What do you guys consider a stronger Heavyweight era?

[lazy]

I would go with the 30's or the 70's.

[StarshipTrooper]

But Ali's title reign was from 1963-67. Quarry (and Frazier) was just a prospect and Ellis was regarded as Ali Lite. Patterson was Ali's first title defense even though he was just KO'd in the 1st round by the same guy Ali had just stopped twice. Terrell was more difficult than talented. When Ali toured Europe, there weren't any worthy contenders being held back here in the US. All in all, a weak period for heavyweights.

Actually Ali won the title in early 1964. So '64 through '67 is pretty much right in the time frame I'm talking about of 1965-1969.

1965 had:

Ernie Terrell ranked as the #1 contender.
Floyd Patterson #2
George Chuvalo #3
Zora Folley #5


1966 had:

Ernie Terrell #1
Zora Folley #2
Floyd Patterson #3
Joe Frazier #6
Oscar Bonavena #7
George Chuvalo #8


1967 had:

Joe Frazier #1
Jimmy Ellis #3
Jerry Quarry #5
Oscar Bonavena #6
Floyd Patterson #7
Ernie Terrell #10


1968 had:

Joe Frazier #1
Jimmy Ellis #2
Oscar Bonavena #3
George Chuvalo #4
Sonny Liston #5
Jerry Quarry #6
Floyd Patterson #10


1969 had:

Joe Frazier #1
Jimmy Ellis #2
Jerry Quarry #3
Sonny Liston #6
Oscar Bonavena #7

Come on, that's not a bad list of contenders each year. Compared to damn near any other period other than 1970-1975 that's an outstanding list. Exactly which era are you comparing them to that you find them wanting? :dunno9:

Poet

[Scott9945]

Actually Ali won the title in early 1964. So '64 through '67 is pretty much right in the time frame I'm talking about of 1965-1969.

1965 had:

Ernie Terrell ranked as the #1 contender.
Floyd Patterson #2
George Chuvalo #3
Zora Folley #5


1966 had:

Ernie Terrell #1
Zora Folley #2
Floyd Patterson #3
Joe Frazier #6
Oscar Bonavena #7
George Chuvalo #8


1967 had:

Joe Frazier #1
Jimmy Ellis #3
Jerry Quarry #5
Oscar Bonavena #6
Floyd Patterson #7
Ernie Terrell #10


1968 had:

Joe Frazier #1
Jimmy Ellis #2
Oscar Bonavena #3
George Chuvalo #4
Sonny Liston #5
Jerry Quarry #6
Floyd Patterson #10


1969 had:

Joe Frazier #1
Jimmy Ellis #2
Jerry Quarry #3
Sonny Liston #6
Oscar Bonavena #7

Come on, that's not a bad list of contenders each year. Compared to damn near any other period other than 1970-1975 that's an outstanding list. Exactly which era are you comparing them to that you find them wanting? :dunno9:

Poet

1965 was weak with two guys who were at their peaks in the 1950's and two others who wouldn't be champions in any other era. 1967-67 just adds Quarry, Frazier, and Bonavena. Frazier and Quarry were still just prospects. No way Frazier's management let Joe in the ring with Ali then. It wasn't the worst era for the division, but it was one of the weaker ones, especially for depth.

[elfag]

Maybe right at this moment, but we're in a transitional state I believe, and most of the giants currently occupying the top ten are not really representative of the division. If you look back over the last ten years a large number of the better fighters have been on the smaller side. Fast, tricky guys like Byrd and Chambers, or amateur stars like Ibragimov and Chagaev who most certainly knew a lot of the tricks given their lack of size or power. Ibragimov, especially, was very adept at feiting and parrying shots to land his own. A much better fighter than his turgid fight against Wlad showed. Povetkin used to be a very decent combination puncher, good at doubling and tripling off the hook and going to the body; you can still see flashes of it when he fights now, but his style has been badly ruined. Even the lesser guys like Brock, Lyakhovich, Oquendo knew their stuff. Both Brock and Lyakhovich were very committed body punchers, and Oquendo was tricky for anyone.

I'm not arguing that it was an era that was chock full of talent, but it was there if you cared to look.

I agree, they keep saying that the new generation of super heavyweights makes it unfair but its really been 3 big guys in the klits and lewis and beyond that everyone else thats good has been the same size as past heavyweights. All of the other guys over 240 are generally fat and would be 220 if they bothered to loose weight. The klits are like 35 and 40 and after they retire there are no other huge guys out there to take over so it will be business back to usual.

[Anthony342]

Will the heavyweight divisionever be exciting again? Maybe when the Klitschkos retire and it becomes more competitive? Will boxing ever be as big in the mainstream as it used to be a few decades back? Maybe if another exciting American heavyweight comes along

[Scott9945]

Will the heavyweight divisionever be exciting again? Maybe when the Klitschkos retire and it becomes more competitive? Will boxing ever be as big in the mainstream as it used to be a few decades back? Maybe if another exciting American heavyweight comes along

There will be some exciting new heavyweights eventually. I guarantee it. If another Mike Tyson comes around and every network will want to get in on that. But it's also very possible that the next dominant heavyweight (post Klitschko) will also be from Eastern Europe.

[SCtrojansbaby]

The odds are extremely strong that the top heavyweights after the Klitschko's retire will be Europeans, Helenius, Fury, Boystov, Dimitrenko and Price are the top candidates IMO and all of them except maybe Dimitrenko are somewhat exciting fighters. The only other guys I could possible see are Mike Perez or Yoan Pablo Hernandez who are Cubans who fight out of Europe.

[Anthony342]

Well, maybe he'll still be more popular here than the Klitschkos, as they seem to be a lot more popular in places like Germany and probably their home country of The Ukraine. Is it true Tyson was the last popular heavyweight here in the U.S.? I would've thought Holyfield would've been popular too as he liked to go toe to toe often and was regularly on pay per view for a while. I guess he wasn't because other than winning the title, he only had one other stoppage?

[SCtrojansbaby]

Holyfield was extremely popular and believe it or not the Klitschko's are actually pretty popular among casual sports fans

[JAB5239]

Holyfield was extremely popular and believe it or not the Klitschko's are actually pretty popular among casual sports fans

Not in the United States. If they were their fights would still be on HBO or Showtime doing large numbers.