Well with Vitali retiring, Jones v Byrd would have been the top two hw's unifying the division. If he wins that he's in my top ten.
I would not consider McGuigan a 'great', personally. But if you did, I would suggest that the break between Cruz and Perez did a ton of damage for the Clones Cyclone. I say that as a boy confident McGuigan would beat the 'limited' McDonnell...
Whitaker's awesome showing against Oscar to rehab, then to losing to Tito. Roy obviously Ali losing against Spinks Pac after Clottey is pretty apparent
Thad Spencer went into an alarming tail-spin after fighting Terrell. ****** Juuko was an outstanding fighter with lots of promise who was turne into a wreck by Floyd and Chico Corrales.
Certainly John Conteh appeared headed for greatness, then management, Family, Playboy Lifestyle, Hand Injuries etc eroded him very quickly, Struggling with Ivy Brown and Joe Cokes and the lucky draw with Jesse Burnett were big indicators, he resurrected the style if not the old aggression for Saad 1st....but was an empty Husk for the return... The earlier Conteh seemed to have it all. Talent Looks Charisma he even won a superstars compitition . Perhaps too much too soon for a young lad from liverpool to handle ?
I wouldnt say the worst. Ali, quarry, ellis,bugner, foreman wasnt a bad bunch to fight even if he did lose to 2 of them. Certainly he wasnt the same after FOTC but theres worse out there
Ray Arcel said that - in retrospect - Charles showed some signs of the Lou Gehrig's Disease that he actually died from in the mid-50's and maybe in the Marciano fights, during this period of losing as much as he won (when he was fighting for money only).