Greatest fighter Monzon fought?

That's what they said about Ray Leonard.

 

Rodrigo Valdez was the best fighter Monzon fought IMO. After Valdez, I'd say Emile Griffith.

 

I won 100 bucks in April of 1987 from a pool at work........ I was the ONLY mo-fo with balls and brains enough to see that Hagler had slowed and Leonard was still serious and fresh enough to outbox him over 12 rds....
:thumbsup

But, Ray Leonard was not the same spry and explosive fleet-footed boxer / puncher he was at 147 to 154 pounds when he topped Hagler at 158 pounds at age 30....... SRL was very well prepared and tuned for Hagler in Vegas, but at age 30 and at 158 pounds, Leonard was a step slower yet more stronger than ever before....... Still, SRL had more speed than Hagler did in 1987........
bbb

MR.BILL

 

The two greatest, p4p were Griffith and Napoles...if you wanna split hairs, in terms of absolute ability then Napoles...but there's shuge gap betyween Napoles and a lot of guys, aso for all practical purposes you have to list Griff, Valdez, Benvenuti, Briscoe could have been a champion the night he fought Monzon, that is if he had fought anybody else, but those are some pretty great fighters listed here.

 

Agree there but perhaps in a P4P sense Giffith is perhaps his best win by looking at it on paper just by the name.

Also the Napoles win is very underrated. Napoles and Monzon were vying for P4P numero uno spot at the time. Napoles was perhaps in his prime or just a step past his peak when he moved up. And Monzon dominated him. I dont think any Lineal Middleweight Champ dominated the current Lineal Welterweight champ in that way.

Griffith was a fully established Middleweight even holding the crown, hardly a smaller guy.

Not sure Griffith was a hell of a fighter and the second fight was close (although Monzon was recovering from being shot). Griffith felt he was robbed for what its worth.

Also something interesting Griffith said he said Monzon was the only ATG he fought and when i asked about Napoles he said he was good but not great like Monzon

 

That has nothing to do with anything.

 

Horse****....... It has everything to do with it.............. Leonard beat Hagler by a point or two and took the WBC crown in '87........ Okay, the one score of 118 to 111 was nonsense, but Leonard won......... Regardless if Hagler was at or over age 33 is not important, cuz Hagler was the solid and true defending 160 lb. champ........... But that doesn't make SRL a great middleweight........ Still, he was a great fighter.........

Now, Emile Griffith wasn't gonna beat Carlos Monzon at 160 pounds.... He gave it his best but failed in his attempts to beat Monzon....... Elementary my dear Watson........ Still, Griffith was a great 147 pounder who easily fit in at 154, but he had no title there at the time to really get involved with..... I cannot recall Griffith ever weighing the full 160 while he was a champion or top contender in the late 60s and early 70s.........

MR.BILLbbb:rasta:admin

 

Now, fact is too, after Griffith dropped that 15 round decision loss to Monzon for the title in 1973, the lid was closing slowly but surely on the career of Griffith....... Griffith was near age 35 but still ripped in tone, yet his skills and speed were slipping away...... By the middle 70s, Griffith was a win some / lose some fighter........ He lost all three fights he had in '77 to close his book........ Nuff said........

MR.BILL

 

I don't wanna hear or see any crying or whining about me being too harsh on Griff........ I already said he was a great......... But his tail-end part of his career was NOT so glorious........... After '73, Griff was normal............

MR.BILL

 

EG was the rare multi-divisional great who was truly great in multiple divisions.

 

And whatś about Hagler? His best wins were smaller guys too and he lost to the ww king of his time while Monzon won. Double standards.


On topic:
p4p:
Napoles
Griffith
Benvenuti

at mw:
Valdez
Griffith
Benvenuti

Benvenuti is a bit underated I think.

 

Nino IS underrated, sadly enough.