It is our opinion at ImaSportsphile that The Golden Age of Boxing ….which covered a period starting in with heavyweight Cassius Clay taking down the mighty Bear, Sonny Liston in February of 1964….and running through Evander Holyfield losing his heavyweight title to Lennox Lewis in March of 1999.
he Golden Age of Boxing….unveiled more boxing legends….than all the other years of certified professional boxing put together ever gave us…..and in dang near every weight division from legendary flyweights champions like Manny Pacquiao and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam….to the 7 heavyweights legends….which gave us Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis….while there were many really good heavyweights during this period including the likes of Sonny Liston, Earnie Shavers, Ken Norton, Jimmy Young, Jimmy Ellis, Tim Witherspoon, James Smith, Tony Tubbs, Greg Page, Tony Tucker, Pinklon Thomas, Buster Douglas, Mike Moorer, Michael Spinks, Riddick Bowe, James Tillis, Mike Weaver, Floyd Patterson, Michael Dokes, Ingemar Johannson, Gerry Cooney and so many more….and that was just the heavyweight division….as each weight division in between the flyweight and heavyweight gave the boxing world multiple legends.
If you stop to think about why there were so many boxing legends to come out of the Golden Age of Boxing….and realize what was the catalyst to attracting so many great athletes to the ring during this era was the growth in popularity to the sport of boxing that was brought about by television….which wasn’t in that many homes in February 1964 when Cassius Clay shocked the world….in fact there wasn’t that many live sports programming on television when Ali won his 1st title….but like the popularity of Muhammad Ali that would explode over the next 18 years….so too would the popularity of boxing explode on television…. and by the time this HBO Boxing Special was aired in 1982….the popularity of the sport was at a pinnacle not seen ever before in history of boxing….and thanks to televised boxing matches….the athletes saw $$$$$….and flocked to the sport like never before.
This HBO Boxing Special gives every boxing fan a bird’s eye view of many legends of boxing who fought in 1982….Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran, Larry Holmes, Aaron Pryor, Marvin Hagler, Salvador Sanchez, Alexis Arguello, Wilfred Benetiz, Michael Spinks, Dwight Braxton Qawi et al….as it provides sufficient evidence to give value to our ImaSportsphile opinion that the Golden Age of Boxing provided the largest number of legendary boxers….when compared to any other era…. or for that matter all the other eras of boxing combined….which makes our vintage boxing library MUST SEE TV for any and all boxing fans.
