Who was greater? Dick Tiger or Azumah Nelson?

On a slight tangent, I recall that when Torres and Ingemar Johannson died within a few days of each other, William Detloff wrote a piece for Ring more or less deriding Ingo as a one hit wonder but extolling Torres as a great champion when he was fairly close to being a one hit wonder himself with the Pastrano fight (with Pastrano being faded and inconsistent even in his prime).

 

I’ve read plenty of Detloff’s stuff that strikes me as....well, odd.

I was recently sent a piece where he pitted loads of lower weight fighters from history against each other in hypothetical matchups and he had little to no clue about any of the fighters he was discussing, it was embarrassing.

 

I remember him doing an Oscar De La Hoya vs. the all-time greats piece and it had De La Hoya beating Leonard, Hearns, Napoles etc; basically losing just to Robinson and perhaps one or two others but really close.

That’s when I realized he’s either a really really big fan of a guy that lets it cloud his judgement and/or he’s just not watching properly. Also that he probably hasn’t been that thorough in getting acquainted to other fighters.

 

Tiger, gets my vote. Fought everyone and an undisputed two weight world champion.

 

Tiger gets my vote. I also love that his first name is **** out here too haha. Yes, he was more one dimensional to a degree but as Larry Meechant said about Tito Trinidad once, “Yes he is one dimensional but what a dimension it is”. Tiger couldn’t be outbrawled that’s for sure.

His resume is deep and excellent. Littered with great names and the major achievement being a historical one of a man who was the undisputed champion at 160 and then at 175.

 

I give Tiger the edge also.

 

Tough call - but, for mine, Richard Ihetu is a phenomenon with a great story so, I lean towards Tiger.

 

Quartey was no match for those two.

 

Tiger was pretty inconsistent wouldn't Nelson have a massive edge in consistency

 

I agree. Quartey is definitely a notch below Tiger and Nelson but he comes to mind when talking about great African fighters. I should have worded as such.

 

In terms of the consistency of his performances, no.

 

Brian Mitchell name has to be somewhere in discussion of GOAT African fighters.
A true world warrior with all but one of his 14 world title fighters on the road.

 

I agree...he is top 3 for me and certainly should be top 5, but others might disagree

 

Nice thread, for mine I have to rate Tiger who was undisputed middleweight and light heavyweight champion of the world above Azumah despite Nelson being an all round more skilled fighter.

Not many fighters in history have made it to the top in both the 160 and 175 pound divisions.

Cheers All.