My All Time Top 10 List(for whatever that's worth)

great post and it certainly helps putting langford's record into the perspective. his race and the times certainly had a lot to do with things

 

wow, finally someone who has him rated even higher than i do

 

yup. he's the odd one out in that list and the one i have the least justification for keeping. however, given his talent and potential, i'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. i genuinely feel he'll be rated highly as years go on.

quick question about jones: let's say he had retired after ruiz or tarver? he'd be 49-1 (i believe), most talented 168 ever, long time dominating champ at 175, former 160 champion and the first middle since fitz to take a heavyweight belt. would it be so odd to have him in the top 10 then? there were rumblings at that time.

if that jones could be considered in the top 10, why not this one? ezzard charles lost a ton in his final 20-30 fights. is that held against him? what about ali's late losses? we tend to rate fighters on their prime, not when they fought past their best.

if jones had retired back then, would this be so odd?

 

you know i can't argue with any point and your argument is very well put. Fitz is difficult to leave off the list and there are one or two others that are more deserving than jones on resume, proven ability against opposition and success across weights that i was tempted to include. but for me there simply was no fighter in my generation that looked as brilliant as he did, even considering the limited opposition. i'm ranking him almost solely on his ability and skill set and considering he's the most naturally skilled boxer i've ever seen, he gets a spot. did he earn it? no. your argument cannot be disputed but i can't say i've seen many fighters as consistently spectacular as jones. he's my guilty pleasure and one i'm having a good time (futily) trying to justify

 

haha, i wanted to phrase that carefully. to be honest i had to look for weaknesses. BUT in comparison to his other talents his footwork might be considered less magnificient. it's splitting hairs and nothing much but if his durability, punching power, chin, generalship is a 10, footwork may be a 9.5.

 

thanks for the backup