My top 10 P4P Fighters

Criteria based on:

- 40% ability/skill
- 20% Physical attributes/toughness
- 20% Wins/competative losses over elite competition
- 10% multi-weight capabilities/success
- 10% adaptability/stylistic range


1. Ray Robinson
2. Muhammed Ali
3. Pernell Whitaker
4. Roy Jones Jr
5. Ray Leonard
6. Marvin Hagler
7. Salvador Sanchez
8. Manny Pacquiao
9. Thomas Hearns
10. Floyd Mayweather Jr

Okay i highlighted the criteria hoping that you would read it, but instead some of you guys are blatantly looking at my list with your criteria?? Some of you are picking out only 10% of the criteria(multi-weight success) to question some of the placings, ignoring the other 90%??

My criteria is based on what i see with my own two eyes. And lets be straight, the limited(in comparsion to modern fighters) footage of your beloved relics, most of them look like dog****, but we'll put that down to poor quality film. And i don't mean that in a sarcastic way...i didn't see it then with my own two eyes and theres not much to see now with my own two eyes. If you go by reports you're selectively believing the words of the most biassed fans, of the most corrupt sport. So theres no argument here, thats for a different thread. And i believe resumes and domination at a certain weight can be misleading, when discussing who would knock the **** out of who P4P. This is my reasoning for my criteria, so please pick that apart instead.

1) Ray Robinson - He had incredible power, speed, technical abilities and is one of the few classic fighters that manages to look impressive on "poor quality film that doesnt do them justice" he had range which he used to great effect and was only ever stopped once in 200+ fights, which scores him highly in ability/skill and physical attributes/toughness. In the original weight classes, which were much harder to jump from than today's, not only was he successful, but he dominated in them. Scoring him highly in multi-weight capabilities/success and adaptability/stylistic range. I believe he was ahead of his time, and was the original blueprint for many successful fighters since.

2) Muhammed Ali. Its cool to underrate him, because he was so popular in the mainstream. Although he is highly rated, i believe he is the greatest. Physically, he was tall and rangey, incredibly quick for his size and incredibly tough. Technically, for a guy his size he was brilliant, he was a master of mind games, he was fearless, and combine this with a mixture of an ATG chin and massive heart. For these reasons he scores massively in ability/skill, physical attributes/toughness. Fighting in perhaps the most stacked HW decade/decades, he dominated. He tamed monsters, even beyond his prime when his physical attributes were declining, he was taming them still. His resume is basically a who's who ATG/HOFer-wise victory list spanning two decades. Wins over elite competition and stylistic range/adaptability, he scores massively, again.

3) Pernell Whitaker. Ability/skill, physical attributes, stylistic range, I believe he is the opitome of all of those. Nobody in my mind has a snowball's chance of looking a class above this man, no style was an exception. In the wins/competative losses criteria, i added this for that reason, as is proven in his fights against elite competition. I hate excuses, but for this guy you can say he was never truely beaten, in the raw sense of the word beaten, against elite opposition.

4) Roy Jones Jr is one of a kind, like it or not. MW to HW just seems unnatural to me. Physically exceptional, his reflexes, his speed for his size was immense, his power for his size was immense. I believe him to be the same kind of beast as Robinson and Whitaker, in that nobody that isn't naturally bigger and imposing, can be on the level of this rare breed of athlete.

5) Ray Leonard. Another phenomenally, physically gifted athlete, combined with ATG abilty/skill. And this is backed up by the fact that, like it or not(and i know most of you don't) there are three names on his resume, that beat the top 3 names on anyone else resume by a mile. Excuses, excuses, hate and more excuses is all you can have against this. Duran, your unstoppable pressuring immortal was made to quit in a fashion never seen before. Hearns, an absolute frankenstein's monster at WW, KOed. Hagler, a naturally large, unstoppable, immovable object outboxed at the weight class in which, in my opinion, he is the uncontended owner of. He scores highly for me in ability/skill, physical att/toughness, adaptability/stylistic range, wins over elite opposition, for dealing with these 3 ATG beasts of different natures.

6) Marvin Hagler. Another freak in my eyes, but of a different breed. If i placed more weight upon Physical attributes/toughness, i'd of put him higher, but his ability/skill gets him this high alone. His consistency in those criteria puts him high. He could box from any range and looked ruthlessly calculating doing it, watching him makes me think of a Marciano/Tyson lovechild, as a MW version he had the combined postive aspects of these two, fused together to compliment each other style-wise. He's just the John McClain of real life, a double hard *******. H2H there is not one fighter i wouldnt favour him over at 160lbs, thats including Robinson and Jones Jr.

7) Salvador Sanchez. Now i used to considered him overrated because of the fact he died, thats what i assumed before watching his fights. But he was the same type of beast as Hagler, only at 126lbs. And in my eyes, that type of physical specimen is just too much for anyone at the lower weights, who have physical limitations in power, that arent enough to trouble a guy this tough. In my opinion, he probably had no fear of being knocked out, which allowed him to apply constant pressure, and he was incredibly accurate, which is obviously a terrifying combination. It was another to overwhelm another 126lb king in Gomez. And then when you consider that its very likely he wasn't even in his prime...

8) Manny Pacquiao. Here is the prime example of my opinion differing to alot of yours. Notice the trend in my list of freakishly gifted athletes. Boxing as an art, the skill sets, the obscure tidbits only experience will develop is what it is and will expose many physically superior fighters. But boxing is still fighting, and the primal instincts and physical capabilities of those rare breeds, always hold an edge from atleast one angle. This applies to Pacquiao perhaps more so than anyone else, as physical advantages have only been gained throughout 7 weight divisions. Under guidance across this time, if not technically better, he has become more selective with his shots. His blindingly fast, powerful, flyweight shots. Right now he suffers from Leonard syndrome, being a legend killer, but when the dust settles he'll be given the credit. He was killing legends as a raw, wild beast. Recently he has become more selective, more calculating, whilst his raw attributes have only improved.

9) Thomas Hearns. He scores highly in multi-weight success, although physically you could say he would be expected to, nevertheless his achievements are phenominal. Like Whitaker, his competative prime losses were against the very best of elite opposition, and they were competative. Again, like all above he was a rare physical specimen. And he did more so than anyone, in my opinion, look like a destructive force was nature. His physique is the prototype to hit and not be hit, and he hit incredibly hard. I dont tbelieve boxers(being fighters obviously) are generally scared of opponents, however like Tyson, i believe Hearns uniquelly benefitted from this. His range and height was perfect for boxing from the outside, and his demeanor and imposing figure discouraged fighters from fully committing to approaching him. This is evident in many of his fighters, even against ATG opposition which he was able to blast away. Terror is a unique and incredible tool to have in your arsenal, and it gelled so well with his tremendous power, style and physique, making for a formidable opponent against anyone, at multiple weights.

10) Floyd Mayweather. I agree that many fighters, considering my criteria could favour. For this spot i considered Louis, Canzoneri and Pryor also. I'll tell you now there is not a single boxer that comes close to my dislike for a fighter, than Mayweather. But his skill/ability, physical attributes and adaptability/stylistic range are tremendous. He's a money hungry *******, but is his record really that bad? Elite pressure fighters? Hatton, Castillo. Dangerous punchers/athletic freaks? Corrales, De La Hoya, Judah. Hard as a coffin nail? Gatti. They dont make for the very best resume in comparison to some. But to beat them all convincingly, relatively untroubled, consistently technically sound and controlled, to a controlled yet consistent pace. And in some cases dominate and finish them relatively easy. He does leave alot to be desired, but his smooth workrate and efficiency is hard to pick faults with, theres very little mistake. He also possesses a unique talent, i feel. You are forced to make mistakes against him for the chance to land successfully on him. Which means you're likely to have to eat fast, accurate, formidable counter punches and have a brilliant, tight gaurd to contend with. Because i feel his reflexes, speed and conditioning make trying to outbox him not such a good choice.

I know many of you would rather look to discredit my opinions rather than look at them objectively. But please dont feel challenged by my list. Im just a guy on the internet, like all of you. With a backseat driver's perspective and opinion, like all of you.

 

Just posted my reasoning up above, its a long read though. Yeah i grew up witnessing half these guys careers, but for the fighters before my time, ive been looking up every fighter i see praised on here. But the thing is, looking up for me, is watching film. I'd call it a different perspective rather than bias.