Myth: Roberto Duran has a better resume than Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Tettah didn't win a fight between losing to Thompson in their 2 fights.

Thompson is unlikely to have gotten a bump in the rankings for beating someone ranked below him, who hadn't won a fight since Thompson last beat him, and he didn't win a fight himself between his two contests vs Tettah.

It's likely Thompson's 1973 LWW ranking peaked after his first victory over Tettah.

 

Barkley would've killed the version of Canelo Floyd fought. You can say what you want but the fact is a win over prime Leonard is better than any win on either Mayweather or Pac's record.

 

Exactly, and never will be.

 

In all likelihood, Thompson entered at #7, on beating Tetteh in March '73 and then was subsequently bumped up a couple of spots to #5 during that same year, due to shifts in the ratings above him.

Losses suffered by Fanali, for example, or a boxer leaving the division (I think Eddie Perkins moved up to Welter) might have had an influence.

 

It draws sweeping conclusions from an over-emphasis on quantitative data. Period.

 

I've only read the last couple of pages of this thread, so may not be getting the gist here (it looks way too much of a minefield) but some areas of end of year rankings are incorrect and Ring at the time had "groups", so while Joe Tetteh is 7th, he's 7th in "group 2" and 9th overall (group 1 consisting of just 2 fighters Buno Arcari and Victor Ortiz) with Carlos Gimenez not Peppermint Frazer ranked 3rd (and leading group 2).

The same year, Ray Lampkin is rated ahead of Chango Carmona too (not below as claimed) and in "group 1", while Carmona leads group 2. A quick scan reveals there are others too.

Ring did this ranking system for most of the 70s too, but only in its end-of-year issue, so there'll be a fair few errors I Imagine- as it can be a bit confusing (i.e. Copying the rating number but missing its 'group')

 

Very interesting, thank You for this post.
I was wondering, while looking for those annual ratings that can be found on boxrec, if The Ring was updating their ratings monthly at the time, with each new release of the paper - or was it done just at the end of each year?

 

You're welcome mate, glad to help as have most of the Ring mags of this decade in the loft and i got a few down a couple of months ago as i was debating Quarry vs Foreman and was searching for this magazine...

https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/File:73Jun.jpg

so it was still in my drawer and while i was up there i got the year end (1972) and year end (1973) versions out to see Jerry's rating rise (he went from 11th to 3rd in this period, behind Ali and Joe). Anyway, the magazine above- before the Duran fight-has Hector at 8th but you may be pleased to know that the page below is incorrect and Hector, while listed at #5 is actually #3. His ranking goes up after the Duran fight, so he obviously made a good impression (and beat Tetteh again).

https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine's_Annual_Ratings:_1973

In terms of the ratings, yes, they did them monthly and the year end ratings are merely a snapshot of that month, rather than what happened for the entire year and they used to do more than 10 back then, sometimes up to 20 if a fighter got into that tier/group (so, for example, Jeff Merritt is 11th, Edwin Viruet 12th, Billy Douglas 13th in their respective divisions). Other notable missing top 10s from the above link are Boone Kirkman, Jorge Ahumada and Alexis Arguello.

 

It is an issue. But then again, why do you think that is? It is due to Floyd being more of a business type fighter. That then again people rightly hold that against him when measuring his greatness. You see, you have to admit this is a bit of a circular point.

 

Thanks @My dinner with Conteh . Excellent info!

 

I think you're selling the majority of your fellow classic posters short, this isn't the general forum, most classic posters are capable of separating the person from the fighter and their achievements, and ranking them objectively accordingly.

SRR is known by the majority of classic posters to have been a perpetrator of domestic abuse, yet I could post a link to a survey done on here where was was voted the GOAT p4p fighter of all time.

Many posters rate Monzon as the greatest MW of all time, nearly all as a top 3 MW all time, he's a convicted murderer.

Many posters rate Tyson as a top 10 HW of all time, he's a convicted ******.

Etc.

I'm not saying every single classic poster is entirely objective on Mayweather, I can think of couple of "haters" and a couple of "fan boys", but the majority rate him purely based on their perception of his career, regardless of any personal opinion they have on him as a man or his crimes.

 

Duran abused Ray Leonard's wife (or then girlfriend) before their first fight too. I also read that after one of his fights at lightweight, when Duran knocked his opponent out, his opponent's wife went after him and She got a punch from Duran as well. Roberto denied it to be fair.

You should still look at some of those Pacquiao fights by the way, on first page. Barrera wasn't number 1 or 2 guy in a rematch, coming off a loss to Marquez.

Those numbers are getting pretty close now - and since most would agree that Duran's top wins are of higher quality - even if in the same category - We are getting dangerously close to conclusion that Duran's superior resume is not a myth at all ).