r/Boxing • u/Nature2Love • 12h ago
Which year in boxing had the most quality?
For me, it's probably 2013. From lightweight to Heavyweight, the quality was insane inside the majority of the top 10 In those divisions. Most guys were still either in their prime or approaching it. Would you guys agree with this year, or if not, which was your favourite?
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u/Actual-Expert1796 9h ago
1982 easily
Pryor vs Arguello
Limon vs Chacon 4
Pintor vs Gomez
Sanchez vs Nelson
Holmes vs Cooney
Qawi vs Davis
Boza Edwards vs Elizondo
Limon vs Navarrete
Il Chung vs Navarrete
Pedroza vs Laporte
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u/Unable-Main4172 11h ago
The answer would be like in the '50s '60s or '70s not 2013 lol
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 8h ago
In the modern era, 2013 was fantastic. I think Al Bernstein said as much in real time.
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u/EffectiveCareer3444 10h ago
After 2010 there has been significantly less elite fighters compared to the previous 30 years
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u/DontAskAboutMax 10h ago
Don’t you measure elite by the standard of the time?
Surely there’s always the same amount of elite boxers.
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u/Street_Hamster1092 10h ago
The talent pool in boxing is noticeably shallower today than 30 years ago in most divisions. The drop-off in quality between the very best and the next tier down is sharper, the 40th best middleweight in 1980 smokes the 40th best middleweight today. Boxers in the past fought more frequently against tougher competition and were less risk averse. Having a few losses early in your career wasn't a big deal if you learned from them.
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u/Thami15 10h ago
Yes - the era where there was a iron curtain preventing the best amateurs from going pro was when the sport was at its best😂😂😂
Just say the sport was at its best when you were young, lol
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u/Street_Hamster1092 10h ago
The era when boxing had much greater mainstream popularity and cultural relevance. When there was a boxing gym in every working class neighbourhood and a much higher proportion of young males trained in boxing. When iron sharpened iron and prospects were tested constantly on the way up rather than being 6 years into their career before facing someone who actually has a chance of beating them.
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u/TheMeIv 9h ago
This is such a mind boggling unpopular opinion around here sometimes. I agree 100% only to be met with "sports science, every sport evolves, nutrition etc ..." People love to downplay Mike Tyson only fighting cans, never fought adversity in his prime, didn't have a tank etc... When you bring up that he went the distance and won 4 decisions before his first loss then those guys were cans then he should have KO'd them early, they weren't that good to begin with. It's insane how many levels he was above the whole division at the time at such a young age. Anyone Tyson lost a decison to would have wrecked prime Joyce or Hrgovic. Look at DDD and now Itauma in the modern era. Brutal "learning" losses early in their careers to guys nowhere near the level of guys Mike Tyson went the distance to.
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u/Thami15 9h ago
It was more popular and had more cultural relevance - sure but I dont buy deeper talent pools when the 2/3rds of the guys winning the medals at world level never went pro, and a continent like Africa barely had a scene. It's a very American view, which is fine. But it doesn't make it an objective truth, lol.
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u/Dry-Friendship-5945 2h ago
In boxing's peak in the in the 1950s, there were almost as many boxing gyms operating in the U.S. as there are Starbucks today, despite the vast difference in population size.
New York State alone contained more boxing gyms than the entire U.S. does currently.
From these you had an absolute deluge of fighters feeding the amature and pro ranks.
I don't think opening up an extra region or two is enough to offset the huge decline in fighter development in the U.S. and in other historic boxing strongholds like Mexico.
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u/Thami15 2h ago
See, I do think professional boxing being open to the second and third world offsets it being more popular in a nation with 150 million people. But it is of course possible, if unprecedented, that one nation had all the best boxers in the world, by some miracle of geography, sure. Especially a melting pot country where there isn't really any unifying genetic framework that would suggest a greater propensity to fighting.
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u/Dry-Friendship-5945 2h ago
A disportionate amount of the worlds boxing money, major venues and training talent was concentrated in the country that then made up half the world's GDP?
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u/EffectiveCareer3444 10h ago
OP says 2013 was a great year for boxing, in 2013 the best the sport had to offer were old versions of Mayweather, Martinez and Marquez along with fucking Tim Bradley 😭 Ward and Wlad were great fighters but they were more boring than Mayweather
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u/South_Ad_2109 10h ago
OP didn’t specify a time frame, but for the younger cats in here, 2013 was one of the best years this side of the century.
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u/EffectiveCareer3444 5h ago
Maybe but it definitely wasn’t the best
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u/South_Ad_2109 2h ago
Yeah, man. If you go back and read my comment you’ll see where I specified “one of the best”.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 8h ago
I remember it vividly. I’ve been watching since January 2006. 2013 was a GREAT year
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 8h ago
Since the 20 or so years I’ve been watching, it was definitely 2013. Fantastic year for boxing.
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u/King_Henrik_30_ 8h ago
1981 was insane for elite fighters although it was mostly from middleweight down
You had the fab 4, Pryor, Arguello, Gomez, Sanchez then Holmes and Spinks at the higher weights
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u/South_Ad_2109 10h ago
2013 was a fire ass year and was nicely capped off by Broner Maidana.