Was there a better heavyweight era then the 70's?

[bojangles1987]

Nope. There were so many fighters in the 70s that would have been remembered better if they had fought in any other era.

[The_Sandman]

Ali was overrated. Not saying he was bad but a lot of his "greatness" came from his character.

[bojangles1987]

Ali was overrated. Not saying he was bad but a lot of his "greatness" came from his character.

Huh. Could have sworn his greatness came from beating every single heavyweight that mattered while he was fighting. Silly me.

[D4thincarnation]

60s were better.

Patterson
Liston
Johansson
Ali
Terrell
Williams
Chuvalo
Frazier
Ellis
Quarry


60s Ali > 70s Ali

[Barry Halls]

Ali was overrated. Not saying he was bad but a lot of his "greatness" came from his character.

And still he beat Foreman, Liston, Patterson, Norton, Shavers, Moore, Frazier, Chuvalo, Quarry, etc etc etc.

I agree people give him some extra points in the book for his charisma but lets not pretend Ali was anything but exceptional. Theres only a handful of fighters in the history of the sport with a better resume.

[The_Sandman]

And still he beat Foreman, Liston, Patterson, Norton, Shavers, Moore, Frazier, Chuvalo, Quarry, etc etc etc.

I agree people give him some extra points in the book for his charisma but lets not pretend Ali was anything but exceptional. Theres only a handful of fighters in the history of the sport with a better resume.

Nope. There were so many fighters in the 70s that would have been remembered better if they had fought in any other era.

All I'm saying is, Ali was overrated. People label him as the greatest. And we know that there have been better. So to label him as the absolute greatest, that right there is what I mean by overrated.

[D4thincarnation]

All I'm saying is, Ali was overrated. People label him as the greatest. And we know that there have been better. So to label him as the absolute greatest, that right there is what I mean by overrated.

Who would have bean favourite to beat a prime Ali?

Nobody.

[IRISH LULLABY]

I think you're mixing words here, a "decade" is not necessarily characterised as an "era" and vice versa. In essence, a period that stretches from a significant boxers debut to his last fight can be regarded as an era, so if you were to ask which era was the best, I would state the "Ali Era" was the best, meaning the period of time stretching from his debut in 1960 to his last fight against Trevor Berbick in 1981. In the traditional sense of decade as it relates to your question, I would agree that the 70's was the best in terms of strength of competition, talent and several other intangibles. However, if I had to pick any stretch of ten years in the history of the heavyweight division I would agree with this post;

70's was the best. But, the 2nd half of that decade was not as good.

The best time period for HW boxing was 65-75. Top, elite fighters during those 10 years. 6 of the top 15 greatest HW of all time fought during that time period.

which is essentially what I believe to be the 10 richest years in the heavyweight division. It contained an immense amount of exceptional talent, just to list a few from the top of my head.

• Muhammad Ali
• Joe Frazier
• George Foreman
• Ken Norton
• Floyd Patterson
• Sonny Liston
• Ron Lyle
• Jimmy Young
• Earnie Shavers
• Larry Holmes
• Jerry Quarry
• Jimmy Ellis
• Oscar Bonavena
• Mac Foster
• Cleveland Williams
• George Chuvalo
• Buster Mathis

There are a litany of other names whom are probably escaping my memory but I think there's a consensus among boxing scribes and fans alike on the supremacy of that period.