Your unpopular boxing opinions

Earnie Shavers beat Ali.

Heavyweight history doesn't begin until Joe Louis when the color line ended.

George Foreman edged Jimmy Young

John Ruiz would probably beat Bob Fitzimmons

Pernell Whitaker was greater than Duran.

 

While this sounds noble you would be doing a huge disservice to the many colored boxers who fought in the color line era.

 

Floyd Mayweather couldn't have fought the style that he did in the 1930's 40's 50's and 60's. He would have been respected as a outstanding talent. Never a title shot he would be in the same boat as Burley, Williams, Bivens. Probably more like Harold Johnson.

Mayweather wouldn't draw. He would have to fight like Robinson did if he wanted to standout in there days. He would be hit alot more. Beating a guy once might not be enough. You might have to fight him 3 or 4 more times. his hands may be the reason he retires in his early 30s with 14 losses.

 

So many interesting claims/opinions are being put forward in this post, that it would completely derail the thread, if we were going to discuss everything here in a serious manner.

A post like this should really have its own thread!

 

I think I am one the few who believe Bradley deserved to win as I think he did better work but Manny just threw loads of punches that were not scoring but I've accepted I am in a select club probably with Judges and possibly a handful of fans

 

I think part of the problem was that, as of Summer 2012, Manny and Floyd were still pretty much everyone's numbers one and two pound for pound, and everyone was still desperate to see the fight happen, even though Manny was starting to fade and hadn't looked anything special against Mosley or Marquez in his last two fights.

As such, there was almost a kind of assumption in advance of any Manny or Floyd fight that they were automatically going to put on a masterclass and that no opponent should even dare to put a spanner in the works by derailing the proposed mega fight between the pair - the likes of Bradley were simply there to serve as a punch bag for Manny to make his statement to Floyd. The narrative around both Manny and Floyd's fights from 2010-12 was so creepy in this respect it was almost unbearable.

So when it came to that fight, it was as if many (the HBO team included) had preordained that Manny was going to dominate and make Bradley look like a clown - and when he didn't, they either couldn't or refused to acknowledge this, and instead commentated on the fight they wished they were seeing in front of them, rather than the one which was actually happening.

I'm not saying Bradley won it, but I got a bit of a kicking on a live feed I was commenting on at the time for saying I was seeing a close, scrappy fight where neither guy was really excelling, while everyone else was seeing Manny pitching a shutout. As you say, I think his late flurries distorted the picture to a degree.

In the long run it didn't matter too much, as Manny showed he was clearly the better man in fights II and III. But I suspect I'll never be able to see that first fight the way 95% of others do. Hey, just one of those things, I suppose.

 

I don't think you're taking into account how he fought when he was younger. He beat the crap out of Gatti, Burton, Corrales, and others.

 

@mrkoolkevin
This would be a good fight for the board to score.

 

Watched it twice, once when it happened then a couple of months later and both times had it 115-113 Bradley

 

I had it 115-113 Pacquiao, but like you, I didn't see this as being the whitewash that many other observers did. Pac basically fought a minute of each frame, allowing Bradley the chance to out-hustle his foe and bag rounds as a result. This wasn't the worst robbery of all time...It wasn't even the worst robbery of 2012 (Abril-Rios takes that 'honor').

 

Ruben Olivares is one of the greatest living fighters, and has become underrated to a degree.

People forget the undersized, warmed up corpse of this guy tore through the likes of Bobby Chacon and Jose Luis Ramirez in a few rounds a piece. He was a ****ing animal in the ring, and deserves his due.

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I watched it on a crappy feed and fell asleep before the last couple rounds, figuring Manny was taking it.

It’s one of few fights that I bet on. I put $80 on Bradley dec at 6:1.

I need to revisit it.

 

@McGrain and @Flea Man both list him as the GOAT bantamweight so he's gaining recognition among the hardcore once again.

 

Pep didn't fight at all like Robinson (in fact he was much more like Mayweather) and had a pretty good career, I would say.

 

That's actually really good to hear...

Has anyone else watched Toy Tiger? Olivares is interviewed for it and he's really funny, talking about all he could remember for the Hafey fight was how bad he wanted beer... It's surreal, but it matches perfectly with the stories you hear about Olivares being an absolute party animal and big on the substance abuse.