Please Participate--All-Time Welterweight Survey (POLL CLOSED!! )

I have Lewis higher just because I like him more even though Britton should be higher. I just don't want Lewis or Walcott (though I feel he deserves his placing) to miss out like Holman which was a crime.

 

1) Ray Robinson.
2) Ray Leonard.
3) Henry Armstrong.
4) Mickey Walker.
5) Emile Griffith.
6) Jose Napoles.
7) Kid Gavilan.
8) Tommy Hearns.
9) Tommy Ryan.
10) Felix Trinidad

 

held off because I didn't just want to lock the two Rays in at 1 and 2 because that would be unfair on everyone else. So I watched everyone I could, re-read up on some and checked out records...

1. Robinson
2. Armstrong
3. Griffith
4. Napoles
5. Leonard
6. Ross
7. Gavilan
8. McLarnin
9. Walcott
10. Britton

Really can't believe I missed out Basillio, Ryan, Hearns, Duran, Rodriguez, Walker, Lewis and Young Corbett III

 

Yeah i hear you loud and clear, and he did just slip my mind to be honest. But i'll just keep my list because it seems since your post about Britton, everyone's got him in there now! Good work my man. I always felt he was the greater welter than Lewis for sure, when considering the body of work he did there, and that rivalry is one of the greatest ever pound for pound, sort of seals it. I don't have Hearns in either though i think, i've just realised i have no ****ing Barney Ross either, but like i say, i'll just keep it, the greats i have are certainly worthy. It's a rammed division historically.

 

1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Henry Armstrong
3. Barbados Joe Walcott
4. Barney Ross
5. Jimmy McLarnin
6. Kid Gavilan
7. Emile Griffith
8. Sugar Ray Leonard
9. Jose Napoles
10. Mickey Walker

 

My list will distort the general picture thus:

1. Ray Robinson
2. Joe Walcott
3. Tommy Ryan
4. Ray Leonard
5. Mickey Walker
6. Henry Armstrong
7. Thomas Hearns
8. Barney Ross
9. Emille Griffith
10. Jose Napoles
11. Mysterious Billy Smith
12. Ted Kid Lewis
13. Kid Gavilan
14. Young Peter Jackson
15. Fritzie Zivic

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Gavilan at #13 and Rodriguez outside of the top 15? Sorry, no can do.

 

You don't have to.

Like with any other odball list you should just look at it and see if there is some hidden gem you hadn't thought about.

 

I thought about most of them, though there's not much argument for a guy like Billy Smith who didn't even win half his fights. I'm pretty confident Gavilan and Rodriguez were hands down the better fighters.

 

It's crazy how Classic shows even less discipline than the General Forum when it comes to adhering to poll rules and issuing a strict list at the designated enumeration without extensions, ties, and hemming and hawing about the hows and the whys.

 

What does it matter if someone lists 35 names? You take the top 10 from that list and be done with it. The bitching about the honorable mentions is a lot lamer than the honorable mentions themselves.

 

OK.

Please tell me you don't really think that Billy Smith lost half his professional fights.

If you had asked a group of sporting writers around 1930 to name the greatest welterweights of all time the names that would come up are Walcott, Ryan and Smith. They were the fab three of their era. While most of the group would have named Ryan or Walcott as the GOAT a few would have nominated Smith.

This was one of the deepest welterweight eras of all time if not the deepest. You had three pound for pound greats going at it. Even some of the next teir of fighters of that era like Tommy West could have been champions in other era's.

Does this help you to understand my thinking?

 

Not neccessarily, but his losses and draws combined far outweigh his wins, according to his official record anyway. What more can you tell me about him aside from the fact that he was considered one of the top 3 of his era? If a fighter with a 30-22-28 record is considered in the top 3 of the era, it doesn't really do your claim of that era being one of the strongest any favors. I know he had quite a few fights against the likes of Walcott and Ryan (only once gaining an official victory over Walcott), and beat men such as Kid Lavigne (due to very odd circumstances I'm sure you'll agree) and Young Peter Jackson. I don't see why he'd rate fringe top 10 all time though.

And I really don't get how Rodriguez can be left off of a top 10 much less a top 15 all time WW's list. That tells me maybe you left someone off rather than myself. Perhaps you've not done too much research on him, I don't know, but that's the only conclusion I could come to for someone having left him off the list entirely.

 

There are certainly threads where honorable mentions seem appropriate, but one such as this - where the ultimate goal is a mass tabulation in which honorable mentions will be irrelevant - doesn't seem to fit the bill.