How strong is todays WW era?

[RuleOfTheSpear]

Crawford is nowhere near Mosley level. When has he ever beaten a prime Oscar level opponent?

That's why i said "kinda" because Crawford never realy got the chance to fight an oscar level fighter when it was supposed to be Manny in 2017.

Crawford is pretty much Mosley level without the Oscar wins.

[STREET CLEANER]

From this crop Spence is the most proven fighter but not by a lot. None of these top WW has broken away from the pack, in order to be considered great they have to have the matchups that matter and they don't face each other. Thurman did face Danny but then he fizzled out and lost agains Pac. Spence has to beat Pac and then has to fight Crawford in order to legitimize himself. This current era taking out Pac there are not Tito's, ODLH, SRL, Hearns, etc. But in the other hand the WW division has always been deep with talent, there are a lot of solid fighters and contenders coming up in that weight.

[GypsyTRAIN]

First of all do you think that perhaps Crawford and Spence are both a bit of the ole eyetest? For me they're maybe just that touch above say an Ugas, a Porter I wouldn't even say a level or a cut above. They're just that little fraction better.

I'm not mentioning Manny because its a given he has great success in any era and holds his own when compared to anyone and Floyds long retired so lets exclude them both please.

Spence, Porter, Ugas, Crawford, whoever else you want to throw in from WW -
How would they compare to lets just say that mid 80s American boxer-puncher era that was full of very tall, rangy, hard hitting and extremely fundamentally sound WWs? They wasn't these 5'6 & a whisker WWs with 69" reaches these were a good 5'10 and fought like it.
Just extremely well schooled basics. Beautiful crisp punches that looked effortless, sharpness which I really do not see today, much at all actually.


I am talking guys like Mark Breland, Donald Curry, Marlon Starling, Milton McCrory throw in a few underrated Brits from this era in Colin Jones and Lloyd Honeyghan
Maybe also Simon Brown and whoever I've missed.

How would they fare in this horribly underrated era largely ruled with this classic American style?

Does Spence compete with guys who are just as big and have better fundamentals than himself? Can Porter have decent success or would it be Porter vs Brook 2 all over again? What about Crawford and the likes?

This WW era is so strong that its best fighters are competing to fight a 42-43 year old Pacquiao so they can "put themselves on the map".

That about sums it up

[JakeTheBoxer]

Pacquiao is old elite fighter. he would be elite in any era. That is why all others wanna fight him.

Other guys are nothing like Mayweather, de la Hoya, Mosley, that animals from 10 -15 years ago.

Clottey was only a fringe contender, winning world title once. He would be a tougher player now.

[CornerCutman]

Remember when Margarito was at 147? Granted, a liar and cheater, but do you remember how scary that man was at welterweight? He fought Clottey, Paul Williams, Cotto, and that sweet beatdown by Mosley. I don't think any of these guys (Pac excluded, obviously) would go near that boogieman back then.

Point is, it's hard to say how strong it is, because they just haven't fought one another. It might be the greatest WW division ever, but we'd never know

[davef]

Spence and crawford would have competed but they wouldn't be top dogs like they are now

Spence beating pac does nothing for him except more exposure but pac is crazy for taking that fight given the wars he has been in I think even if this clearly shot old floyd come back he would UD everyone except Spence and Crawford and even be competitive again them

Can only imagine what a prime floyd and pac would have done to them

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

It’s definitely a strong era IMO. Maybe not as strong as the late 2000’s era as a few have mentioned or late 70’s-early 80’s era but it’s a definitely a strong era regardless.

Crawford, Spence would be high quality fighters in any era. Pac’s greatness is non-debatable and even guys like Porter, Thurman, Danny Garcia, Ugas etc would be viable contenders in any era. Even Ray and Tommy were making defences vs Bonds, Shields, Finch etc, and in the 2000’s guys like Baldomir held the lineal title.

In terms of depth this is a pretty stacked era.

[Left Hook Tua]

In terms of achievements: Spence is Quartey level. Crawford is kinda Mosley level. Thurman is Corrales level. If you can't see it, then you're a casual.

They definitely could compete in the 2000s.

Corrales was a super featherweight/lightweight bro.

Floyd fought him at 130.

Castillo fights with Corrales was at 135.

[Mushashi]

It's difficult to say how good this era is, as others have mentioned they're just not proven enough. Spence is the best of the bunch thus far but he's not that guy yet. He still needs to take care of Manny and Bud, Ugas and then maybe Thurman.

Crawford, Thurman, Brook, Porter, Garcia they're all decent compared to previous eras but nothing we haven't seen before. Crawford has the pedigree and for all we know he could be a special WW, we just don't know it yet because he hasn't fought any elite welters in their prime.

[Left Hook Tua]

Ike quartey beats up all these top welterweights aside from pac.

Prove me wrong.