For my money Greb is out on his own for wins over class men. Who comes nearest to him? Langford? Ali ? Robinson? A N Other?
Ali and Langford My issue with Robinson is he seemed to avoid alot of great black fighters. I could b wrong but thats the impression i get. Greb is still far ahead though
Sam Langford Henry Armstrong Sugar Ray Robinson Benny Leonard Muhammad Ali As already said above, Greb's resume is far above all them.
Not many at all match up to greb. The amount of names in his resume is crazy. Probably the nearest are srr, ali and Armstrong.
I think Greb is on his own for winning resume...Joey Maxim has a helluva resume for quality opponents boxed, but he didn't win like Greb did...
As already mentioned, Ali and SRR are obvious choices! But how about a shout for McLarnin, who can count 13 HOFers among his victims? Not many can claim that... in fact only Greb can, with 15 HOFers defeated! ... and as several have already said, no one really comes close to Greb. His 1919 45-0 alone beats the career-resumes of most other world champions!
I think Benny Leonard's winning resume (NWS included) was better than that of Greb, higher quality opponents too. Joe Gans is not far behind, if behind at all.
Who Greb fought, and how many fights he had fighting top guys isn't really equaled. That said, I have a hard time counting Newspaper wins as true wins in every sense of the word. We know papers and writers can have bias when reporting a fight, and we see this as common place in those times. So why would I questionably give a win to a fighter, who got that "W" based on what some boxing writers saw? You give some credence to it, but it's not the be all end all for me. So, for a resume with names (not counting wins) I'd give it to Greb. For a resume of official wins, that goes to SRR or BL.
Throwing some different names out there, Ezzard Charles has wins over the following Hall of Famers: Louis Walcott Moore Burley Maxim Marshall Bivins Yarosz As well as numerous wins over champions and contenders, some of whom were naturally bigger. It's not a Grebesque resume, but it's pretty damn impressive.