Are ATG fighters of the past era Overrated?

[boxing_great]

I'm just wondering if more weight is given to the great fighters of the bygone eras, compared to modern day greats.

Will today's fighters be ever compared to the legends of yester year,will they be ever seen in the same regard, or will they be always written off, just because historians and boxing writers have that sentimental attachment to the 'old fighters', and that obssession that their 'heroes' will never be superseded by new up and coming fighters.

Do they have too much pride in their fighters of the past era, that it has become embedded in their way of thinking that it's just so hard to accept a new fighter that is actually better than their all-time favourite hero.

This does not necessarily have to be about boxing. This question encompasses all other sports.

[TheGreatA]

That has probably been the question for the past 100 years.

Some of the older people in Joe Louis' era were saying that Louis was not nearly as good as Jack Johnson and some of the older people in Muhammad Ali's era were saying Ali was not as good as Joe Louis... and the younger people were of course saying Louis was better than Johnson, Ali was better than Louis, etc.

History has treated all of them pretty well.
Look at Lennox Lewis, no one gave him credit for anything when he was the champion.
Now that he has retired and a few years have passed, he is already making some peoples top 10 ATG HW lists.

[boxing_great]

I think there will always be bias towards some1's era in which they lived.

[Sugarj]

Some great posts and absolutely true. People will usually favour their heros from their own prime in life. Yep one day I'll have to bite down on the bullet and say that the current heavyweight champ is better than Ali..........I just dont think hes appeared yet!

The old ATGs were great in their day. The problem alot of the older generation of boxing fans have is comparing yesterday's heavyweights with todays and thinking that the likes of Dempsey would destroy Lennox Lewis just like he did Carpentier........they were so much smaller and the genuine big guys from the time appeared to have less grace and skill than todays big heavies from watching fight films.

That said things become alot more difficult with the lower weight divisions.....I think the likes of Ray Robinson, Willi Pep, Sandy Saddler, Billy Conn would all mix very well with the current crop of similarly weighted fighters. The reason why lies with activity for me, these guys fought every month or so, not like the current stars........once or twice a year!

[brently1979]

Some great posts and absolutely true. People will usually favour their heros from their own prime in life. Yep one day I'll have to bite down on the bullet and say that the current heavyweight champ is better than Ali..........I just dont think hes appeared yet!

The old ATGs were great in their day. The problem alot of the older generation of boxing fans have is comparing yesterday's heavyweights with todays and thinking that the likes of Dempsey would destroy Lennox Lewis just like he did Carpentier........they were so much smaller and the genuine big guys from the time appeared to have less grace and skill than todays big heavies from watching fight films.

That said things become alot more difficult with the lower weight divisions.....I think the likes of Ray Robinson, Willi Pep, Sandy Saddler, Billy Conn would all mix very well with the current crop of similarly weighted fighters. The reason why lies with activity for me, these guys fought every month or so, not like the current stars........once or twice a year!

I agree with his 100%. I think guys like DLH fight too little and that's their downfall.

After reading Ray Robinson bio, I was amazed just how much he fought, especially when he was in Europe, sure not every guy he went up against was a threat but at least he was active.

[PoetryInMotion]

I think they are over rated.

[Jim Jeffries]

I think they are over rated.

So how many of them have you actually seen fight?

[abadger]

It depends what you mean by overrated. Take the great MWs, Hagler, Leonard and Hearns. Are they three of the best MW's ever? Yes. Would they be absolutely unbeatable by the recent best boxers around the MW range, like Hopkins, Jones and Calzaghe? No they wouldn't. I would describe the earlier trio as the better, greater boxers overall, but the notion that no member of the later trio is even fit to mentioned in the same sentence, let alone capable of beating them is just wrong. You might favour the earlier fighters to win in most cases, but it is not a foregone conclusion.

It is fine to favour a fighter based on their ability and say that on balance they were the better fighter, but as soon as we start talking about 'unbeatable, peerless legends' we start going wrong in most cases. Very few boxers are so far and away from all the rest, if any are.
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[StarshipTrooper]

Not at all. That doesn't mean that recent years haven't produced any greats though. I certainly think Bernard Hopkins is a top 5 ATG Middleweight who could hold his own with most anybody on the list.

Poet

[them_apples]

they weren't overrated for their time, but generally athletes get better with time, and boxers ARE athletes.

the current heavyweight division blows however, sure they are big but they suck beyond suckage.

certain featherweights like Marquez, Pacquiao and Morales are monsters though, they could tussle with anyone from any era and probably come out on the winning side.