The oldschool of boxing is overrated

[deliveryman]

A fairer comparison would be to suggest that welterweight Sugar Ray Robinson might defeat Floyd.

Same era as Pep, both were considered the geniuses of the day.

I'm about to speak blasphemy on these boards.

Robinson would be schooled too. And that's saying a lot considering Robinson was a lot bigger.

[Sgt.Pepper]

lol I've been on this site for 8 years.

I've seen plenty of footage Willie Pep, and no doubt he was ahead of his time in terms of boxing ability. However, to compare that ability to modern greats who have had the benefit of the sport naturally evolving along with training and equipment advancements; to think he would even be competitive with Floyd Mayweather is ridiculous.

Who today beats Willie Pep??


With the sport naturally evolving along with training and equipment advancements NOBODY today beats Willie Pep.

[Sugarj]

lol I've been on this site for 8 years.

I've seen plenty of footage Willie Pep, and no doubt he was ahead of his time in terms of boxing ability. However, to compare that ability to modern greats who have had the benefit of the sport naturally evolving along with training and equipment advancements; to think he would even be competitive with Floyd Mayweather is ridiculous.

Please read every post of mine in this thread. Pep should not considered as a head to head rival of Floyd due to differing weight divisions. Ray Robinson is a much better choice from the same era.

Being on a site for 8 years is irrelevant. I've spoken to people who have followed the sport for 60+ years and speak absolute garbage. Whereas there are teenagers/guys in their early 20s in the history section who make perfect sense due to their research of the sport and their observation of historic fight films.

I appreciate Mayweather as much as anyone. He is undoubtedly one of the very best I have ever seen. He will no doubt go down with the other pound for pound greats in history.....including Robinson, Charles, Leonard, Hearns, Pep, Whitaker or Jones jnr.

So I'm not going to attempt a head to head technical comparison with Pep. All I can say is that Pep's game didn't lack anything, the films still look great and I'd argue that he'd acquit himself well against any of history's featherweights. He might, just might have been a superior combination puncher than Floyd.....

As for advances in training and equipment. I can't say the fighters of today look so much better on film than their historical counterparts.....at least from the 40s/50s onwards where fight film improved in visual quality. The advancements in technical skills of boxers did seem to improve quite dramatically between 1900 and the late 1930s.

I can't say that speed or punch output/workrate has increased as the recent decades have past......for all the improvements in training/equipment you cite.

[Szef]

I'm about to speak blasphemy on these boards.

Robinson would be schooled too. And that's saying a lot considering Robinson was a lot bigger.

Ohhh mann.. You're about to get eaten alive.

[Sgt.Pepper]

I'm about to speak blasphemy on these boards.

Robinson would be schooled too. And that's saying a lot considering Robinson was a lot bigger.

It's not blasphemy its' foolishness.

SRR would walk clean thru Mayweather.

[New England]

No disrespect to the old boys, they're warriors, but as I study their resumes, they really DOES seem less impressive than the Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfields of modern times.

Frazier: He had 1 great win, Ali. To who he lost the two rematches. His second best win Quarry, a guy with a very flawed resume, and if anyone today had a loss like the one he Frazier had to Foreman back then, it would be considered "exposed".

Jerry Quarry: Lost to journeymen right and left and his best win was Earnie Shavers...

Earnie Shavers: He lost to journeymen right and left, got knocked out in round 1 by Quarry...

Rocky Marciano: His KO percentage and undefeated record seems impressive, but he got no great wins at all, we could hail Deontay Wilder today like many are hailing Marciano...

Just some examples. It's as if the old fighters are being hyped a lot to make each other seem better by beating each other. But we had guys like Lewis in modern times with far better resumes and more clear top quality wins.

I just don't get why so many prefer oldschool boxing, although yes, Ali and Foreman would both probably be on top today, but guys like Frazier, Shavers and Quarry would probably not even beat Holyfield... I'm trying to be realistic here.

you're comparing holyfield and lewis, the best of their eras [and the second best HW era of all time,] to contenders from the 70's. frazier was a champion and is a great, but quarry and shavers are not considered great fighters by anybody who knows what he is talking about.

muhammad ali has a much better resume than holyfield and lewis. you conveniently left him out. it's one of the best resume of all time, from any weight or era. if you can't see that, you're just not worth my time in explaining it.

[Sugarj]

I'm about to speak blasphemy on these boards.

Robinson would be schooled too. And that's saying a lot considering Robinson was a lot bigger.

Heavens, I've studied both and think that a welterweight match would be very interesting.

But I've not seen anything to make me think that Floyd would school Robinson. There were no flaws in Robinson's game. His speed, power, footwork, combination punching, chin, heart and workrate would make him a terrifying proposition for Mayweather.

[New England]

Also who is claiming that Quarry and Shavers are some kind of ATGs ?.

idiots....

[New England]

I agree.

When it comes to ranking all time greats, the disadvantage of modern fighters is that their fights aren't filmed in low resolution black and white.

There is no question that boxers today are FAR superior to those 60-100 years ago. And it's not even close.

The most humorous remark I hear on these boards is that Willie Pep would actually give Floyd Mayweather a competitive fight, let alone beat him

Or that any Heavyweight from that era would even last 4 rounds with a Klitschko

like these guys did?




oh, and how could we forget the greatest of all time:




f#cking newbies...

[A_Jeffrey]

like these guys did?




oh, and how could we forget the greatest of all time:




f#cking newbies...

maybe he meant prime Wladimir?

put some pics when wlad was 15 and lost to some skinny 14 year old