 15 rounds? I can, and its not a pretty thought.

Cuz Vitali & Povetkin throwing 80+ punches a round on a regular basis wouldn't qualify right? Ibragimov and Boytsov throw alot too, quit talking out of your ass. I'd be shocked if you've even seen more the 2 fights from Boytsov, Ibragimov, or Povetkin.

Oh and i'm sure you'll bring up the Volodymyr - Ibragimov fight but again i wouldn't be suprised if that was the only Sultan fight you've seen. He was a very aggressive, high volume fighter until he hooked up with **** jeff mayweather, so thank him for that bull****.

[Spartacus Sully]

Cuz Vitali & Povetkin throwing 80+ punches a round on a regular basis

perhaps you should take your own advice and

quit talking out of your ass.

unless you have some kind of proof that says otherwise? as ive found alot of stuff that says he dosnt average much more then 50-60 a round. as well as many other counts for other heavy weights showing not much more then 50-60 per round.

[JAB5239]

Cuz Vitali & Povetkin throwing 80+ punches a round on a regular basis wouldn't qualify right? Ibragimov and Boytsov throw alot too, quit talking out of your ass. I'd be shocked if you've even seen more the 2 fights from Boytsov, Ibragimov, or Povetkin.

Neither Vitaly or Povetkin throw 80 punches a round on a regular basis. Have they done it before? Sure. Against and old out of shape Lewis Vitaly threw less than 75 a round and was exhausted by the time of the stoppage. How do you think he'd do in a 15 round fight against an Ali, Frazier or Marciano if he couldn't knock them out? Can you say TIMBER!!!?

Oh and i'm sure you'll bring up the Volodymyr - Ibragimov fight but again i wouldn't be suprised if that was the only Sultan fight you've seen. He was a very aggressive, high volume fighter until he hooked up with **** jeff mayweather, so thank him for that bull****.

I could care less about Volodymyr, whoever the hell he is. Are you trying to spell Wladimir, lol? I've seen Sultan fight a half dozen times or so and I can tell you for a fact that he would get murdered by the top heavyweights of the past. Wlad was the only fighter he fought that was decent and not shot, and Sultan had his worst performance by far. It was so bad that he hasn't fought since.