Its an interesting debate and one which cannot definitively be answered.

The people who believe that the modern fighters are bigger, stronger and more skilful and would beat the old timers have a flawed logic though in my opinion.

They seem to calculate who would win in a Joe Louis vs Lennox Lewis matchup by 'teleporting' Louis in a vacuum into the modern day so that he fights Lennox Lewis at the same weight, with the same physical strength and skill, the same style, the same diet etc, completely ignoring the fact that if Joe Louis would have lived in our modern era he would have weighed slightly more, had the same advantages of training knowledge, diet, equipment etc that Lennox Lewis would have had.

It's also interesting that in most people's mind this kind of fighter transportation only occurs one way, as in how would an old fighter do if they were fighting today? So it's the old fighter who is immediately put at a disadvantage by having to adjust to a new era fighting the kind of men he has never fought before, using different training methods, fighting different styles, having months to prepare for a fight using the cutting edge in nutrition, sports equipment etc.

Under those kind of conditions its fair to say any old fighter would struggle.

But why not go the other way?

So take Floyd Mayweather and transport him back to 1930 for example and see how he does.

He won't have access to all training facilities that he currently enjoys. He won't be making enough money to afford the luxory of fighting just 3 fights a year, and then only when he's fully fit. He won't be able to rely upon modern rules and regulations and referee's who prevent fouls and dirty tactics.

He will be fighting fighter's whose styles he won't have encountered before.

The gloves will be different, his hands won't be so well protected and if he hurts them, well tough.

He won't have 4 or 5 months off after a fight to recover, he won't have the best diet available to him.

When you look at it in this way I think you can see that the pendulum swings both ways.

Personally I think the talent pool was wider back in the day than it is now. I also think men were naturally tougher and stronger.

Just watch Jess Willard getting pounded by Jack Dempsey, losing half his teeth and having his jaw broke and other injuries. He kept on getting up regardless. Nowadays even some of the greatest fighters go down after a hard punch. Referee's wave fights off as soon as it looks like someone might be getting hurt. 80 years ago they kept on fighting no matter how bad the damage got. If he got up, he carried on.

Personally I can't see a fighter like Floyd Mayweather thriving under those conditions.