Are Fighters of the past Overrated?; Poll

[SplitSecond]

Well.. he did hit harder. But, speed-wise, Lewis is ahead of him.

yea what i meant, accidently bolded the ''+hit harder'' bit

[TheGreatA]

To a certain extent, maybe, but you'd be surprised how highly many historians rate Manny Pacquiao for example. That's because it's very, very difficult to deny his accomplishments.

What you should rather be asking is whether resume and accomplishments are overrated, because fighters in the past generally fought more against better opposition than today's fighters and that's mainly why they are rated higher. It doesn't necessarily make them better head-to-head but it's the truth, they fought better opposition.

Also whoever said that people on the Boxing History section think Patterson would beat Wlad is mistaken. I believe Patterson would beat him, pound for pound, but any sensible boxing fan realizes the 50-60 pound weight difference between the two.

Taking one look at a man like Floyd Patterson should also make any boxing fan realize that fighters from the past could very well compete today:


3:15

[j]

vitali has paper skin? when the hell did this happen？ please, somebody tell me how many fights a cut has been a problem for vitali? so what is the answer? like, one? a fluke type of cute that happens once in a fighters career? damn! people just don't give that man a break! he could be whipping ass as a 60 year old and people would complain about his opponents or something. give it a rest ******s.

foreman, faster than lewis? hmm, i dunno if i can agree with that. or that he was a harder hitter. how hard a person hits is best told by feeling the punch for yourself. i have the experience to say this - its not just talk.

[TheGreatA]

vitali has paper skin? when the hell did this happen？ please, somebody tell me how many fights a cut has been a problem for vitali? so what is the answer? like, one? a fluke type of cute that happens once in a fighters career? damn! people just don't give that man a break! he could be whipping ass as a 60 year old and people would complain about his opponents or something. give it a rest ******s.

foreman, faster than lewis? hmm, i dunno if i can agree with that. or that he was a harder hitter. how hard a person hits is best told by feeling the punch for yourself. i have the experience to say this - its not just talk.

Holyfield said Foreman was the hardest hitter he ever fought. He fought both Foreman and Lewis, and a 40+ year old Foreman I might add.

[j]

btw. for me, accomplishments do not amount to everything. i look at all sorts of things. how a fighter fought, how they won or lost, potential, when they looked best and worst, etc. for me, it is not simply reading a paper on the recorded bouts because that does not tell even half of the story.

[SplitSecond]

To a certain extent, maybe, but you'd be surprised how highly many historians rate Manny Pacquiao for example. That's because it's very, very difficult to deny his accomplishments.

What you should rather be asking is whether resume and accomplishments are overrated, because fighters in the past generally fought more against better opposition than today's fighters and that's mainly why they are rated higher. It doesn't necessarily make them better head-to-head but it's the truth, they fought better opposition.

Also whoever said that people on the Boxing History section think Patterson would beat Wlad is mistaken. I believe Patterson would beat him, pound for pound, but any sensible boxing fan realizes the 50-60 pound weight difference between the two.

Taking one look at a man like Floyd Patterson should also make any boxing fan realize that fighters from the past could very well compete today:


3:15

always thought patterson looks alot like mos def



mos def:

[IMG]http://i4.***********.com/albums/y150/Saltlick/Sub3/mos_def.jpg[/IMG]

[Schmerzen]

vitali has paper skin? when the hell did this happen？ please, somebody tell me how many fights a cut has been a problem for vitali? so what is the answer? like, one? a fluke type of cute that happens once in a fighters career? damn! people just don't give that man a break! he could be whipping ass as a 60 year old and people would complain about his opponents or something. give it a rest ******s.

foreman, faster than lewis? hmm, i dunno if i can agree with that. or that he was a harder hitter. how hard a person hits is best told by feeling the punch for yourself. i have the experience to say this - its not just talk.

he had a cut in the biggest fight of his life, thats not good.
imagine ali with a cut in 64 vs liston.
i dont wanna diss vitaly, just tried to say that lennox cant stop foreman on cuts or something.
thats why i give foremen the edge in this fight, he would hunt lennox in the ring and lennox was never fast on his feet, not with 240 pounds.

[TheGreatA]

btw. for me, accomplishments do not amount to everything. i look at all sorts of things. how a fighter fought, how they won or lost, potential, when they looked best and worst, etc. for me, it is not simply reading a paper on the recorded bouts because that does not tell even half of the story.

That's arguable but when on the other hand you have Henry Armstrong who fought top 10 ranked contenders over 70 times and 15 or more times against hall of fame type of opposition, and put Mayweather's accomplishments next to him (which are very good but not on that level), it's difficult to go with the latter unless you truly believe the fighters of the 1930's couldn't shine Mayweather's boxing shoes. But in the end one should rate a boxer based on how well he dealt with the opposition in his time.

I do look at all kinds of things such as dominance, longevity, film if possible (and I tend not to rate fighters I haven't seen any film of, unless their quality is unquestionable). Accomplishments are a major part of it though, in my opinion, because you can only be as good as the people you fought. Mediocre fighters can look great against below average opposition, we have seen this over and over in boxing.

[FRANKGWJ]

How many fighters today can go 15 rounds? How many fighters today would test the limits of their ability by fighting everyone in the top ten of their weight class? How many fighters today will go way out of their normal weight class just to test there ability? How many fighters today will fight 150 to 200 fights?
These thing alone make the past fighter ATG. Plus they had skills.

[Mugwump]

foremans chin could take any jab lennox has and he doesnt have a paper-skin like vitaly also.
i dont think lennox can run all night long vs foreman.

He wouldn't need to. Foreman would blow himself out before the seventh.

and foreman was 100% faster than lennox lewis + he hit harder.

Not a chance.