Do we overate fighters from the past?

[aristotlemoses]

I just hate seeing fighters like Berto and all these other guys be so inactive.

[talip bin osman]

Do we overate fighters from the past?

no...

they just flourished in much tougher times back then when u face the toughest opponents in much tougher rules...

gans fighting battling nelson is one good example...

4 ounce horse-hair gloves.
It's a fight to the finish. (50 rounds.)
Weigh-in at fight time in the ring

can anyone in this era compete under these circumstances against the toughest foes available in & around his weight class? more than once?

[Dambala]

Nice thread.

We have to see that they fought better competition, less weight classes and more frequently, but they had much more looses and many old timers were more inconsistent because of that.

On the other hand, now with today's knowledge, better training, diets etc, etc,
I'd favor a lot of modern fighters(from 80's until now) over those old timers.

[Kevin Jesus]

This is a great thread.

You'll see 10-20 years from now, the same being said about todays fighters.

[mrpain81]

This is a great thread.

You'll see 10-20 years from now, the same being said about todays fighters.

Agreed

I remember everyone ****ting on Lennox and now they cry how much he is missed, they used to say he was chinny and boring. In 10 years everyone will say "Manny and Mayweather were so much better then our current fighters".

[MaYaN_SuN]

I use to think we do, but you watch some tape and you gotta look past their style of fighting and look at the impact of the punches. But when you go as far back as the 20's, I've yet to see any tape that convinces me these guys were the greatest ever. But then again, I havent seen much of those older tapes.

[KJB]

In some cases its valid.
For example, Henry Armstrong and Willie Pep were pretty much the greatest FWs of all time. That is when compared to all of the FWs from all of the eras.
So if you bring up Chris John or Yuriorkis Gamboa vs Henry Armstrong, yeah I am gonna laugh at you.
You have to understand that most of the old timers we remember we remember because they stood out when matched against decades of fighters. Modern top fighters stand out against only the current crop.
That said, we do have modern greats right now. Mayweather, Pacquiao, and Hopkins will all be included in ATG discussions 30 years from now.