Phoenices: Greatest stretches between defeats.

So Foreman doesn't count?

 

This one is definitely legit - Pernell Whitaker. Between 1988 after 'losing' to Jose Luis Ramirez and 1997 losing a split decision to Oscar de La Hoya, he went 9 years without defeat with a record of 25-0-1 and unbeaten in 20 title fights during this period. He beat Ramirez in their rematch, Azumah Nelson, Buddy McGirt twice and of course fought a winning draw against an undefeated Julio Cesar Chavez. A phenomenal run.

 

Ehhhh...

He was only back four years when he suffered that second bookending loss to Holyfield. Now, if Big G had thoroughly cleaned out the division and captured the lineal belt prior to losing to Holyfield, then it might be a discussion ..but...

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I take slight issue with Bernard Hopkins being here because I dont know if he deserves a check mark for quality.

Yes he was active with plenty of fights and defenses. He went almost a decade between losses.

But quality opposition I'm not so sure. Most of his defenses were against ordinary contenders. Why in the hell did he have to fight Robert Allen 3 times? And his 2 most notable fights during his reign were against 2 blown up Welterweights. You could even speculate that DLH wasnt even a natural WW in size. Meanwhile Hopkins was nothing short of a physically enormous Middleweight

I'm biased I dont like Hopkins. But I'd love for somebody to tell me those guys he fought in the 90s were something special.

 

I'm honestly not wild about the h2h caliber of most of what he feasted on during his MW reign, either...but the accomplishments on paper are hard to ignore:

"12 years, 2 months. 24-0-1-1 (14). Won the IBF middleweight title and made 20 defenses (later adding the WBC title with 7 defenses and the WBA, RIng, and lineal championships with 6)."

Wasn't all bums, either. But your point is valid. I much prefer Hagler's overall quality of middleweight challengers even though his unbeaten run was a bit shorter than B-Hop's.

 

Yep but unlike Canelo, it strikes me as likely that Loma will retire undefeated in the next 6.

 

I suppose if you look at the sheer total of defenses against top 10 competition over a period of 9 years its impressive. It's hard to stay that good for that long and not have 1 off night. Because even though those guys weren't the greatest fighters ever they still were world level guys.

But none of his victories in a vaccum were impressive victories in a historical sense.

 

Yep.

 

Literally made a retrospective thread on him last week, too. Actually that's probably what unconsciously inspired this whole thread.