Jimmy young vs these 90s heavyweights

For the people who say that Young would go winless in the 90’s, do you seriously think he’d lose to Ray Mercer ? I mean nothing against Mercer but he lost to a 42 year old Holmes and Jesse Ferguson. He barely beat Bert cooper. Drew with Marion Wilson. Was losing in one sided fashion to Damiani before a single hale Marry punch saved him. Young Beat a 70’s Foreman, Ron Lyle and was arguably robbed against Ali and Norton ( albeit older versions. ) I don’t think Ray could catch Jimmy if Jimmy wore ankle weights into the ring

 

He might go 1-1 against Tua and Mercer. And maybe get a draw against Golota if Golota totally screws it up. Overall, he wouldn't match up well against these guys though.

He'd have more to work with against Briggs, Old Foreman, Morrison, McCall, Old Tucker, etc.

 

And two near shutouts of top 5 heavyweight Ron Lyle, a draw vs Shavers while learning his craft and a razor close somewhat controversial loss to Norton prior to the highly regarded Holmes - Norton showdown.

Young was crafty and could fight. He also loved fighting "punchers".

 

That’s fair . But I don’t see him losing to Ray Mercer

 

Golota never won a big fight in his entire career. Obviously Young is favored here

 

Who did Morrison beat?

Why would we believe Neumann's ranking is accurate. Plenty of rankings are wrong

 

We will simply have to agree to disagree on Young (and I think Lyle is horribly overrated here as well). I've spoken my piece here ad nauseam about him. I had no use for him in real time, thought he was a jabroni and would have rather had root canal sans anesthesia than watch him fight, and my opinion hasn't changed in 50 years.

It is what it is. I answered the question honestly and if people disagree, they disagree. It would be a boring world if we all agreed on everything.

 

Not picking him over Golota is disrespectful though given Golota lost literally every big fight.

Young had a much better career with actual quality wins. So obviously people will take offense.

 

I think its unfair to call his victory over Foreman a fluke. George always had problems with movers. But yeah Young is crazy overrated, great mover and spoiler but you would think hes the best pure boxer ever by some of the talk in Classic.

 

Golota is just a total headcase, he definitely is gonna find a way to lose especially against one the most annoying fighters to fight ever. Hes biting Young in the 8th after having to chase him around for 7 rounds.

 

No stress here.

 

Perhaps you are overrating the 90s. He isn't beating the elites but he can score a few wins against top contenders, especially from this list.

 

Point taken. And perhaps it’s just a blind spot for me about Young that I can’t get past and perhaps I should simply avoid Young threads.

And I’m not viewing this retroactively. I watched Jimmy Young in real time. And I detested him. Utterly detested him. Thought he was a journeyman at best, garbage at worst. That may be completely wrong headed and unfair. All I can say is all of us probably have our blind spots.

I just don’t understand the reverence with which he’s viewed here. To the point of people seriously thinking he could compete with Joe Louis.

 

Because despite his negative style is still has a few good wins historically and had good defense, counter punching ability when he used it and fast hands at his peak

 

That didn’t happen against Byrd.