I decided to start a new thread after reading the one on "trial horses" because I feel that the names on that list illustrates some confusion in the community as what a gatekeeper and trial horse and club fighter are. Here are my thoughts on the different skill levels in boxing: Champs of their division - these are the consensus num 1 guys in their devision, who are world class talents and people refer to as A level fighters; examples are floyd, pavlik, calzaghe, bhop. Title holders and contenders - these are the belt holders and top 10-15 contenders who deserve a tittle shot or unification match such as sutlan, cintron, peter, and judah; people usually refer to these fighters as A- or B+. Fringe contenders - these are fighters ranked between 16- 30 or so who have not yet become top contenders who are refered to as B or B-; examples are berto, dimentrenko, duddy, and . The next set of fighters are journeymen, meaning they are not in the hunt for a future title shot but are along for the journey grinding away to pay bills. Gatekeepers - these are the guys a prospect needs to beat to become a recognized fringe or real contender. howard eastman is a great example along with david estrada dominic guinn and danny williams. these are the C+ level guys who fight nationally and sometimes internationally and determine if a prospect becomes a contender or not. Trial horses - fighters who have decent but not top skills who fight upcomming prospects who want to step up in class after usually 10 or more fights or they fight against top guys in stay busy fights. these fighters usually fight in 8 or 10 rounders. good examples are robert hawkins, sherman williams, ross purrity, julius long. Club fighters - low level journmany with limited skills at the regional level or local level and dont make it on TV. they usually fight in 6-8 rounders against other club fighters or prospects after they stop fighting bums want their first step up. Bums, tomato cans - the bottom of the barrel.usually fight in 4 rounders at the local level against novice prospects or other bums. hopefully this explaination will end the confusion because it is a real shame that guys like judah and eastman who are at the world level or have fought against the elite at the international level are referred to as trial horses.
Yes, it is a crime against humanity that Eastman is called a "Trial horse" rather than a "Gatekeeper" I'm sure he would be thrilled to hear this fallacy has been corrected
All time pound for pound greats: Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Willy Pep, Mayweather Jr etc All time divisional greats: Wladimir Klitschko at HW, Fighting Harada at BW, Roberto Duran at LW, Oleksandr Usyk at CW, etc Ring Champions/consensus #1s: Naoya Inoue, Juan Francisco Estrada, Jermell Charlo, Mairis Breidis, etc Title holders/top contenders/: Dmitry Bivol, Kosei Tanaka, Alexander Povetkin, Kazuto Ioka, etc Fringe contenders: Martin Bakole, Shuichiro Yoshino, Daigo Higa, Fanlong Meng, etc High level journeymen/continental level fighters: Dereck Chisora, Anthony Yarde, Ryota Yamauchi, Yuki Strong Kobayashi, etc Mid level journeymen/national level fighters: Ryu Ueda, Ricardo Sueno, David Carmona, Yuki Nonaka, etc Low level journeymen/club fighters: Alexander Bajawa, In Duck Seo, Vazir Tamoyan, etc Tomato cans/"bums": More losses than wins against club fighters, early prospects and mid level journeymen.
i wouldn't' have belt holders as a category. there have been some awful belt holders who, with the help of the federation who's belt they held, miraculously managed to never fight a top fighter in their weight at any time. felix sturm won at least 4 'world titles', but go check out that ridiculous resume.
I had it in my search history because I was curious of other people's thoughts on this like a year or two ago.
I like the roles, people tend to grade based on 50s MW or 70s HW or whatever their favorite era is and no one measures up. But even if you think the Charlos are F--- compared to Sugar Ray Robinson, they are playing the role of champions or top contenders in recent years.
Williams never was just some C level. Damn. If division does have more than 1000 or more than 1400 boxers, someone from top 100 really is C level? Yeah, out of prime shape he was still booked freguently but he is above C level definitely. Chisora is a gatekkeper and millionare. Yarde: a bit somewhat failed prospect but not a journeyman. might recover.
Williams skills approx A level, shape he had in decline of his carreer: from B till C and D and F levels, this yeah.
I considered moving them to PFP, both were very talented fighters, and both have strong arguments for being the best in their division.
