Greatest Heavyweight Of All Time At Their Peak

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by White Tiger, Sep 24, 2010.


  1. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

    113,405
    48,807
    Mar 21, 2007
    Come on Bokaj...it's not your era of primary interest, but if we're not to use film OR contemporary opinion to get by, how do we understand what was happening? Scrying?

    And there's not question in my mind that the most mythologised fighter in history is also perhaps the most filmed, Muhammad Ali. Ali is constantly labelled the greatest fighter in history simply because he repeated exactly that often into the camera, loudly. Whilst winning! Which was the main thing, but still.
     
  2. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

    12,227
    1,255
    Feb 6, 2009
    all 3 drew the colour bar.when jeffries fought l'il arthur he was destroyed.
    all 3 were paper champs.
     
  3. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

    113,405
    48,807
    Mar 21, 2007

    Jeffries was more than a superstar. He was like a boxing god. I've been saying for some time now that he was even more highly thought of than Sullivan, if that is possible...most seem to disagree, but it seems some folks are coming around to that way of thinking now.
     
  4. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

    12,227
    1,255
    Feb 6, 2009
    :lol:
     
  5. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

    113,405
    48,807
    Mar 21, 2007
    Jeffries drew the colour bar? What about the black guys he fought?
     
  6. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

    12,227
    1,255
    Feb 6, 2009
    when he was chumpion
     
  7. bodhi

    bodhi Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    19,229
    257
    Oct 22, 2009
    So, they drew the colour bar, and? That was their time, they were expected to do that. Faulting them for acting like the majority people of their time is like faulting today´s population for liking pop music.

    Paper champs, no. Surely not. What they did wasn´t worse than what others like for example Holmes did who avoided unification and never gave rematches.

    And yeah, of course Jeffries was at his very best against Johnson.

    Your posts eek bias. Go away.
     
  8. Bokaj

    Bokaj Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    28,272
    13,302
    Jan 4, 2008
    Well, others had far more comfortable wins against better opposition at their peak. That makes a better case for them, no?

    Something called "critique of sources" is the very spine of all modern historical research. If sources don't agree with other, more reliable data they get downgraded accordingly. But, hell, don't let me keep you from getting your knowledge of history from Ivanhoe and the brothers Grimm.:good

    Let me give you an example: A Kraut (a contemprorary source) tells me that West Germany's national team in 1990 really was only "Germany". Now, I could take said Kraut's word for it, or I could go for FIFA who labelled them as West Germany. Wanna hazard a guess of what I chose?:D
     
  9. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

    113,405
    48,807
    Mar 21, 2007
    Which black fighter do you think deserved the title shot?
     
  10. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

    12,227
    1,255
    Feb 6, 2009
    holmes would have beaten those 3 on the same night
     
  11. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

    113,405
    48,807
    Mar 21, 2007
    Although interestingly, inspite of the colour line you keep trumpeting about, Holmes likely was guilty of ducking more of the top men of his era than Jeffries.
     
  12. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

    12,227
    1,255
    Feb 6, 2009
    which white ones did ??
     
  13. turpinr

    turpinr Boxing Junkie Full Member

    12,227
    1,255
    Feb 6, 2009
    you're joking
     
  14. Bokaj

    Bokaj Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

    28,272
    13,302
    Jan 4, 2008
    I'm not saying we should disregard it completely. Absolutely not. Just that we should let the legends overshadow other, often harder, facts.

    Yeah, and if we only rated Ali on what his most ardent "disciples" said about him, we would be in bad shape.
     
  15. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

    113,405
    48,807
    Mar 21, 2007

    ...right. OK, i think i'm getting the idea here.