Are Fighters of the past Overrated?; Poll

[SplitSecond]

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I meant.

i dunno man, the only fighters of the old days im impressed with is sugar ray robinson, armstrong(even if i do think they fought alot fo not so great opposition) and louis(which i think is the best heavy of all times)

but the lack of footwork(even tho they had nice head movement) back in those days(with the exception of few), and somethin weird, like none of them were really athletic they all looked like some irish street brawlers, know what i mean? anyway you dont have to, we can agree to disagree here

[SplitSecond]

Young=Rahman, McCall, whats the difference?

Jimmy Young also got robbed against Ali & Ken Norton.

McCall almost got his ass beat by an ancient Larry Holmes, he went on to lose his title to Frank Bruno!!

Mercer whom gave Lennox all he could handle and imo was on the verge of knocking him out if it had been a 12 round fight got his ass beat by that old version of Holmes.

if you say so, i just think the styles match-up is all wrong for foreman

[Dynamite Kid]

if you say so, i just think the styles match-up is all wrong for foreman

If say so? its not if i say so, watch the fight, Lewis had all he could handle against a guy who got beat by Jesse Ferguson, he was knocked out twice by less than stellar opposition and you want to make out one of the best punchers in HW history who is a durable fighter has no chance of beating him.

Ray Mercer cant box, difference is Foreman hits twice as hard as him.

[Mugwump]

If say so? its not if i say so, watch the fight, Lewis had all he could handle against a guy who got beat by Jesse Ferguson, he was knocked out twice by less than stellar opposition and you want to make out one of the best punchers in HW history who is a durable fighter has no chance of beating him.

Ray Mercer cant box, difference is Foreman hits twice as hard as him.

To be fair to Lewis - he invariably fought to the standard of his opposition. It was his biggest weakness. That said, when his head was screwed on tight he was formidable.

[TheGreatA]

I agree that Foreman vs Lewis could really go either way.

Lewis was faster but still not exactly fast, not exactly a Muhammad Ali was he? He has been knocked over by lesser fighters and stunned by most punchers who connected on him. It would be difficult for both.

[Benny Leonard]

I don't know who said Patterson beats Wlad. But, I would that Patterson is a better HW than any other HW fighting right now not named Klitschko. I don't think Wlas has beat anybody that is as good as Patterson either.

Forget Patterson has a HW for a second: He was an Olympic Gold Medalist as a MW...then turned pro and started to eat/train his wayup to the HW division {185 lbs}. Patterson could have been a SMW, LH, CW today. I think he is that good to be taken right out of the past in his prime and fougth today in any of those 3 divisions and have done well...especially SMW and LH.

SRR: Would be #1 today at WW....his best division and I wouldn't be surprised if he owns 154 and 160 as well.

There are a lot of fighters I could take from certain time periods and say they would do well...but only certain ones with a more modern style that could move.

[Dynamite Kid]

To be fair to Lewis - he invariably fought to the standard of his opposition. It was his biggest weakness. That said, when his head was screwed on tight he was formidable.

That is why Foreman could beat him, that is why Rahman beat him.

[Dynamite Kid]

I agree that Foreman vs Lewis could really go either way.

Lewis was faster but still not exactly fast, not exactly a Muhammad Ali was he? He has been knocked over by lesser fighters and stunned by most punchers who connected on him. It would be difficult for both.

Exactly, difference between Holmes, Ali and Lewis is that Lewis did not have the option to use his legs like those guys, his footwork was always pretty sloppy even when he was with Steward. Imagine Lewis getting tired the way he did against Mercer when he is fighting Foreman, it would be all over for him.

[Panamaniac]

There are overrated fighters today (PBF) as well as the past (Sweet Pea). No era has a preponderance (if you will) of overrated fighters. I have a general bias for fighters of the past for one reason only - the KO is (was) more of a urgency to them. Too many of today's fighters are willing to leave their fate in the hands of the judges and then ***** that they were robbed.

[FreshOutOfHell]

Personally, I can't decide for a GOAT. The greats are the ones I'd reefer to when trying to teach boxing history to my kids..
There will be greats of today too, but somehow it's easier to get the perspective of it all looking 10+ years back in time.