Fights where you can argue the ATG in one division faced the ATG from another

Well I can’t figure how to edit the title, but I meant GOAT rather than ATG. There are certainly many matches between all-time greats across divisions, but I’m thinking of cases where you can honestly argue that these are the two greatest in different divisions facing off at some point.

How many of these might there have been?

One that comes to mind is Larry Holmes vs. Michael Spinks.

I personally rate Spinks No. 1 all-time at 175. I rate Larry top three heavyweight and you can make an argument at least that he’s tops all-time H2H (although not a certainty … but none of this really is).

Very close: Ray Leonard is among the elite welterweights of all time (if not the best, certainly top two or three) and Roberto Duran is probably the best lightweight (or, again, top two or three) … but it’s hard to get around Ray Robinson at 147 to make this claim.

If there’s anything from 135 up, it’s escaping me now. But what am I missing there? And what possibilities are there in the lower weights?

 

Robinson-LaMotta VI, Louis-Conn I, and Frazier-Foster come to mind.

 

Monzon Napoles in the discussion
Greb - Tunney

 

Sanchez - Gomez and Nelson

 

I’ll grant you the last two — good calls — but I’ve never seen anyone argue that LaMotta was the greatest middleweight of all time.

 

Muhammad Ali - Archie Moore

 

Are you saying Nelson went on to become the best at 130? That’s an interesting thought.

I considered this but Pep and Saddler (not in that order in my mind) have to rank higher than Salvador, but I do think one could make an argument.

 

Hagler Vs Duran

 

Yeah, I guess that was rather premature.

 

Louis - Charles could well be the best example ever. Charles is routinely rated #1 by the majority nowadays and Louis spreads between #1 and #2 for almost everyone with plenty having him top.

 

Hagler - Hearns....some do like Hagler as numero uno at 160 and many have Hearns there at 154.
Pryor - Arguello....many like Pryor at 140 and Arguello gets a load of traction at 130.
Arguello vs Olivares, Olivares is quite commonly #1 at Bantam and Arguello at 130.

 

Some rate Zarate #1 at bantam and he fought Gomez...............both were champs too.

 

Fighting Harada vs Lionel Rose

 

The most obvious one for me and I suspect many is Robinson/Armstrong.

 

If you stretch the idea and rate Harada as the no1 h2h at fly, then Harada-Jofre. I've seen Saldivar rated as high as 2 at feather. It's probably beyond credibility to rate him higher than Pep, but taking him as number 2, then Saldivar-Jofre maybe. And I've seen a few people ranking Ortiz at no1 at bantam before. So Pep-Ortiz maybe. Carlos Ortiz-Elorde isn't far off. Elorde has a decent shout at 130 as the best. Ortiz less so, but it's lightweight we're talking about and I still think you can put him very justifiably in the top 3/4 there. Had he not lost the first Laguna fight mostly through being a drunken gambling addict, he'd have a shout at the no1 pog imo.