Is Hopkins the Greatest MW of All Time?

He's possibly not even the greatest middleweight from Philly.

 

for me ruby robert wouldve destroyed any middleweight in history including the likes of greb, robinson, monzon, hagler, and definatley hopkins

EDIT.

not sure about greb but certainly everybody else

 

He's definitely in the top 10. But there's no way I'd rate him above Monzon,Hagler,Robinson and a handful of others,though.

 

Hopkins is a great fighter with a true fighters mind. But i could never put him above the likes of Hagler, Monzon, Greb, Robinson. Because overall he just isn't has good as them imo. No shame in that, not many are.

 

Definitely top 5, but I wouldn't put him at the top spot. Hagler and Robinson both rate above him in my opinion, and Monzon is a possibility, although I have to see more Monzon footage to feel completely safe in saying that. It's been on my to do for awhile since I started posting here.

(As a by the way, I don't rank Greb or anyone that we don't have surviving footage of. I'm sure they were great, but I don't tend to take much on faith and other people's say so, I want to see the proof myself).

 

Yeah, better longevity against journeymen. Depth in what regard? More fights and wins? Leonard only had 40 fights, yet you could argue he beat better fighters than Pep did. Leonard also moved out of his depth more than Pep did. He moved up in weight and fought naturally bigger men like Hagler and Lalonde. And, Lalonde is a better quality opponent than about 80% of the men Pep fought.

 

And Lalonde isnt even among Leonard's top five, even though that may be my favorite fight. Got knocked down, busted nose... Then he beat the **** out of that cat. Pitter patter that. Bombed On Him.

 

I wouldn't give him the top spot but to me he's not all that far from Hagler because he went up in weight and made a splash at the light heavyweight division, something Hagler didn't do. His win over Pavlik was extremely impressive. And props for longivity. Not the best, I think Greb is but he's certainly in the top 5.

 

It seems what you're saying is that Hopkins is nowhere near the greatest middleweight of all time and there are loads in front of him. Couldn't agree more :good

As an older poster I'm sure you squirm just as much as I do when contemporary fighters are placed above fighters that have come before them, and it's usually based on statistics. eg Pacman is seriously being put forth as the GOAT by some and in the top10 by a growing number of people. I wouldn't have him anywhere near the top 20 :-(

 

B, yes I do "squirm" a lot from posters who disregard some geat fighters from the past, because though they mean well,some are quite "lazy" to read thoroughly the great history of boxings past. I am called an old guy for bringing up some great fighters from yesteryear, and it's a lonely place for me to be in. But as the old refrain says,"somebody has to do it ",so it
might as well be me. For example as I cited Freddie Steele ,almost
unbeatable for 10 years as a middleweight against a great crop of 160 pounders is never mentioned, though he had a much more impressive
middleweight run than Hopkins, but is totally forgotten today for the most part. For example B, if a poster writes today, "john Ruiz was a better heavyweight than Jack Dempsey", I don't challenge this statement ,though silly as it is...Cheers B...

 

I think there's quite a few of us on here that "bring up some great fighters from yesteryear" Myself included. And we have great justification for doing so. It's not simply rose coloured spectacles. When we think of great heavies from the past,such as Ali,Louis,Frazier etc. today's bunch don't really compare,when you consider achievement and longevity.

The theme of this particular thread is a case in point. As good as Hopkins was/is,he pales into the background when names such as Greb,Monzon,Robinson and Hagler rise.

 

Top 5.

 

H2H, he's not even a top 100...

there are quite simply hundreds of great MWs over the long years of boxing that beat him. Plain & Simply!

when we look at the Elite Greats, then Great Champions and then the Great CONTENDERS from WW cum MW, and MWs come L-HWs (Hopkins playing field), from Great and Better periods, he gets beat by plenty.

Hopkins IS NOT A GREAT, he is a Very Good fighter, but from a much softer, less active and poorer era!!!

 

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Very good fighter under bought referees , not even that otherwise .