Your Top 15 middleweights of all time

1. Greb
2. Monzon
3. Burley
4. Ketchel
5. Robinson
6. Tiger
7. Hagler
8. Hopkins
9. Walker
10. Flowers
11. LaMotta
12. Fullmer
13. Zale
14. Valdez
15. Benvenuti

 

In chronological order. Sorry, couldn't keep it at 15:

Nonpareil Jack Dempsey
Bob Fitzsimmons
Kid McCoy
Tommy Ryan
Stanley Ketchell
Mike O'Dowd
Harry Greb
Mike Gibbons
Tiger Flowers
Mickey Walker
Freddie Steele
Eddie Booker
Lloyd Marshall
Holman Williams
Charley Burley
Jake LaMotta
Ray Robinson
Dick Tiger
Carlos Monzon
Marvin Hagler
Bernard Hopkins

 

Now that´s an interesting list. I know next to nothing about the highlighted guys. Care to talk a bit about them and why you rank them about guys like Frank Klaus, George Chip and Les Darcy?
What about Rocky Graziano, Joey Giardello, Nino Benvenuti and Emile Griffith? Imo they deserve to be named with the guys you mentioned.

 

I thought to name guys like Giardello, Zale, Cerdan, etc, but I held out, only including the utmost qualified fighters. If you take career accomplishments into account I guess you'd have to include Jones Jr. as well.

Darcy is a guy who could've been named even despite his early demise. Forgot about him.

As for Steele and O'Dowd.

O'Dowd fought in the same era as Greb, and was the only man to ever beat him in his prime that Greb never got a rematch with. Today though, he seems to be overshadowed by Greb and some of the other notable Middles of his day like Gibbons. He was a very consistent performer who matched the best men of his day. Among his vast list of victims were Jack Britton, Ted Kid Lewis, Mike Gibbons, Al McCoy, Soldier Bartfield, Jeff Smith, Young Erne, Jack McCarron, Augie Ratner, Steve Latzo, Italian Joe Gans, KO Willie Loughlin, Jackie Clark, Silent Martin, etc. Along with the aforementioned Greb.

Steele is one of my personal favorites from what seems to be a forgotten era in MW history, which is a shame because it was also one of the strongest. He was one of the guys who, on film, looked to really close the gap between the old and new guards as far as styles went. He was an excellent boxer-puncher, one of the very best in the division's history. A brilliant boxing brain combined with un-paralleled athletic prowess. He could box with the best and punch with tbe best. A true power-boxer if you will, with graceful movement. Great timing, accuracy, and punch placement combined with murderous power. Of the top MW's of his day (guys like Apostoli, Brouillard, Overlin, Kreiger, Thil, Hostak, Gorilla Jones, etc.) he was the most consistent and dazzling, which is why he's my pick as the stand-out among them, even if he missed out on fighting a few.

 

Raul Raton Macias

 

Hey! I explained that one.:yep

 

It's pretty scary that guys like Giardello, Billy Papke, Rodrigo Valdes, Emile Griffith, Kid McCoy, Lou Brouillaird, Marcel Thil, Fred Apolisti, et al, don't make the list while being excellent, excellent fighters in their own right.

Seriously, how deep is this division!?

 

Thanks. Sounds interesting. I heard of Steele and most of the other guys you mentioned in his passage but don´t know much about them. Sounds as if I need to do some work here. As I need about O´Dowd.

It seems you factor in the whole career of a fighter when renking them here? Am I right? If so: why?

You could add even a few more. Mw is a very deep division. Up there with Lightweight and Welterweight. But there is an easy explanation for that. Most men on earth range from lightweight to middleweight in size. So these division will produce the most fighters and so also the most good fighters. I think the average size of men moved up a bit over the last 30 years so it´s now more from welterweight to lightheavyweight limit - also we don´t see much of it in boxing yet.

 

randy turpin,dave sands and les darcy would beat a few of those lads.i've seen worse lists though and i like your chronological order.

 

Freddie Steele is an excellant pick and I know Pea rates him highly. Very impressive on film.

 

turpin would have done him:good

 

nah i dont see it, Turpin was a good fighter I just dont think he is up there with the Steele's, McCoys and Monzons of teh Middleweight world

 

turpin would have banged out mccoy and steele,monzons another matter