Do You Think Old School Fighters Get Overrated?

[Southpaw Great]

I often hear this said. I don't personally, do you?

[Killa Killa]

Yes, some times people act as if noone from the 90 and beyond are able to hang with anyone from the previous years...

[The_Demon]

nope

they fought more,they fought harder ,they got payed less

[AC-Voltage]

Probably a little... But it's about who you fought in your era. Not about who you match up against in a fantasy fight from another era.

[Thread Stealer]

Sometimes.

Example: Jack Dempsey in these lists.

http://boxing.about.com/od/history/a/ring_80_best.htm

http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88254

[Ryannn]

yes.

fighters today are restricted by today's standards.

fighting 100+ fights is the norm back in the day, nowadays elite fighters fight about 2-3 times a year. yet some use it as a basis on how today's fighters cannot "hang" with old school fighters.

the game has changed, and it isn't fair to use standards back in the day to measure how great a modern fighter is.

[VatoMulatto]

Of course they do just like the boxers of this generation are going to be overrated a few decades from now.

[BigStereotype]

Absolutely. Boxing, like baseball, is a very nostalgic sport. People like to claim that Babe Ruth would still destroy if he were to play today. Bull****. He was 5'10, 220 lbs, but if you look at the footage, he was a mountain compared to the players around him. Same thing with boxers. Nutrition is superior today, making for stronger, quicker fighters. Boxing has also evolved quite a bit as a sport, meaning there is a lot more technical skill. They definitely used to be tougher, but the average fighter today is better in every other area than an average fighter of 50 years ago. Now, obviously, there are greats from that era that could measure up in any era, but claiming that Jack Dempsey would destroy a prime Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis is poppy****.

[-EX-]

Yes...sometimes its warranted, sometimes its not...

Some people are biased towards boxers they watched fighting growing up...

[-Spinal-]

Hell yeah..a whole lot lol. No one at all from this gen can beat any fighter of the 80s 70-s 60s etc. That is the impression an outsider may get, looking in. Boxers of now have two hands just like boxers of back in the day. People act like old school fighters had 8 arms and were 10 feet tall. No disrespect, they fought more, fought with less rules, etc. But sometimes people tend to overrate them a lot around here.