By John Raspanti

When you think back to boxing in the 1970’s and 80’s one word comes to mind...GLORIOUS.

Everything was so different then. Boxing was popular everywhere, not like today where the sport teeters on becoming ‘cultish’.

There were fights on TV, mostly every Saturday and Sunday. When Muhammad Ali was fighting the entire world seemed to stop. His fights were much more than just fights, they morphed into full fledged ‘events’. Ali was more than just a fighter. He was an icon and a villain all rolled up into one. He was also a great fighter, though by the 1970’s his amazing skills had begun to wane.

Still, when he fought Joe Frazier on March 8th, 1971 - the ‘event’ had gone international. The same thing happened with ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ and ‘The Thriller in Manila’. Boxing was on the front page of most major newspapers. These days you barely find a mention of boxing in the papers, even on the sports page.

But it wasn’t just about ‘the greatest’. There were so many other talented heavyweights, Ron Lyle, Ernie Shavers, Jerry Quarry, Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Frazier and Foreman are present day Hall of Famers while Lyle, Shavers and Quarry were more than capable enough to whip today's batch of so called heavyweights.

Can you name today's light heavyweight champion? I know it's Antonio Tarver, but I would much rather take the champ from the 70’s, Bob Foster. Foster dominated his division and fought everybody who was anybody. I’ll never forget the left hook he threw that knocked out Mike Quarry. It was perfect. He just wasn’t strong enough to beat any of the big time heavyweights.

Let’s drop down to the middleweights. Today it’s Jermain Taylor, who’s young and can fight a little. Going back in time, I see Carlos Monzon. What a fighter Monzon was. He wasn’t very exciting, and I can remember pulling for him to lose every time he fought. His style was very European, unorthodox and highly effective. As much as I wanted him to lose, he didn’t. He beat Nino Benvenutti and Rodrigo Valdez twice. He beat up the great Emile Griffith rather easily. He toyed with Bennie Briscoe. He could flat out fight. It’s too bad Monzon never got the chance to face Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

I used to really like the welterweight division. Right now somebody named Carlos Baldomir is the champion. Nothing personal against Carlos, but back in the day it was Jose ‘Mantequilla’ Napoles. Need I say more? Napoles was a true champion who fought everybody. He beat my favorite fighter Armando Muniz twice and many other tough fighters. He even moved up in weight and fought the invincible Monzon, who butchered him. He always showed tremendous will and heart. Later in the decade, Sugar Ray Leonard appeared which only added to the luster of the welterweight division. Napoles was long gone by then, but hardly forgotten.

And finally we explore the lightweight division. Today the champion is Jose Luis Castillo. I’ve seen him fight and the most visible aspect about him is that he can hit hard. I also like his determination, in a way he reminds me of some of the older fighters. I wonder how he would have done against the likes of Mando Ramos. Ramos was like a poor man's Oscar De La Hoya, and had similar skill and ring smarts. But outside the ring he was hardly smart. He self destructed and sadly was over the hill by the time he was thirty years old. There were others like Ismael Laguna and Rodolfo Gonzalez, but they all paled when ‘The Hands of Stone’ appeared in 1971.

Roberto Duran was the man. Duran was a braggart, a bully and a badass. A one of a kind fighter who thrilled and in turn sickened. After knocking out Ray Lampkin, Duran dismissed him by saying ‘he was lucky to be alive’.

Those were the days, when fighters with talent battled for ring superiority. Sadly those glory days are long gone.