Since the period 1930-1960 to 2013 the trend in boxing quality and skill has

[Humean]

In order to gauge opinion and see how crazy my opinions seem to others on here.

[SBleeder]

WTH is the difference between "very" and "quite"?

[Humean]

WTH is the difference between "very" and "quite"?

Quite as in moderate

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I think it went up every decade from the 1900s to the 80s, but has slowly slid down from the 90s,,,,, still some great fighters, but all the young guys today ie garcia, broner, brook, etc,, they just dont seem to be anywhere near the level of guys from the 80s like curry, mccallum, julien jackson, eubanks, benn,,,

just look at the heavys in the 90s with tyson lewis, bowe, foreman, holy, mercer, bruno, moorer,, to today with klits, povetkin, haye, pulev, etc a great drop off in talent,,

and you can look at any weight class and compare to a generation earlier like the 80s

heavys- wlad, vitali, haye or tyson holmes holyfield

light heavy- stevenson, kovolev, dawson or spinks, saad muhammed, marvin

miw- serg and ggg or hagler and hearns

welter- floyd, manny tim, or SRL hearns duran benitez

lightweight- vasquez burns crawford or mancini arguello, camacho, chavez

featherweight- garcia, salido, donaire or gomez, sanchez azumah


across the board there have been big declines in talent,, put the champs of the past 10 years from 03-13 vs champs from any other decade and you will see a huge drop in talent,,,

[Humean]

I think it went up every decade from the 1900s to the 80s, but has slowly slid down from the 90s,,,,, still some great fighters, but all the young guys today ie garcia, broner, brook, etc,, they just dont seem to be anywhere near the level of guys from the 80s like curry, mccallum, julien jackson, eubanks, benn,,,

just look at the heavys in the 90s with tyson lewis, bowe, foreman, holy, mercer, bruno, moorer,, to today with klits, povetkin, haye, pulev, etc a great drop off in talent,,

and you can look at any weight class and compare to a generation earlier like the 80s

heavys- wlad, vitali, haye or tyson holmes holyfield

light heavy- stevenson, kovolev, dawson or spinks, saad muhammed, marvin

miw- serg and ggg or hagler and hearns

welter- floyd, manny tim, or SRL hearns duran benitez

lightweight- vasquez burns crawford or mancini arguello, camacho, chavez

featherweight- garcia, salido, donaire or gomez, sanchez azumah


across the board there have been big declines in talent,, put the champs of the past 10 years from 03-13 vs champs from any other decade and you will see a huge drop in talent,,,

I might actually agree that the 80s was the best decade but I would say that the fighters who have been at their peak in the last decade or so might seem better from the vantage point of a few years from now. Also some of the current guys you named have only just started to get into fighting the big fights so it is perhaps a bit unfair to make comparisons at the moment. Also the bantamweights and flyweights actually have a high volume of the best talent at present. The lightweight division, one of the three great divisions along with welterweight and middleweight, has certainly stunk in recent years. Keep in mind whether nostalgia might be biasing your judgment a bit.

[soul_survivor]

Yo TS, ma *****, I think you stopped your time frame a lil earlier, 1930-1960? I'd have said 1930-1990. From then on, boxers have been on a gradual slide, their talent not quite at the same level as it was earlier. There are ofc exceptions such as Manny, Jones, Hopkins, Floyd, the Klits, Barrera, Morales, Donaire, Froch, Ward and a few others who would have been competitive across multiple weight divisions in that 60 year time period that I quoted.

[Humean]

Yo TS, ma *****, I think you stopped your time frame a lil earlier, 1930-1960? I'd have said 1930-1990. From then on, boxers have been on a gradual slide, their talent not quite at the same level as it was earlier. There are ofc exceptions such as Manny, Jones, Hopkins, Floyd, the Klits, Barrera, Morales, Donaire, Froch, Ward and a few others who would have been competitive across multiple weight divisions in that 60 year time period that I quoted.

The timeframe was simply because of previous debates on here. Whether there has been a decline or not since the 80s is a different question from these arguments. What I want to gauge is the opinions of the trend since 1930-1960 to 2013. Has 1960-2013 seen an up trend or down trend in skill? Did you think boxing skill trended up from 1930 to 1990 or that it stayed pretty much the same throughout the decades between 1930 to 1990?

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I might actually agree that the 80s was the best decade but I would say that the fighters who have been at their peak in the last decade or so might seem better from the vantage point of a few years from now. Also some of the current guys you named have only just started to get into fighting the big fights so it is perhaps a bit unfair to make comparisons at the moment. Also the bantamweights and flyweights actually have a high volume of the best talent at present. The lightweight division, one of the three great divisions along with welterweight and middleweight, has certainly stunk in recent years. Keep in mind whether nostalgia might be biasing your judgment a bit.

you can pick any decade and they outshine the current crop,,

canelo is hugely hyped up, but he would get destroyed by fernando vargas at the same age,,,,

just look at past p4p lists, like even 10 years ago

1. roy jones - floyd
2. forrest - ward
3. shane - rigo
4. tszyu - bradley
5. lennox - jmm
6. Mab - manny
7. morales- froch
8. rafeal marquez- wlad
9. oscar - d. garcia
10. winky- m. garcia

I think the young guys are good, but there is no roy jones, floyd, mab, morales, oscar, lennox, bowe, mercer, lopez, honestly now he have guys on the same level as akwinade, grant as top heavys

you knew in 79 SRL and hearns were going to be great
same thing with roy and oscar in 94

the top level talent has gone down tremendously over the last decade,,
stick any of the top welters from 80s and 90s and they would be ruling the welters now,,, take donald curry vs alexander, julien jackson vs broner, ike quartey or tito would be destroying guys like ghost, berto, maidana, etc,,,

Just a huge drop in talent across the board in every weight class except for the 115 and under

[Ray Corso]

The weight classes are not as strong from the number 4 contender to the number 15. The classes simply aren't as strong. Thats why theirs lightweight jumping to welter to fight for the title with only 1 or 2 fights or none at all.
Boxing on the local levels has declined since the 1990's alot. This effects the second and third tier talent levels that make up local boxing shows and can develop a young fighter to step up.

As for ATG fighters coming along theres far fewer than in the past, it stands to reason when the sport has declined so much. Soon the "fighting sports" will become illegal and they'll go under ground and exsist through pay offs and bribs.

Find the movie "Hard Times" with Bronson, Colburn & S. Martin thats where it will return to. All hands are legal, front kick is legal (not in the groin) no prolonged wrestling (no MMA) just fighting out of a boxers form. My way!
Ray Corso

[IronDanHamza]

The overall talent seems to have generally declined in time, IMO.