Fitz is a good parallel, though Armstrong does have strong claims on divisional standings too, with his boatload of defenses at 147.
Even not insisting on linearity, you'd struggle to find anyone who's been ranked number in 3 of the original 8.
I have edited it. Spellcheck ruined the word Pedroza. yes I have to address that. Can’t believe I forgot him. starling and Curry are decent though. Curry was a pound for pound guy who unified. Starling was a top guy. I think Pender is under rated actually. Solid fighter. He beat Robinson two out of two times when nobody else could and the fights were not disputed. Okay Robinson was old but until then he could beat almost anybody second time around. conteh should have won his first fight with Saad on cuts. There was foul play involved. Conteh did not lose to Mate Parlov. Saad was also a great fighter. I did include him. But he was never a better fighter than a prime Conteh in my view. thanks. I am happy to see your list now.
FLY 1. Jimmy Wilde 2. Pancho Villa 3. Miguel Canto 4. Ricardo Lopez 5. Roman Gonzalez 6. Pascual Perez 7. Fidel LaBarba 8. Benny Lynch 9. Frankie Genaro 10. Midget Wolgast 11. Jung-Koo Chang 12. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam 13. Yoko Gushiken 14. Chartchai Chiono 15. Pone Kingpetch BANTAM 1. Eder Jofre 2. Ruben Olivares 3. Fighting Harada 4. Manuel Ortiz 5. Carlos Zarate 6. Nonito Donaire 7. Panama Al Brown 8. Pete Herman 9. Kid Williams 10. Lionel Rose 11. Memphis Pal Moore 12. Jeff Fenech 13. Bud Taylor 14. Rafael Marquez 15. Naoua Inoue FEATHER 1. Willie Pep 2. Sandy Saddler 3. Alexis Arguello 4. George Dixon 5. Terry McGovern 6. Salvador Sanchez 7. Erik Morales 8. Juan Manuel Marquez 9. Marco Antonio Barrera 10. Wilfredo Gomez 11. Abe Attell 12. Vicente Saldivar 13. Azumah Nelson 14. Kid Chocolate 15. Johnny Kilbane LIGHT 1. Roberto Duran 2. Benny Leonard 3. Tony Canzoneri 4. Joe Gans 5. Pernell Whitaker 6. Julio Cesar Chavez 7. Ike Williams 8. Packey McFarland 9. Carlos Ortiz 10. Freddie Welsh 11. Lou Ambers 12. Joe Brown 13. Flash Elorde 14. Beau Jack 15. Sammy Mandell WELTER 1. Sugar Ray Robinson 2. Henry Armstrong 3. Manny Pacquiao 4. Sugar Ray Leonard 5. Floyd Mayweather Jr. 6. Mickey Walker 7. Tommy Hearns 8. Barney Ross 9. Jimmy McLarnin 10. Emile Griffith 11. Jose Napoles 12. Joe Walcott 13. Jack Britton 14. Ted Kid Lewis 15. Kid Gavilan MIDDLE 1. Harry Greb 2. Bob Fitzsimmons 3. Marvin Hagler 4. Carlos Monzon 5. Bernard Hopkins 6. Charley Burley 7. Stanley Ketchel 8. Holman Williams 9. Tommy Ryan 10. Jake LaMotta 11. Dick Tiger 12. Mike Gibbons 13. Freedie Steele 14. Canelo Alvarez 15. Mike McCallum LHW 1. Sam Langford 2. Ezzard Charles 3. Archie Moore 4. Roy Jones Jr. 5. Gene Tunney 6. Michael Spinks 7. Tommy Loughran 8. Bob Foster 9. Billy Conn 10. Joe Calzaghe 11. Jimmy Bivins 12. Harold Johnson 13. James Toney 14. Tommy Gibbons 15. Maxie Rosenbloom HW 1. Muhammad Ali 2. Joe Louis 3. Rocky Marciano 4. Evander Holyfield 5. Larry Holmes 6. Jack Dempsey 7. Lennox Lewis 8. Jack Johnson 9. George Foreman 10. Joe Frazier 11. Mike Tyson 12. Wladimir Klitschko 13. Vitali Klitschko 14. Sonny Liston 15. Tyson Fury P4P 1. Sugar Ray Robinson 2. Harry Greb 3. Sam Langford 4. Henry Armstrong 5. Muhammad Ali 6. Manny Pacquiao 7. Ezzard Charles 8. Roberto Duran 9. Joe Louis 10. Sugar Ray Leonard 11. Willie Pep 12. Bob Fitzsimmons 13. Floyd Mayweather Jr. 14. Archie Moore 15. Benny Leonard 16. Tony Canzoneri 17. Mickey Walker 18. Jimmy Wilde 19. Roy Jones Jr. 20. Joe Gans 21. Gene Tunney 22. Tommy Hearns 23. Barney Ross 24. Marvin Hagler 25. Jimmy McLarnin
Forgive the pun, so you fought your corner well, made some salient points, as to my list, it would mirror Georges list almost like for like, the Napoles/ Rodrigues point not withstanding .
George has a good list actually. Wladimir Klitschko at 6 seems a bit high and Evander losing to Michael Moorer in his prime is not really like Joe Frazier losing to George Foreman. It should really put them both behind Marciano and Frazier. But it’s no big deal. Obviously the non champions like Gibbons, Langford were great fighters but I am not as comfortable finding them a divisional ranking even if I know they would beat a lot of champions.. defending a title takes extra responsibility, so I feel these kinds of guys are more pound for pound if you think they qualify.
Interesting list. While I think his career at middleweight is enormously overrated by some, I'm startled not to see Robinson mentioned there at all.
@Rumsfeld Do you see any potential in doing the rest of the weight classes and not just the traditional 8 at any given time, or do you think that’s asking a bit much?
Agree, entirely , the Sugar man of 50/51 would I think have beaten almost all, with the poss exception of Greb, Monzon, and Hagler.
I actually think his style and toughness would be a terrible night for Hagler, though I consider Hagler the greater middleweight.
Just want to say it’s nice to see more and more posters getting involved in this. I must say personally my activity on this forum has been pretty scattered in the past 3/4 years and I totally understand we all have our own commitments, but it is warming to see us all get together and Have some healthy questions and discussions about each others lists. I’m really excited to see the end results!
@Rumsfeld trying to enter some subtle bias into the discussion for sure. I have Harry Truman higher than he does but I’m holding off on posting so there’s no shenanigans! (Seriously, I’ve begun toying around and will definitely participate. Week after the upcoming one I should have some free time to spend on this. Definitely count me in — someone has to stand up for Harry so he can Give ‘em Hell!!!!)
