Who could of been the GOAT, under different circumstances?

Kelly Pavlik if he could bend his knees like an African American fighter

 

James Toney - Had all the talent but lacked the focus and discipline

 

Hearns with a chin, Sweet Pea with power, Tyson with a brain.

 

Toney with a diet.

 

I don't think Tyson, he would've always ran into trouble against the lights of Lewis and Holyfield.

 

Many regard SRL as the best boxer they have ever seen and rightly so.

 

Good Question.

Ali if he wasen't stripped of his prime.

I think Tyson had a shot - If his life/career never derailed as it did.

 

Maybe Ali without the exile and if he trained more in his later career and didnt show up fat and lethargic in some fights,,,he was close enough to begin with

Joe Louis had he had a few more greats in his era

Archie Moore if he won a title at heavyweight or was given a shot at the light heavyweight title earlier in his career

Maybe certain guys at the weights below feather if they were at a heavier weight and accomplished the same

 

In my lifetime, definitely Sugar Ray Leonard. The guy had every single attribute you want in a fighter, both tangible and intangible.

 

in my opinion it is hard to top Robinson

I mean Robinson had it all

i dont know what a fighter could do to top him i mean Armstrong came close

Pep also had a great career

i also think with modern guys not even fighting a 3rd of the fights Robinson had and with titles being more inflated and more weights to win more titles and the match making not always occuring its tough for modern fighters to me to even enter the top 20 or even 25

 

Me

 

No, but he would have been incredible, with disciplin to match his talent.

Would be my favorite of all time defiantly. :happy

 

SJS,

I'm flattered you even bothered to include Mike in the OP as an example, but I think he still would've came off the rails physically not much longer past his mid-20s, even with D'Amato. He probably doesn't lose to Buster Douglas, but would he still have enough by say 1992-1995 to beat the names that could've potentially made him the GOAT Heavyweight? Granted, he is night and day different in style than a Marciano/Frazier (not really an inside fighter at all), but short heavyweights - come-forward by necessity - don't have a long shelf life.