Your 15 favourite fighters!

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Kamikaze, May 1, 2021.



  1. PhillyPhan69

    PhillyPhan69 Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    My non-Philly 15
    Azumah Nelson
    Vicente Saldivar
    Jose Napoles
    Chris Eubank
    Ricky Hatton
    Jeff Fenech
    Rocky Lockridge
    Eusebio Pedroza
    Tony The Tiger Lopez
    Samart Payakaroon
    Yoko Gushiken
    Betulio Gonzalez
    Yaqui Lopez
    Alexis Arguello
    Jung Koo Chang
     
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  2. Guru88

    Guru88 Active Member Full Member

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    Sonny Liston is my favourite fighter ever, then in no particular order
    Roberto Duran
    Jack Dempsey
    Roy Jones
    Naseem Hamed
    Corrie Sanders
    Nigel Benn
    Mike Tyson
    Ray Robinson
    Stanley Ketchel
    Tyson Fury
    Henry Armstrong
     
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  3. AwardedSteak863

    AwardedSteak863 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    In no particular order.

    Duran
    McCallum
    Charles
    Toney
    Bhop
    L. Spinks
    M. Spinks
    Qawi
    D. Tiger
    Tyson
    Torres
    Arguello
    Liston
    H. Johnson
    Uysk
     
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  4. Stiches Yarn

    Stiches Yarn Active Member Full Member

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    It’s great to see Liston and Morrison finally getting the love they deserve. It’s long overdue.
     
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  5. JackSilver

    JackSilver Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Really? I always thought Liston if anything tended to be overrated a lot here.
     
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  6. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    Changes all the time...it should I guess.

    01 - Charley Burley. Burley was the first "mysterious" fighter I ever got into and he is the guy who got me into deep dives, trying to learn about fighters as historical figures and share that information. He's still probably the definitive fighter for me in terms of his "thinking" style, of being smart. He was also enormously committed to a style and I love and respect that. He did it right rather than changed up for cash.

    02 - Roman Gonzalez. He's kind of ended up on the wrong side of history a bit and it seemed to be ending with a whimper rather than a bang but for a while there he was a monster - now he is again. Eight punch combos that were pure liquid, a puncher below 115, rather terrifying. Impossible to run from and almost impossible to out-fight. As complete a fighter as has practised in my lifetime.

    03 - Juan Manuel Marquez. This is a guy who, like Burley, found the "right" way to do things, ducked by Morales and Barrera when all that was going on, toiled in obscurity, then landed the dance partner everyone wanted for making money and got routinely mauled on the scorecards in matching him. I thought he won II and III. But Marquez was too furious to quit and too furious to keep to the style he'd nurtured so he changed up to become more popular and eventually to get that win over Manny, which was as astonishing a KO as I've ever seen. Survived mis-management, survived Pacquiao, it's one of the great arcs of our sport and his first victory of Juan Diaz remains one of my very favourite fights.

    04 - Midget Wolgast. Just genius, different, a fighter that found another path. There's something fascinating about dead-end technical fighters, guys who due to physical and mental make-up mined a dead end in boxing technique that was never revived. Roy Jones, Jimmy Wilde, Midget, these guys fought in a style that was unrepeatable and where guys who tried got Ko'd. Also absolutely fearless and would fight anyone, all the way up through the weights.

    05 - Chucho Castillo. "He would fight a bull with a fork."

    06 - Joe Louis. Nobody did it better probably from a technical punching perspective. It's the power, but the way he generates it never fails to impress me. Doesn't matter how many times you see it.

    07 - Tyson Fury. Marmite where this guy is concerned, but I love him, love the background story, love the lunatic moments in the ring, love that his preposterous stylings are finding their way to the top of the division. Now on the cusp of immortality.

    08 - Naoya Inoue. Been obsessed with this guy since his second fight when he was an emaciated light-fly.

    09 - Oleksander Usyk. I followed Usyk from the ams and it's been an absolute delight to watch his special kind of boxing florurish all the way up to heavyweight. I predicted he'd be the guy to beat AJ, that's obviously been done already, but I still think there's an opportunity for the guy to make an enormous splash. It helps that he's really funny.

    10 - Marvin Hagler. Unreal that he be dead.

    11 - Holman Williams. Another one who would fight anybody, another kind of mysterious guy, another one who put his style through some changes, in this case due to bad hands. Crazy resume, brilliant general.

    12 - Joe Gans. Greatest champ of all time?

    13 - Richard Tiger. He was unbrawlable, don't you know.

    14 - Ivan Calderon. I know how it sounds, but his is one of the few career sets I own. He was just a Rolls Royce of a fighter, brilliant little operator, so hard to hit, so hard to hurt. Then he just went wildly off a cliff and that's when I knew I loved him because it just broke my heart.

    15 - Sonny Liston. Brilliant technically, a true destroyer, a deeply troubled, flawed character.
     
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  7. Clinton

    Clinton Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    My 1st 5 are written in stone. The next change places amongst them. The final 5 are interchangeable
    1 Manos de Piedra
    2 Marvelous (still in mourning)
    3 The Greatest
    4 Smoking Joe
    5 Chava

    6 Larry Holmes
    7 Mike Spinks
    8 Dwight Muhammad Qawi
    9 Evander
    10 The Celtic Warrior

    11 The Pocket Rocket
    12 Little Red and the Professor
    13 Saad and Conteh
    14 Vincente Saldivar and Jack Johnson
    15 The whole late 70s early 80s lightheavyweight division
    Ok I cheated so sue me
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2021
  8. Jester

    Jester Active Member Full Member

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    No particular order, and I'd probably change it around a bit on any given day.

    1. Thomas Hearns
    2. Dick Tiger
    3. Joe Brown
    4. Marco Antonio Barrera
    5. Sandy Saddler
    6. Carl Froch
    7. Mikkel Kessler
    8. Sonny Liston
    9. Archie Moore
    10. Alexis Arguello
    11. Muhammad Ali
    12. Kid Gavilan
    13. Roberto Duran
    14. Vuyani Bungu
    15. Emile Griffith

    I'll throw in an honorable mention to Joe Frazier as well.
     
  9. AwardedSteak863

    AwardedSteak863 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Absolutely love seeing Ivan Calderon on someone's list. He was a phenomenal fighter that is hall of fame worthy for sure. Unfortunately, he fought in a weightclass that is often times overlooked but the guy was the ultimate pro's pro.
     
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  10. Flo_Raiden

    Flo_Raiden Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    No order:

    Harold Johnson
    Kid Gavilan
    Ezzard Charles
    Alexis Arguello
    Salvador Sanchez
    Pernell Whitaker
    Roberto Duran
    Joe Louis
    Yuri Arbachakov
    Orlando Canizales
    Ricardo Lopez
    Jose Napoles
    Juan Manuel Marquez
    Manny Pacquiao
     
  11. Boxing2019

    Boxing2019 If you want peace, prepare war. Full Member

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    Robinson
    Ali
    Lewis
    Tyson
    Dempsey
    Foreman
    Holyfield
    Duran
    Hagler
    Leonard
    Roy Jones
    Golovkin
    Usyk
    Hopkins
    Holmes
    W. Klitschko
    Monzon
     
  12. Flash24

    Flash24 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Showing some favoritism to Philly fighters lol.
     
  13. Flash24

    Flash24 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    1#R.Leonard
    #2 Ali
    #3 Arguello
    #4Duran
    #5 Hearns
    #6 Hagler
    #7 Holmes
    #8 Benitez
    #9 Pryor
    #10 Holyfield
    #11J.Louis
    #12 R.Robinson
    #13 E.Pedroza
    #14 J.Mugabi
    #15 J.Jackson.
     
  14. swagdelfadeel

    swagdelfadeel Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Very surprised to see no Patterson or Machen. Excellent list nonetheless.
     
  15. GoldenHulk

    GoldenHulk Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Qawi, Lewis , Vtali, Cooney, Holmes, Hopkins, Duran, Mayorga, Jimmy Thunder, Corrie Sanders, Tua, Ibeabuchi, Jeremy Williams, Gene Hatcher, Edwin Rosario