@Pugguy @Entaowed The problem I have guys is that you two have lied to me. I privately asked you to put each other on ignore and I asked you not to bother eachother and you both agreed but you apparently can't do it. There's a lot of reporting around you guys still and that makes Classic look unruly. Classic is moderated both less harshly and more harshly in that people are usually left alone to sort themselves out but when they can't they are more harshly moderated. This is to maintain the reputation of the sub-forum amongst ownership and peers. Maybe don't reply to this post. Maybe just try to read it and think about it. I don't want you two to interact with one-another. When you speak to each other, it's not readable, not sensible and bad for the forum. Don't refer to one another directly or inderctly. Don't quote each other. I won't ask you again to put each other on ignore - no point when you have already lied about it - but I will say this: if you keep it up, one or both of you will go. Nobody likes reading this rubbish and I certainly don't like seeing it reported over and over and over again.
About the same as me! lol I didnt expect that from Smith ,but was very happy it happened, I dislike both Eubank and his Father,but to be fair to him ,he was classy about his defeat.
I'm in a minority in that I suspect Beterviev is on the slide. He almost certainly is physically past prime at 37 and he appeared to have just lost a little explosiveness/speed vs Browne. Granted he looked great vs Smith, but Smith is, and fought in a way that was, tailor made for Artur to look a million dollars. Beterviev should still have more than enough to dominate and stop Yarde, though. Bivol is the fight I want to see. I'd have made the Beterviev of 4-5 years ago a narrow favourite vs any version of Bivol. Now, I'd make Bivol a narrow favourite.
Fosters heavyweight losses invariably get lumped against him with zero context. Doug Jones was Fosters 10th pro fight. To make matters worse Foster was a late replacement, taking this fight on just three days notice. Jones was a 7-2 favorite. In three of his four previous fights Jones had gone the distance with Machen, Harold Johnson and Folley gaining plenty of experience. Machen and Folley were top 5 heavyweights and Johnson a top 2 Light Heavyweight. Within 4 months of their fight Jones was a top 4 heavyweight who had beaten Folley in a rematch and was about to fight Ali. Expecting Foster to beat a guy like Jones in his 10th pro fight is ludicrous and holding it firmly against him is even worse.
The topic was Jones, man up and own it. If you think my post amounted to "excuses", well, how did Medvedev say it, you are a small cat. Mentioning Terrell having 38 fights vs Fosters 16.... Terrell having 221 rounds racked up against Fosters 63... and Terrell being a top #4 rated Heavyweight vs Foster not being rated anywhere would just be a waste of the forums time. Imagine it, a non rated guy with 16 fights losing to a top #4 heavyweight with 34 fights under his belt, a 20 pound weight advantage as well as 3" of height and reach.
I’’m not big on making raking lists but I’ll give it a shot. For me it’s: 1. Michael Spinks 2. Ezzard Charles 3. Archie Moore 4. Roy Jones Jr 5. Bob Foster 6. Gene Tunney 7. Harry Greb 8. Tommy Loughran 9. John Henry Lewis 10. Matthew Saad Muhammad My next batch would probably begin with Qawi at 11.
Imaginary h2h is always dubious as a basis for ranking, but even more so when we're talking of what's really different weight classes. Beterbiev fought at 200 lbs when he still had same day weigh-ins (in the ams), so he'd in all likelihood fight at HW in Foster's day.
Yes Beterbiev v Bivol is the fight we all want to see,but like Crawford v Spence nobody seems in a hurry to make it.
Yes I think so, Terrell was the number 3 ranked heavyweight ,20lbs heavier than Foster and had beaten Folley,Zech ,and Williams in the previous year.
All fair points John. Furthermore, and taking it back to the thread title, Fosters defeats at HW are irrelevant to his standing at LHW. I suspect you'll agree he's not a great HW, but is a great at LHW, based on his work in those respective divisions. Foster was unbeaten at LHW and at 14-0-1 his lineal WT numbers, are substantially superior to any fighter to be ranked top 10 in this discussion. He clearly and unequivocally proved himself the best LHW of his era (Conteh and Galindez only emerged as elite contenders at the very end of Bob's 6-year reign), to an extent not surpassed by any other LHW, with the possible exception of Charles, and certainly not matched yet by Beterviev. Whilst, Bivol would establish AB as the clear no.1 of his era, to go with the lineal title he secured vs Gvozdyk, he'd still have some way to go to match Foster's 14 unbeaten defences of the lineal title.