Is Beterbiev top 5 all time LHW with a win over Bivol?

By eye test and H2H, he will be. Might already be. He is the favorite going into the undisputed fight against a p4p champion despite being 39. You can't say that for many fighters in any weight class ever.

 

Browne was a good slickster. There aren't many slicksters 175 and above in general. That's why boxers like Dawson and Byrd stood out.

 

In terms of ability he may be the best LHW in history, there's no way of knowing. I think he's proven that he's better than his elite contemporaries: Kovalev, Stevenson, Ward, Gvozdyk and Bivol.

On the "resume" point, it's difficult to have a lot of top names when they retire to avoid you or chase blown-up middleweights for 5 or so years rather than chase you.

I remember "Hardlineboxingtalk" ranked the top American boxers ever and nearly all of them were guys from 100-120 years ago with 200-odd pro fights.

 

I'm not talking about h2h. I'm mainly talking about career and resume

 

Take Rosenbloom out and I agree with your list. Amazing group.

I was thinking this morning that Greb's swarming style would be nightmarish for AB.
Probably AB's power would be too much for Spinks, Loughghran and Tunney, Jones's chin is suspect. Moore, Foster, Greb, Charles, Langford are all good cand5to beat AB, but it sure would be a struggle for any of them. They will all have a plan....until they get hit.

 

I agree , Beterbiev looked very sharp last night .. he lives a clean lifestyle no partying no alcohol, actually he is quite religious guy .. so his physical age is at least 5 years younger, so he good for another few years I would say ..

 

Yardie was slick and gave Beterbiev some problems early on , but he wore him down and took him into deep waters and drowned him.. he would do the same to any other slick fighter too lol

I quite like his style , he don't do no BS acting he coming straight to hurt you when he decides too lol cold killer sh#t

 

He certainly looked it last night. Against Yarde he looked his age but not this time around.

 

If he beats Bivol conclusively and then retires he might well have RJJ beat at LHW.

 

Yes.
With the victory against Bivol - yes!
I don't see why Artur Beterbiev wouldn't be ahead of Michael Spinks, Gene Tunney (only LHW career counts), or Sam Langford in that case.
If it's a knockout win and King Arthur retires undefeated at 21-0-0 (21 KOs) - yes.

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If you’re debating being in the top 5 I don’t think either says much - What’s it next to a win over say Harold Johnson?

 

A better question to me would be how would be do against the HWs of history?

 

He’s no joke h2h. Too bad he missed Kovalev and Stevenson.

I’d like to see him fight Bivol and Usyk, then retire.

A lot of these guys shouldn’t even be in the ring with him.

 

You can only be judged next to your peers of the time.

 

Bivol clowns him and wins a solid UD. Beterbiev is a brute but Bivop is too good. Unless they allow AB to hit in the back of Bivol’s head, it will not be a close fight. He’s too slow footed and Bivol is going to make him move those feet. He’s dangerous but will look silly against Bivol. We will see.