Is it time to expand the list of all time greats to 15 per division?

It's time to contract it to 2.

All the best fighters are in front of us. Better athletes. Wider recruitment. Eastern Europeans and Africans will take over ever division. We might as well forget every fighter before 1990.

 

Lists are fun to look at and debate. They’re also a great academic exercise if one wishes to put in the time and research to construct a list properly.

But to me a true all time great doesn’t need to be assigned a number no matter how many greats come after him/her or even if the achievements of those later greats eclipse those of their predecessors. True greatness is capsuled in time and should always be seen as great within the parameters of that given moment in history.

just take a look at any number of greats in boxing, I.e Sullivan, Jeffries, Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano etc etc etc. those names will always be associated with “ greatness” weather they are ranked number 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 40 or 100.

 

The US is 4.2% of the world's population. Once the Slavs and Africans get fully engaged, and the SE Asian countries in the lighter weights, the US will be a minor player.

As far as the NFL and NBA eating up all the talent, your mention of Tyson is revealing. He was a horrible athlete who wouldn't have sniffed any modest level of achievement in amateur level football or basketball.

 

Same as almost all fighters. Ali was slow of foot, Holmes was unathletic, Frazier had no real strength, Holyfield was slow, etc... Fighters fight. They don't play boxing. I'm sure you know this.

Wait until China and India discover there is money to be made in boxing. Both countries are discovering powerlifting and excelling. Boxing can't be far behind. Then wait for Nigeria and the rest of West Africa.

 

I think that we have so many weight divisions in boxing…that if a fighter can’t make the top 10 of at least one of those divisions…then you are not really great…for example…if you don’t believe that Tommy Hearns was a top ten fighter in any other weight class …you can at least give him 154….you can at least give James Toney 168 and he’s at bottom of most people’s top 100

 

I have been saying so for years. It's been 184 years since the dawn of Queensbury rules. There are more than 10 greats.

 

The United States used to dominate amateur boxing , no more. The last American to win a gold medal was Andre Ward in 2004 and I believe you have to go back to Foreman in 68 for the last American heavyweight gold. Boxing is the hardest sport, and the overall citizenry of the U.S. has grown soft as marshmallows. Soft people do not fight..

 

There is being a great fighter and there is being a fight greater and that still means something in English, possibly.

 

The US program was severely weekend by all the major cities closing the public gyms in the inner cities. The talent pool dried up significantly and talented athletes went to football and basketball instead of boxing. The opposite happened in Eastern Europe. Counties like Ukraine are loaded with talent and more importantly, good trainers.

We will never see anything like the US teams of the 70's, 80's and 90's. Those Olympic teams were amazing and most the fighter's had one thing in common, they learned in city funded, public gyms.

 

I disagree with the public funded gyms being the cause , My little town of Morristown population at that time about 20,000 had 2 world champions , Frankie Randall and cruiserweight champ Ricky Parkey who Holyfield beat. This doesn't mention the fighters who came through locally, Bernard Taylor, John Tate, Clint Jackson and so many others. That old gym is still there but there's virtually no boxing. The reason is there's no one coming in to learn how to fight. Today's mommy's and daddies don't want their sons to know how to defend themselves. That there are women headlining boxing cards in the U.S. tells you all you need to know about the state of boxing in this country

 

I think if you are in the top 100, then you are an All Time Great. So, if you count the original 8 weight divisions, then top 15 being All Time Greats is fair. With overlap (example, a fighter being top 15 in MW and LHW), this would make approx. 100 boxers. If you count the current 17? weight classes, then 10 is fine. Due to the overlap, essentially, if you are in the top 100, then you are an All Time Great. Yes, this means that as time passes, some previous all time greats might drop out. But such is life. For example, as Usyk entered my top 100, Stribling exited.