So, lots of talk here recently about the 115 year old films showing the champions of 115 years ago as poor fighers, observed on film by knowledge-seeking experts in the making now posting at Boxing Scene as "Crude brawler(s) who clinched a lot and leaned back from punches".
So, let's concede then that there exists no other context beyond the evidence we ourselves can process, by simply looking at the films, and like all sports the game has evolved. We try with little consensus to pinpoint the stylistic quantum leap moments and champions but this is often laid at the feet of Johnson, Leonard, Dempsey, Armstrong, Pep, Ali, Tyson, Klitschko, etc. The legends, one plucked from every 10 to 20 years moving forward. One poster claims that Ali and his era of contemporaries from the 1970s are now completely archaic and could not compete in the 21st. Century. Maybe. Maybe it was a moment, or perhaps subtile, incremental progress, like annual use of building blocks; and all the great trainers from Blackburn, Arcel, D'Amato, Benton, Durham, Futch, Dundee, to Clancey, Steward, Hunter and, well; most of the others, were just plain full of it; pining for their own youth and vigor one suposes.
If the evolution theory holds water at all, certainly we're seeing the Best MOQ rules professionals right now, and during the last quarter century block. Boxing is booming in every region on earth, and since 2000 it has served up the best men of every size that each culture can push out, eager to sacrifice, learn and fight hard in a quest for riches.
So......
Let's have a look at the 175 pounders, a popular weight class; and I ask YOU to pull your top 10 togeter, of the MOST MODERN AND HIGHLY EVOLVED (BEST) Light Heavyweight collection the world has ever seen. Here's a primer pick list for anyone who accepts the challenge, and then we can review the end (or newest) destination of all the evolution:
21 Century 01/01/200 - 01/01/2023
Top Light Heavyweight (175 lbs.):
Roy Jones Jr.
Andre Ward
Dariusz Michalczewski
Dmitry Bivol
Sergey Kovalev
Joe Calzaghe
Bernard Hopkins
Saul Alvarez
Fabrice Tiozzo
Artur Beterbiev
Antonio Tarver
Chad Dawson
Adonis Stevenson
Tomasz Adamek
Glen Johnson
Badou Jack
Paul Briggs
Marcus Browne
Jean Pascal
Tavoris Cloud
Julio César Gonzalez
Joe Smith Jr.
Zsolt Erdei
Clinton Woods
Oleksandr Gvozdyk
Callum Smith
Nathan Cleverly
Eleider Alvarez
So, let's concede then that there exists no other context beyond the evidence we ourselves can process, by simply looking at the films, and like all sports the game has evolved. We try with little consensus to pinpoint the stylistic quantum leap moments and champions but this is often laid at the feet of Johnson, Leonard, Dempsey, Armstrong, Pep, Ali, Tyson, Klitschko, etc. The legends, one plucked from every 10 to 20 years moving forward. One poster claims that Ali and his era of contemporaries from the 1970s are now completely archaic and could not compete in the 21st. Century. Maybe. Maybe it was a moment, or perhaps subtile, incremental progress, like annual use of building blocks; and all the great trainers from Blackburn, Arcel, D'Amato, Benton, Durham, Futch, Dundee, to Clancey, Steward, Hunter and, well; most of the others, were just plain full of it; pining for their own youth and vigor one suposes.
If the evolution theory holds water at all, certainly we're seeing the Best MOQ rules professionals right now, and during the last quarter century block. Boxing is booming in every region on earth, and since 2000 it has served up the best men of every size that each culture can push out, eager to sacrifice, learn and fight hard in a quest for riches.
So......
Let's have a look at the 175 pounders, a popular weight class; and I ask YOU to pull your top 10 togeter, of the MOST MODERN AND HIGHLY EVOLVED (BEST) Light Heavyweight collection the world has ever seen. Here's a primer pick list for anyone who accepts the challenge, and then we can review the end (or newest) destination of all the evolution:
21 Century 01/01/200 - 01/01/2023
Top Light Heavyweight (175 lbs.):
Roy Jones Jr.
Andre Ward
Dariusz Michalczewski
Dmitry Bivol
Sergey Kovalev
Joe Calzaghe
Bernard Hopkins
Saul Alvarez
Fabrice Tiozzo
Artur Beterbiev
Antonio Tarver
Chad Dawson
Adonis Stevenson
Tomasz Adamek
Glen Johnson
Badou Jack
Paul Briggs
Marcus Browne
Jean Pascal
Tavoris Cloud
Julio César Gonzalez
Joe Smith Jr.
Zsolt Erdei
Clinton Woods
Oleksandr Gvozdyk
Callum Smith
Nathan Cleverly
Eleider Alvarez
Willow The Wisp
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