Quote Originally Posted by BIG H View Post
Again, this is not Wlad's fault, but I ask the question is there one single name on his resume that the top 25 HWs of all time would not also have beaten? Really think about it objectively!
Good post and wide ranging. I think guys like Jimmy Young and Ron Lyle would roll roughshod over any of Wlads opponents. But I also say the same thing against Louis's and Marcianos with the exceptions being say Charles, Walcott and a handful of others. I also think that guys like Wills, Mcvea and Jeanette that came around after the turn of the 20th but were frozen out could come forward and essentially do the same as Lyle and Young and perhaps even get further. I also think all 5 guys would have beaten anyone in Holmes era or Lennox's.

One thing that has seemed to have stayed the same since boxing was an infant through the change from 8 to 17 is the downright mediocrity of the heavyweight division. Truthfully when I said mediocrity, I was being generous. The glaring weakness of today's crop is the complete lack of elite's.
The competition level in the division has always been sad but there have at least been a few elites around that fell short or were a real threat as above average gate keepers. Still, I dont see this era being any weaker fundamentally then Marciano's time or Larry Holmes and is just a notch below Lennox Lewis. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there really isn't that many degrees of separation between Wlads run and just about any others since John L.

The hev division to me has always been a magicians trick since its opening in testosterone filled tents.
What made it the premiere division was the size of the fighters not pugilism. A classic early example of quantity verses quality and that odd behaviour carry's on to this day. Whats strange is that it was not effected by division expansion and mankind has been getting bigger faster for more then a century along with the population. One would think these contributing factors would provide the best competition in history by far.