Sounds like Tiger Flowers was a heck of a fighter. 136 wins, 15 losses. He was KO'd a lot, though. Had to have been extremely difficult for black fighters to have won by decision back then, which makes the record all the more incredible. Made an incredible amount of money. 1897-1927 as best can be determined, which explains the lack of footage. For boxing, it sounds like he was kind of a Jackie Robinson.
Are you perhaps talking about the battle for the 2nd place spot? Marvin is #1 or #2, depending on where you place him relative to Pernell. They are the best two.
All three are great fighters. For pure skill id pick Sweet Pea. For toe to toe action id find it hard to go past Pacman, although that Hearns fight was one of the hardest battles a man could wish to see. A pity that Hearns gassed too early to be the first to stop maybe hagglar:think ,,,,but all three have totally different and contrasting styles. Hearns could switch so smoothly that nobody would even notice at first. So for pure boxing ability...ima stick with sweet pea:hey
Pac has one of the sweetest straight left of all time. Far more superior than any left that both Whitaker or Hagler can throw. However, if we are talking about southpaws as a complete package, then I'd say Sweet Pea too.
Manny Pacquiao. He did not have Pernell's defense or timing, but he was the better fighter, which is the question.
Hagler for me. Pac only improved his slick boxing skills when his power somewhat faded on the higher weight category. But he is the definition of power. Sweet pea is like mc hammer. Very slick. But i would love him clown and frustrate the world's fastest man. Hagler is in the middle.
It is fun to look back on the list of southpaws throughout history. There are more successful closer to the present than the further back you go... In no order, the clear cut top 3: -Hagler -Pacquiao -Whitaker In no order, well, alphabetical as above, some notables who would be in the discussion for top 20 southpaws ever: -Ivan Calderon -Joe Calzaghe -Hector Camacho -Young Corbett III -Flash Elorde -Tiger Flowers -Khaosai Galaxy -Naseem Hamed -Marc Johnson -Sergio Martinez -Freddie Miller -Vicente Saldivar -Antonio Tarver -Pongsaklek Wonjongkam -Winky Wright