Specifically, I will look at who the top fighters in each division were fighting during the two eras. Were the biggest fights being made more consistently then or now?
My gut level, as you mentioned, tainted by time and a fading memory, is that the top guys back in 2000 were fighting the best competition in their divisions more often than in 2010. Here is my methodology: II will look at the top fighter in each division from the March, 2000 issue of The Ring Magazine and current Ring Rankings. I will compare the fights of each man during 2000 and 2009/2010 respectively, and announce a winning year in each division.
Part one will focus on heavyweights, cruiserweights, and light heavyweights.
Part two will center on super middleweights, middleweights, and junior middleweights
Part three looks at welterweights, junior welterweights, and lightweights
Part four of the series judges the super featherweights, featherweights, super bantamweights.
The final edition will analyze everyone below super bantamweight. Each part of the series will have an announced winner, 2010 or 2009, and the year with the most wins will be considered a better era in boxing. Scientific, no, but a little better than purely subjective opinions. So with no further a do ...
The Heavyweights, Crusierweights, and Lightheavyweights,
Round One: Heavyweights
The number one heavyweight in 2000 was the enigmatic Lennox Lewis. His number one contender was Mike Tyson. The pair fought later on in 2002, but during 2000 Lewis fought such transitory heavyweights such as Michael Grant, Francoise Both and David Tua. 2010 offers us Wladimir Klitschko as the #1 man in the division. His main competition is older brother Vitali and the understanding is that the pair will never fight inside of a ring. During the last year Klitschko has faced-off and defeated Eddie Chambers and Ruslan Chagaev. Wladimir’s next contender, ranked #3, is David Haye and a fight between the two has been speculated upon but is not scheduled at this time. Klitschko’s next opponent this September is re-born Samuel Peter, a man he has already defeated. I would argue that Lewis fought better competition at the time and was clearly much more active.
Nobody seemingly gives two hoots about the cruiserweights, now or back in 2000, but they are still part of the boxing landscape and will be included. 2000 has Cuban Juan Carlos Gomez as the head of the class with American Virgil Hill as his main contender. Gomez and Hill never met. During 2000 Gomez fought three times, with Argentina’s Jorge Castro as his most notable foe. Steve Cunningham is the main man in the cruiserweight class today, with his main competition being foes he had already fought and defeated. Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (#2, faced Cunningham twice in 2006 and 2007, one fight ended a spit-decision for Cunningham and the other a majority draw), Marco Huck (#3, Cunningham defeated Huck by TKO in 2007), Troy Ross (#5, was defeated by Cunningham this year in a semi-controversial bout). Under the radar, Cunningham has fought just about all the top men in his class.
Round Two: 2010 Cruiserweight (10 - 9)
Round Three: Light Heavyweights
Roy Jones was the main man in the light heavyweight class ten years ago, still near the top of his athletic prime. Over in Germany, Darius Michalczweski was the number two main in the division. Thought talked about, the fight between Jones and Michalczweski never took place as neither man would go to the other’s home country to fight. During 2000 Jones defeated Richard Hall, Eric Harding, and David Telesco. Chad Dawson is the top dog within the light heavyweights today. The number two man is Glen Johnson and Dawson has defeated the Jamaican veteran twice via decisions. Next on Dawson’s docket is a fight with #3 man Jean Pascual. Though Jones will go down as a larger figure within the history of boxer, when looking at 2000 and 2010, Dawson seems to be fighting the better competition.
Round Three: 2010 Lightheavyweight (10-9)
So the winner of the first edition of 2000 vs. 2010 is 2010 by a score of 29-28 on my scorecard. At the highest levels, short of heavyweights, 2010 seems to be producing, or having produced the best match-ups available. Come back to The Boxing Truth during the next few weeks to catch the following editions of this series.
Jul 27, 2010 -