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The 1980’s Heavyweights: Are They Underrated?

Ring 2By “The Commissioner” Alan J. Kindred

When getting a report on the 1980’s heavyweights from the casual fan on the street, the answers usually range from “they sucked” to “outside of Tyson and Holmes they were a bunch of bums.” Those answers however, could not be farther from the truth. The truth is the 1980’s heavyweights were an extremely strong group, that doesn’t get its just due from most fans for a number of reasons. The primary reason is that, outside of Tyson and Holmes, the world titlists had a very high turnover rate. Fighters were winning world titles and often losing them in their first defense. So naturally, some people were quick to judge them as failures and as not being very good. The truth however, is that there were many fighters who were very good, they were just very closely matched because of extreme parity.

A parity that would produce over a dozen world champions in a 10 year span. 16 fighters actually had a claim as being heavyweight champion of the world in the 1980s. This high number of champions diminishes their talent in some people’s eyes. Not mine however, as understanding parity, look at the NFL who is based on parity, hardly no teams are undefeated and rarely are there repeat champions. I see the 1980s heavyweights in a similar way, defined by parity.

You can have parity among weak fighters and you can have parity with strong ones, it depends on who is around at the time. I believe the 1980s heavyweights are exceptionally strong in their parity. Looking over records and examining resumes aren’t always enough to evaluate a fighter. Sometimes you need to do some good old fashion film watching. That is where the 1980s heavyweights shine. There technique and form is exceptionally on point. It is my personal view that the 1970s group of heavyweights are the best in history, but are actually followed closely by the 1980s group. At the end of this article I will include a list of all the world titlists and notable contenders from the 1980s, and I then want you to compare them to the current RSR top 20 rankings at heavyweight. Then imagine how many of today’s current top 20 contenders would even be left if the 1980s heavyweights were introduced into the talent pool. First however, let’s take a look back and examine some interesting points about the 1980s heavyweights.

Another reason this group lacked respect and popularity is this is the group that had to follow the ultra-charismatic Muhammad Ali. He was a tough act to follow. Holmes, who because he had been Ali’s main sparring partner for many years in the 1970s, developed a similar style to Ali, of jabbing and moving. Many thought he was trying to copycat and was a bad impersonation. So the media didn’t take to Holmes the way they did to Ali, whether due to personality or circumstance. Holmes wasn’t the only Ali impressionist the decade would see either. There were several, Pinklon Thomas, Carl Williams, Tyrell Biggs, and the list goes on, because this is the generation that were strongly influenced by Ali. While perhaps the media docked them points for not being original in style, they were still all very good fighters. Thomas did win a world title, and Williams perhaps should have against Holmes, and Biggs might have if not for the ruining beating he took from a prime Mike Tyson.

If you observe many of the 1980’s prominent heavyweights on film, you will see they were very skilled with very strong fundamentals. They were on balanced, jabbed well, worked the body, they could move, and generally had high ring IQs. One of the reasons the 1980s heavyweights were so good is that there was a high number in the talent pool. As previously mentioned, Muhammad Ali had inspired athletic teens in the 1960s and 1970s to become boxers. So when they grew up there was a large number of men seeking to become the next great heavyweight in the 1980s. It is not like today when many athletic kids, who will grow up to be heavyweights, are going into other sports.

The proof is in the pudding, when you look at Larry Holmes reign. As great as Larry Holmes was (A strong consensus is that he is at least a top 5 of all time ranked heavyweight) he had several close calls in defending his title 20 times. That is because many of the 1980’s heavyweight contenders and world titlists were nearly great themselves. Mike Weaver, Earnie Shavers (In 1979 but close enough), and Renaldo Snipes (1981) were all very close to knocking out Holmes, and likely would have stopped him if not for Holmes legendary recuperative powers. Both Tim Witherspoon (1983) and Carl Williams (1985) were also very close when Holmes beat them by close and controversial decisions. Weaver and Witherspoon would later become world titlists in their own right, with Witherspoon becoming a two time world titlist. Holmes would have 7 victories over previous or future world champions during his reign.

Another reason the 1980s heavyweights get an unfair bad review is that Mike Tyson’s star shined so brightly for a short time that he made everyone else seem weak in comparison. Tyson slaughtered some good fighters and made them seem bad. Where Tyson stands in people’s minds historically is irrelevant on this point, because it is true he made good fighters look bad. Some pundits rank Tyson very highly for the fact that they believe on his best night, properly motivated, and trained well, he is hell on wheels for anyone in history. His detractors will rank him less highly saying his peak was too short, and he lack the longevity to be placed high. Tyson was like a guy in baseball who hit 90 homeruns for 4 straight years and then fizzled out. Where a guy like Bernard Hopkins is that rare breed that hit 30 homeruns for 25 years. Tyson was much better at his best, but longevity counts sports, in many historian’s eyes.

Of course it is easy to note that the two all-time greats Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson stand out as the two best of the group. How might history be different without Holmes and Tyson in the 80s picture. I think fighters like Tim Witherspoon, Michael Dokes, Tony Tucker, and Carl Williams (who is one of the better heavyweights in his prime that never won a world title in my opinion) would have been the dominant heavyweights of the decade. Although the parity was going nowhere, so there may not have been a dominant champion, perhaps just a whole slew of excellent fighters who took turns holding the championship. This of course leads to another point. These guys fought each other. There were no waiting for the right time, not enough money, this guy is not on my level excuses. They just fought. The best fought each other, and when the best fight each other very few end up undefeated. There were a lot of 20-10 guys in the 1980s that would eat today’s contenders for breakfast. Go watch the films of these fighters on YouTube and see their skilled technique. See how it is far superior to today’s “sloppy like” technique we see from most of the heavyweight contenders. Here is the list of notable 1980s heavyweights, as well as a list of today’s current top 20 RSR ranked heavyweights.

The 1980’s Heavyweights

World titlists

Muhammad Ali retired in 1979, but still held lineal status until Holmes beat him in 1980
Larry Holmes WBC from 6/78-12/83 IBF 12/83-9/85
Tim Witherspoon WBC 3/84-8/84 WBA 1/86-12/86
Pinklon Thomas WBC 8/84-3/86
Trevor Berbick WBC 3/86-11/86
Mike Tyson WBC 11/86-2/90 WBA 3/87-2/90 IBF 8/87-2/90
John Tate WBA 10/79-3/80
Mike Weaver WBA 3/80-12/82
Michael Dokes WBA 12/82-9/83
Gerrie Coetzee WBA 9/83-12/84
Greg Page WBA 12/84-4/85
Tony Tubbs WBA 4/84-1/86
James Smith WBA 12/86-3/87
Michael Spinks IBF 9/85-2/87
Tony Tucker IBF 5/87-8/87
Francesco Damiani WBO 5/89-1/91

Notable contenders

Earnie Shavers
James “Quick”Tillis
Renaldo Snipes
Gerry Cooney
George Foreman
Frank Bruno
James Douglas
David Bey
James Broad
Carl Williams
Tyrell Biggs
Donovan Ruddock
Evander Holyfield
Adilson Rodrigues
Orlin Norris
Gary Mason
Marvis Fraizer
Jose Ribalta

Current RSR Top 20 Heavyweights

C Tyson Fury, 25-0, 18 KO’s

1 Wladimir Klitschko, 64-4, 53 KO’s
2 Alexander Povetkin, 27-1, 22 KO’s
3 Deontay Wilder, 35-0, 34 KO’s
4 Bryant Jennings, 19-1, 10 KO’s
5 Kubrat Pulev, 22-1, 12 KO’s
6 Ruslan Chagaev, 34-2-1, 21 KO’s
7 Carlos Takam, 32-2-1, 25 KO’s
8 Bermane Stiverne, 25-2-1, 21 KO’s
9 Derek Chisora, 23-5, 15 KO’s
10 Malik Scott, 38-2-1, 13 KO’s
11 Francesco Pianeta, 31-2-1, 17 KO’s
12 Mike Perez, 21-2-1, 13 KO’s
13 Vyacheslav Glaskov, 21-0-1, 13 KO’s
14 Johann Duhaupus, 32-3, 20 KO’s
15 Tony Thompson, 40-6, 27 KO’s
16 Anthony Joshua, 14-0, 14 KO’s
17 Chris Arreola, 36-4-1, 31 KO’s
18 Artur Szpilka, 20-1, 15 KO’s
19 Mairis Briedis 17-0, 14 KO’s
20 Luis Ortiz, 23-0, 20 KO’s

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