Who of the Oldies Would Benefit Most in Current Era?

Since the biggest and most talked about fight in boxing involves a retired former champion fighting a guy making his professional debut and the sport has obviously gone mad I though I would join them.

If you could transport one old boxer through time to fight in the modern era who would it be and how far do you think they could have gone?

For me it would be Sam Langford.

Back in '97 Ring magazine had him as the 3rd hardest puncher of all time. He was small so possibly not able to make it as a main heavy but I think he would have been able to win titles from lightweight up to Cruiser. Possibly even having a paper Heavyweight title.

His best weight was around 165 so would have had a chance of being a 9 weight world champion. He would have been a popular fighter having character and very heavy hands even at heavyweight.

Since I am re-writing history I would say he has 15 fights at lightweight so that would have taken him from his debut at 19 possibly 3 years to get to the title, moving up for three fights at Super Lightweight to get a strap there, taking another year and a half. 2 fights at welter with the second being a title fight and straight in for a title at Super Welter.

So he's now 25, around his most natural weight so he has 5 fights at middle to unify the division before going straight for the championship at Super Middle.

Now 28 years old 27 fights into an extraordinary career he steps up again, easily winning the Light Heavyweight title at the first attempt. Deciding he needs to grow into the weight a little he takes three fights at cruiser weight with the final one winning him a title.

At 31 years old he has his sights on the Heavyweight title he has had 31 fights and is one of the best known names in boxing, loved due to his colourful personality and all action style he has no problem getting a Heavyweight title fight. Stepping up to the weight with everyone saying he stands no chance he is able to win and have one defense of his title before retiring, unbeaten. Still having his sight.

33 years old with 33 wins from 33 fights he decides 33 is his lucky number, goes to Vegas and bets his whole career earnings on the number 33 at the roulette table and comes out a winner.

I may have got a little carried away but does anyone else from history have the potential to fair similarly to my imaginations version of Sam Langford?

It's an interesting one Huw. Do you go with someone that could dominate now in a poor division or do you go with someone who could thrive off fighting quality opposition in a stacked division.

I'd always love to see Monzon fight in any era.

Great article. Shame it hasn’t been given much attention as it would have been back in the day.

Always interesting, I think, to ponder which fighters from yesteryear would have benefited from the proliferation of weight divisions. Guys who maybe didn’t fit any of the original weight classes perfectly, but who would have been much better-suited to one of the ‘light/super/Cruiser’ inventions.

Marvin Johnson would have been one of them, for me. A little too big for Middle as soon as he turned professional, so had to mix it with the 175 pounders such as Galindez, Saad, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Spinks etc. Still achieved a hell of a lot and contributed to my favourite ever era in my favourite of all weight classes, but he’d have been more at home in the modern Super-Middleweight class where he’d have been a little less prone to being worn out and outmuscled (ala his first fight with Saad) or caught cold with one devastating shot when well-placed in the fight, as happened against Spinks.

Spinks was a notoriously slow starter so I wouldn't read too much into ko4 Pops.

Hard to find a fight where Spinks was ahead after 3..

Mark Breland....

Manny..Floyd and Brook would struggle to get past the jab...

Schooled Starling for 10 and had it been a scheduled 12 rounder may have spoilt the last 2.

Should have had a better career...Starling said his jab was like rock.

I guess it depends how far back you want to go and when you consider the modern era to have begun.

You'd maybe think that some trail blasers like benny Leonard and Tunney who maybe fought more like modern fighters would have their advantages nullified in the modern era.

Clearly guys who suffered from their colour would get more chances in the modern era... if they were born in the states/uk at least. So Langford is a good choice, burley would be another particularly as we are often told that the old school skills guys like him brought to the table have been used to good effect by Toney, Hopkins, mayweather etc.

I don't know what you consider an oldie but I'll pick Thomas Hearns.

With the benefit of day before weigh-ins which we have now and the shorter 12 round distance in title fights, he would have been extremely hard to beat at welterweight. Not trying to open a can or worms but with modern rules, would most likely have beaten Leonard. He was ahead when their fight was stopped.

To be fair, he was pretty hard to beat at welterweight before day before weigh ins. He was ahead against Leonard and might well have won a 12 rounder... or dundee's 'you're blowin' it' speech might have come a few rounds earlier to the same effect. Impossible to say really.

Tommy maybe looked his best at 154 so if that equates to a modern day welter I can see where you're coming from, fella.

Is Tommy Hearns the best ever from the neck down?

He was a freak at 147-154.

milkyboy wrote:To be fair, he was pretty hard to beat at welterweight before day before weigh ins. He was ahead against Leonard and might well have won a 12 rounder... or dundee's 'you're blowin' it' speech might have come a few rounds earlier to the same effect. Impossible to say really.

Tommy maybe looked his best at 154 so if that equates to a modern day welter I can see where you're coming from, fella.

Leonard ups it three rounds earlier and still wins it for me.

Sugar Ray Robinson benefits the most from this, if he's given the opportunities he deserved from the outset would expect him to win titles from Lightweight up to Super Middleweight becoming a 6 weight world champion instead of two.

Conversely I'd actually say Langford and Fitzsimmons would lose more than they'd gain from it, neither would be able to compete at Heavyweight and much of their legacies is based on that.

AdamT wrote:Is Tommy Hearns the best ever from the neck down?

He was a freak at 147-154.

Well no, because he had Twiglet legs and were prone to wobbling all over the place.
As Chris says, this would have been a much more vital debate "in the oldendays" ,when we liked to debate about the oldendays.Anyone know where Rowley is? speaking of which- Langford said that he would never have gone near James j Jeffries, and I wonder how HE would have fared against a modern fighter.