He medaled in the Olympics, unlike Akinwande, gave Tua a tough fight, exposed Jefferson, and beat Savarese and Wilson. That’s very much Akinwande’s level. What he lacked was UK hype and a fake title.
You’re extremely dishonest for rolling out the corpse of Tucker and glorifying these cruiserweights, failed prospects, and nobodies. Tye bottom line is that Grant was ranked third in a stacked division. Akinwande and those in his limited win column weren’t.
I'm not being dishonest at all. We're comparing Grant and Akinwande. If Michael Grant's only two losses in his first 52 pro fights were in what amounted to a UNIFICATION with freaking Lennox Lewis .... and a last round, last second KO loss to former champ Oliver McCall (in a fight Grant was winning easily - the only time Grant was ever dropped) ... I'd go with Grant. But since those credentials belong to Akinwande, I'll go with him. How's that? And DON'T YOU be dishonest. The only reason Michael Grant got a title shot because he was under contract with HBO and Ike Ibeabuchi was arrested and was headed to jail. That's it. Grant was supposed to fight Ibeabuchi in an eliminator, and Ike was replaced by Golota. And he barely got past him. In that STACKED heavyweight division of yours, John Ruiz was rated higher than Grant in both the WBC and the WBA. And Lewis got stripped of his WBA belt for fighting Grant INSTEAD of Ruiz ... because HBO wanted that fight instead of the Ruiz fight. Don't act like Grant was anything special AT ALL. The only person who got undeserved praise or special treatment was Grant, not Akinwande. If Grant had Akinwande's record, he'd be on the ballot for Canastota. That's the kind of treatment Grant got.
Again, you’re dishonest. You should get a job at the carnival or something. Grant beat Golota who was better than Akinwande and got the third spot in a stacked division according to The Ring, not whatever sanctioning body Carl and Don were writing checks to. Maybe you should start a round robin thread for Cooney, Tate, Grant, Ruddock, and Douglas. All guys were better than Akinwande at their peaks who rapidly lost form.
Akinwande was rated above Grant and Golota and Ruiz. Akinwande was the #1 WBA contender. But he got hepatitis. So Ruiz moved up. Grant was BEHIND THEM in the WBC and WBA ratings and behind Ibeabuchi. In the stacked division, contenders above him literally had to get diseases, go to jail and Lewis had to vacate a belt in order for Grant to get a title shot. And you're bashing ratings and bashing Ruiz ... but RUIZ turned out to be BETTER THAN GRANT!!! So was Akinwande. They were all world champs. They all made title defenses. They all fought fellow champs. Even Ike beat Byrd. Who did Grant ever beat? It certainly wasn't Dominick Guinn or Jameel McCline. (LOL. Everyone beat them. Even Ruiz beat McCline.) I have no idea where you're getting this "GRANT LEVEL" from. Michael Grant was Duane Bobick. Wake up. He never won anything. They may as well have called this thread Henry Akinwande vs. Duane Bobick. Same thing.
Yeah, well, it comes with a $25 coupon to Hooters and a WBA 'interim' belt ... so, you know (LOL) Seriously, Akinwande easily over Grant. Grant can't outbox him. And Grant isn't stopping him. Really, nobody stopped Akinwande but McCall. And it was a Hail Mary shot at the end of a fight. Grant, on the other hand, couldn't stay off the floor on many nights. Gotta go. Peace.
BEST WINS Akinwande Schulz 1 & 2 Orlin Norris Alexander Zolkin Jeremy Williams Timo Hoffman Jimmy Thunder Johnny Nelson Maurice Harris old Tony Tucker Grant Andrew Golota David Izon past Jorge Gonzalez Obed Sullivan Alfred Cole Lionel Butler Ross Puritty Robert Davis Schulz for me is the best fighter of both victories, also Grant lost against a worse level of fighters than Akinwande
Zolkin is probably better than Grant and Norris as well Grant lost to Dominic Guinn in his prime. Akinwande doesn't have any comparable prime losses Also I doubt Grant was anywhere near the 3rd best heavyweight in the world when he fought Lewis. I would put him behind Lewis Holyfield Tua Wladimir Vitali Rahman Byrd Ruiz McCall Tyson among others
That’s a spectacular underrating of Grant. His prime ended with Lewis. Teddy Atlas did nothing productive with him besides hurt his confidence even more. I put prime Guinn above Zolikn h2h.
Zolkin was the only top ten guy he beat. Savarese was pretty highly regarded when Grant beat him. You left that off.
