Was Boxing Better In the 1970s?

Yes. Yes it was. In fact, a good case can be made that the 1970s was the best decade for boxing ever. Some may argue that boxing was more popular in the earlier part of the century, like the 40s and 50s, but that was because there were less other big sports to compete with. Football and basketball were far less relevant 100 years ago than they are now so boxing was a bigger deal, rivaling baseball, but the 70s gave us what best captures the general public's imagination - the golden era of the heavyweight division. One of those heavyweights, Muhammad Ali, transcended the sport and became the most well-known athlete in the world.

The "Other" Guys

While nothing can underscore the stardom of Ali - or the cultural relevance of that golden age of heavyweights - that wasn't the only thing the 70s had going for it. They were the prime years for arguably the best lightweight of all-time, Roberto Duran, who went 54-1 in the decade (his only loss, he avenged twice). Then there was Carlos Zarate, one of the best bantamweights who fought well into the 80s and had 63 knockouts in his 66 wins. There was a new super bantamweight division formed, where Wilfredo Gomez dominated, then eventually moved up to junior featherweight where he was arguably the best at that weight class ever. He had 17 consecutive knockout wins in 17 title defenses, which is still a record in any division. No one will probably ever break it.

But it keeps going - Alexis Arguello is probably the best super featherweight of all time (and a great featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight too). The middleweight division is a little more stacked when it comes to GOATs, with Sugar Ray Robinson, Harry Greb, and Marvin Hagler in the mix, but Carlos Monzon was undeniably the middleweight king of the 70s, holding the title for 7 years and retired in 1977 having never lost in the decade. Jose Napoles was a welterweight who held the title between 1969-1975. For 40 years, he shared the record with Muhammad Ali of the most wins in unified championship bouts in boxing history. After Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore, both Top 20 PFP boxers, Bob Foster was probably the 3rd best light heavyweight of all time as well.

So there were plenty of historically great non-heavyweights in the 70s. Other names worth mentioning are Wilfredo Benitez, Antonio Cervantes, Esteban De Jesus, Ken Buchanan, Danny Lopez, and Ruben Olivares. Just like in the 60s, we were seeing a lot more boxers from other parts of the world. In most Top 10 lists of the decade, only half or less than half of the fighters are from America. And with the exception of Bob Foster on some lists, none of the best non-heavyweights were North American. This marked a big change in the shifting popularity of the sport. By the end of the 70s, there were three very promising guys from the USA coming up the ranks - Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, and Sugar Ray Leonard (more on him later).

THE Golden Era

Then of course, there was the heavyweight division. Not only was it the golden era of fighters, it also had one of the best storylines in boxing. In 1967, Muhammad Ali vacated the heavyweight title when he was suspended by boxing for not entering the armed services draft with the Vietnam War in full swing. This was a very controversial move at the time, though now public opinion has changed a lot. 

This meant that there was no heavyweight champion. There was a tournament put together to crown a champ but the best heavyweight at the time, Joe Frazier, refused to take part in it. Jimmy Young won but back then states, recognized titles and New York still had Smokin' Joe as the champion. The two fought in February of 1970 to unify the belts and Joe Frazier, true to his name, smoked Jimmy Young.

There was another young lion coming up the ranks at that time, George Foreman, who had won  the Olympic gold medal in 1968. He was a fearsome, powerful puncher like his training partner, Sonny Liston, had been in the 1960s. Speaking of Sonny Liston, he wasn't done yet. After losing to Ali twice and a fluke loss a couple of years later, Sonny was on a winning streak and was building up to another title shot. Both Foreman and Liston posed an interesting matchup for the current king, Joe Frazier. But Sonny would never get a chance as he died in mysterious circumstances later that year.

There were other interesting contenders too. Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Joe Bugner and George Chuvalo. But there was also another guy - Muhammad Ali. After 3+ years of suspension, Ali finally got cleared to fight in Georgia and instead of a tune-up, he took on the aforementioned Jerry Quarry and won. Wasn't a stellar performance and Ali showed some ring rust for sure but he was officially back and in most peoples' minds, was still the heavyweight champion.

Frazier and Ali would settle this in the ring in 1971 in one of the biggest, most important, most significant fights of all time. A back and forth battle for the ages that Frazier eventually won, after knocking Ali down in the 15th round. But after that fight, Frazier seemed potentially the most damaged, taking the rest of the year off while Ali got right back into the ring and looked good. 

A rematch was in the works but a funny thing happened on the way to it. Two funny things really. Champion Joe Frazier took on the young, George Foreman and got completely DESTROYED. He was rag-dolled around the ring, getting knocked down 6 times before they finally stopped it. Big George was now the champ. Ali, on the other hand, took on a relatively unknown fighter named Ken Norton and while he wasn't crushed, Norton did break his jaw and completely frustrated Ali for a decision win.

This took a lot of air out of the Ali-Frazier rematch in 1974 but it was still a big deal, with Ali winning the decision. This set the stage for probably the most iconic, most well-known fight in boxing history - The Rumble in the Jungle, Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman in Zaire. Most people assumed that George Foreman would just roll through Ali like he had everybody else while Ali was clearly not the same fighter he was in the 60s. The young Ali could dance circles around anybody in the heavyweight division but this new version  wasn't quite as quick on the toes and ate a lot more punches than he ever did before.

Strangely, in easily the most baffling big game/match strategies of all time, Ali eventually decided to not even try to dance but do the exact opposite instead - lean against the ropes and let the hardest puncher in the division just wail on him. And Foreman did. For about 6 rounds. He threw everything he could at Ali while Muhammad just covered up, absorbed punches, grabbed George Foreman, and started to taunt him. As great of a slugger as George was, he had the tendency to throw long, looping punches, which were easier to see coming and brace for, with less chance of penetrating the guard. Thus, eventually big George ran out of steam and completely exhausted himself by the 8th round. That was when Ali turned it on a finished the fight, knocking George down when we could barely stand.

Besides the amazing outcome of this fight, the general public was introduced to a fundamental truth in boxing that many were not fully aware of - styles make fights. Foreman destroyed Frazier, Frazier beat Ali (and pushed him to the brink) and Ali beat Foreman. Ali also couldn't beat Ken Norton very decisively, another guy that Foreman destroyed. Even though Ali did win the next 2 fights against Ken Norton, they were highly controversial decisions. Ali himself would argue that he should have lost the last fight in their trilogy. But the point was that boxing was not as simple as whoever is better, generally wins. Certain types of fighters give other types of fighters more trouble than others.

All 3 of the heavyweight giants - Ali, Frazier and George Foreman, were stars too. Ali did most of the talking and no one did it better than him. He was everywhere. On every talk show, appearing at every events, as I mentioned before, he was not just boxing's biggest star but one of, if not the most well-known athlete in the world. Frazier and Foreman played their roles too. With Joe Frazier, it was a bitter rivalry with Ali that made the whole story more interesting. They were once friends (Frazier even gave Ali money while he was banned from boxing) but Ali's trash talk felt like a betrayal and it started to go a little too far, creating genuine hatred between the two. George Foreman was quiet but that made him more intimidating and scary. There had never been 3 dominating heavyweights like this before that challenged each other to that level.

As the decade went on, more figures emerged and the story took more turns. Ali and Frazier would fight one more time in what was known as "The Thrilla in Manilla" and was one of the most brutal battles between 2 champions we have ever seen. Neither man was ever the same after it. Ali said it was the closest he ever came to death and if Joe Frazier's corner hadn't thrown in the towel, it is not clear if Muhammad would have been able to answer the bell. A rematch with Foreman stalled a little bit as he was involved in one of the all-time slugfests himself, with Ron Lyle. Then Foreman lost to an up-and-coming Jimmy Young. Instead of finally taking on Ali again for the championship, George Foreman chose to retire and become a minister for the next 10+ years.

Ali would then lose his belt to Leon Spinks, an Olympic gold medalist with only 7 professional fights. It was a shocking upset and it was clear that Muhammad Ali was no longer the same fighter. Nonetheless, he would avenge that loss the following year to become the only person ever to win the heavyweight championship 3 times. He would then retire, leaving the belt open again. The fate of the division was now in the hands of Ken Norton, power-punching Earnie Shavers and newcomer Larry Holmes. It was Holmes would emerge to become champ by the end of the decade (with some classic fights with the other two guys) and was really one of the most underrated heavyweights of all time. He would rule the division for the next 7 years.

One last footnote to add to the 70s heavyweight saga - The Superfight! A fictional fight movie made with Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano to see who was the best all-time heavyweight. Before the movie, it started as a radio broadcast after Ali was banned from boxing in 1967. A producer came up with a list of the great heavyweight champions over the year and decided to do a bracket tournament of fictional fights between all them. Who won the fight was decided by a computer, ultimately, which simulated the fights based on data from various boxing experts. This is kind of crazy to think in 1967! Anyway, it was a 3-month radio drama-like series syndicated across the country on various stations and when Muhammad Ali didn't win the fictional tournament, losing to Rocky Marciano, and he was so angry about the "slow-footed" Rocky Marciano being seen as better than him, he sued the producer for defamation of character.

Part of the settlement was to take this whole thing to another level. Film a super fight between Ali and Marciano. Rocky had been retired for about 15 years and Ali was still banned from boxing competition so what they did, was filmed themselves sparring and simulating a fight, with outcomes of both fighters winning. Rocky lost 50 pounds and wore a toupee but it still looked kind of funny. Three weeks after filming, Marciano would die in a plane crash and never saw the final cut of the movie. It was released in theaters in 1970 and once again, the computer would decide the winner and nobody knew who it that they saw it in theaters. And once again, Rocky Marciano was picked as the winner! And Ali sued again!! But apparently in Europe, they showed him as the winner. In any case, the fantasy fight did okay at the box office but was not super well-received. In fact, the film was supposedly destroyed at one point, after an airing on Wide World of Sports in 1977 but at least one copy did survive. This served as inspiration for the 2006 film, Rocky Balboa, when Rocky comes out of a retirement because a video game simulation has him losing to the current champ. Speaking of Rocky, more on him later!

Classic Fights

Great fighters made the 70s great but all-time classic fights are what made that decade the undeniable GOAT  in my opinion. So many memorable, meaningful, interesting fights All of these on my list below are available on youtube to watch so if you ever want to see them for yourself.

Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier I - Because of the storyline that I mentioned earlier, Ali coming back from exile to challenge a fighter like Joe Frazier, a fight everyone wanted to see for a couple years now, this was one of the biggest, most-anticipated matchups in boxing history. And it was a great battle too.

Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman - Also mentioned earlier, I think is fair to say that this is the most memorable fight in boxing history and probably always will be. It transcended the sport and even people who have never watched a boxing match in their lives know who Muhammad Ali was and are familiar with the term, "rope-a-dope".

Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III - It's usually a sign of a very good fight if it has a name that everybody knows. It helps when the name is something catchy, like "The Thrilla in Manilla". It was the rubber match between one all-time great and the greatest of all time and showcased just how well matched these two warriors were. A real-life version of the first Rocky-Apollo fight.

George Foreman vs. Ron Lyle - Probably the ultimate boxing slugfest. Two, large, powerful men knocking each other down until one could no longer stand.

Carlos Zarrate vs. Wilfredo Gomez - Besides being a dream matchup with Zarrate coming in as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer with an insane record of 52-0 (50 wins by KO) and Gomez coming up the ranks fast at 21-0-1 (with all 21 wins coming by KO), this is also known to beginning of the great Mexico vs. Puerto Rico rivalry, which is still one of the most intense in boxing history.

Larry Holmes vs, Earnie Shavers II - And underrated classic. Their first fight was a good one too, the quintessential match-up between a slugger (Shavers) with maybe the best one-punch KO power of anyone against the boxer (Holmes) with a jab and footwork to rival Ali. Shavers had the "puncher's chance" and in Round 7, he landed a vicious overhand right that should have ended the fight but Larry Holmes should the recuperative power and heart of a champion, coming back to take total control, before Shavers dropped him again, before he came back again and won via referee stoppage.

Also, check out the entire fight card of that evening: 5 Hall-of-Famers and one guy in Jimmy Young who was probably just a few robberies away from potentially getting there himself

• Heavyweight World Championship - Holmes vs Shavers
• Super Bantamweight World Championship - Wilfredo Gomez vs. Carlos Mendoza
• NABF Welterweight Championship - Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Andy Price
• Heavyweight Contender Bout - Michael Dokes vs. Jimmy Young
• Junior Middleweight Bout - Roberto Duran vs. Zefarino Gomez

Carlos Monzon vs. Nino Benvenuti - This was the beginning of Carlos Monzon's reign. Benvenuti was the champ and heavily favored, fighting in front of a home crowd in Rome, whereas Monzon had never competed outside of South America. It was a shocking upset and 1970's Fight of the Year.

Danny Lopez vs. Mike Ayala - Another slugfest and absolute but between 2 featherweights (125 pounds). Despite fighting with a broken nose, Ayala hung in there and traded punches in some brutal exchanges before finally getting dropped by a vicious cross. Then the referee counted him out and called the fight over. But Ayala was up before the count of 10. There wasn't much doubt about it. It's the only boxing match I know of where the fight that was completely stopped was allowed to resume. And probably the only championship fight where that happened. With the crowd behind him, Ayala came back and fought hard but the funny thing about Danny Lopez in the 70s is that the more you hit him, the better he seemed to get. He would regain control and finally win with a knockout a round later.

Olympic Heroes

In 1976, the US Olympic boxing team was pretty strong. One of the strongest we had produced, pound-for-pound. Representing in the light welterweight division was a young, Ray Leonard, who already had the nickname of 'Sugar Ray", which was a big deal because the only other guy who had that name was Sugar Ray Robinson, the greatest pound-for-pound boxer ever. There was definitely something special about this new, Sugar Ray. He was very talented, good-looking, charismatic, was confident without being disrespectful, a little bit of showboating, and looked like he was having fun out there. But beyond all that, there was the It factor. Sugar Ray Leonard had this in spades. With Muhammad Ali on the last legs of his career, it looked like we had found an heir apparent.

His run to Olympic gold didn't look smooth. He had to fight a heavily-favored Soviet boxer in the semifinals, who he beat decisively, then in the finals, faced an even tougher - or, at least, scarier - task n the finals against the Cuban Andres Aldama, who had knocked out all 4 of his opponents thus far (something that doesn't happen a lot in Olympic boxing, especially at lighter weight classes). Not only did Sugar Ray beat him but dropped Aldama a couple of times to win the gold medal.

He was an undeniable star but the funny thing was, Sugar Ray supposedly was never planning to be a professional boxer. He wanted to go to college, get his degree, and get into some other business. But a couple of things happened to change his plans. He had a child with his high-school girlfriend with plans to marry her after the Olympics. She had filed a petition for child support and this hurt Ray's sponsorship opportunities to be able to pay for it. Then his father got sick and suddenly, Sugar Ray needed money and went pro in boxing shortly thereafter.

His first fights were highly-publicized and public was quick to embrace their Olympic hero again. By November of 1979, Sugar Ray Leonard became the welterweight champ by beating another great in Wilfred Benitez. Ray's career would really take off in the 1980s, along with another 2 guys who started off the decade before in Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler.

Speaking of the Olympics (and Cubans), perhaps the greatest amateur boxer also fought in the 1970s -
Teofilo Stevenson. He won the heavyweight gold medals for Cuba in both Olympics in the decade (1972 and 1976), as well as the two World Championships (1974 and 1978). And he won more gold in the Pan American and Central American games, pretty much every amateur contest there was over a 10-year span.

Had he competed professionally, it is believed he would have up there with Muhammad Ali, Foreman and Frazier. Apparently, Teofilo was offered 5 million dollars at one time to fight Ali and 1 million to fight Leon Spinks but he refused both paydays. To do so would nullify his amateur status and he would no longer be able to compete for his country.

Oh Yeah, And There Was Rocky...

On December 3rd, 1976, the movie, Rocky, was released nationally. A relatively unknown actor, Sylvester Stallone, played the titular Rocky Balboa, a fictitious small-time club boxer from the streets of Philadelphia, who worked as a debt collector for a loan shark. Rocky had no interest in becoming a championship boxer or even a great boxer, he just wanted to muster up the courage to ask a shy girl out who worked at his local pet store.

The heavyweight champion in the film, Apollo Creed, has no worthy or compelling challengers and is looking for a fight that will grab the public's attention. With the U.S.A.'s bicentennial coming up, he decides what better way to honor the spirit of America, the land of opportunity, than to give some nobody a chance to win the heavyweight title. And what better place to find such a person that in Philadelphia, PA, where our declaration of independence was signed?

This concept was actually inspired by a real-life fight, where Muhammad Ali, just after shocking theworld and beating George Foreman, decided to take on an older, journeyman fighter named Chuck Wepner for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. Wepner was no Rocky, and had competed at a much higher level, but the idea was to give a total underdog a chance at a title. Chuck had said that he just wanted to prove he belonged there in the ring with Ali, which is similar to a line Rocky says in the movie. He was able to hang in there too, for 15 rounds, before Muhammad Ali won by TKO.

Going back to the movie, Rocky really is not even particularly interested in this amazing opportunity to fight the heavyweight champ for the title but ultimately decides to give it a go as he needs money and doesn't like working for a loan shark. What follows is the ultimate underdog story (as well as love story) where Rocky trains for this upcoming fight in a series of scenes that would forever change our culture. 

It is impossible to overstate the significance of this character and movie. It's not just that it was popular, won awards, and got a generation of people interested in the sport of boxing who otherwise may not have been, it's that Rocky became a symbol of toughness, perseverance and grit in a way that everyone can relate to in some aspect of our lives. We are generally told to believe in ourselves and that we can accomplish anything but seeing it conveyed in cinematic format, through the character of Rocky Balboa, hit a whole different level.

There was a sequel made in 1979 as well as several more in the 80s and the franchise would continue all the way through the Creed series. To this day, people travel to Philadelphia to run up the steps to the Museum of art and take pictures at the top just like Rocky did in the first movie. There is a statue of him nearby that is also a tourist attraction. The film has inspired countless people throughout the world and a case can be made that Rocky Balboa, despite being a fictional character, is probably the 2nd most important and significant boxer, behind Muhammad Ali.

So in summation, the 1970s gave us the best era of heavyweights, plenty of the greatest boxers at other weight classes, the most classic, significant fights, the most important boxer at his height of popularity, new stars for the next decade, and a boxing movie that became forever embedded in our culture. It's hard to really make a good case against the 70s being the best time that ever was for our sport. It is true that other sports, mainly football and basketball, were becoming more popular as the American pastime and that would continue into the 80s, but boxing was still part of the public consciousness. Even non-fans knew who many of the champions were. Boxing was also more available on TV as well, even if in reruns on Wide World of Sports. 

And of course, I would be remiss in my duties as a crusty, old man if I didn't mention that back then, boxers fought more often and against just about everybody in their weight classes. You could take any heavyweight in the 1970s of any significance and Muhammad Ali fought (and defeated) all of them. He fought many guys 2 and 3 times even. Roberto Duran fought everyone in his class, though he should have given Ken Buchannan a rematch. None of these all-time greats I mentioned fought just one time a year, if we were lucky. They fought several times every year and took on all comers. There weren't a bunch of different belts in different organizations. Even if we had fighters of the caliber of many of these 70s dudes, boxing still wouldn't be as good because they just don't fight enough, or fight the highest level of competition.  I realize though, that this is not necessarily a bad thing, at least not when it comes to fighters' safety. From a fan’s point of view and in terms of the sport’s overall relevance though, there can never be a 1970s era of boxing again. I am just glad that at least we got it once!