Ranking greats with inauspicious starts

I see. :good

 

Bonecrusher Smith deserves a mention...

 

lee Selby lost pretty early in his career, he's not a great by any means just yet though.

Steve robinson was a journeyman before winning the title and defending it several times, though don't know his precise early record.

 

Billy Conn is a great. He was 9-6 in his first 15 fights after having no amateur career. After that he fought a who's who of great fighters from welterweight to heavyweight with his best weight class at 175. I often wondered how good Conn could have been had he a distinguished amateur pedigree. He has a very underrated middleweight career.

 

While '4 weight world champions' are going to get a serious black eye on Oct 3rd if Broner becomes one, at the moment that accomplishment still holds water, thus, I would say Nonito Donaire warrants a mention here. Lost his 2nd fight- a 5 rounder of all things- to a 2-1 fighter Rosendo Sanchez.

 

Harry Greb lost his 4th fight to a 1-2 fighter, and drew his 5th. He won his first 3 but none of those guys had a win between them, if that starts as an inauspicious start.

Dick Tiger lost his 4th to a debutant too.

 

Khaosai Galaxy lost his 7th bout to Sak Galaxy,who was 1-2

Wonjongkam was 9-2 after a couple of defeats to Jerry Pahayahay

 

A lot of these guys were teenagers. Don't underestimate the difficulty of being 17 and fighting grown men.

It's an uphill battle.

 

1.Armstrong
2.Pacquiao
3.Márquez (JM)
4.Elorde
5.Hopkins
6.Arguello
7.Márquez (R)
8.Vázquez Sr.
9.Nelson
10.Weaver

Hopkins I rate lower than most people because he started at light heavyweight then cut down to middleweight to dominate much smaller men for a decade. His main rivals at the time Jones and Toney did the opposite, fighting all the way up to heavyweight. Then in the latter half of his career where all the big wins come from he's obviously taking PEDs to extend his career; so maybe they ought to come with an asterisk even though he's finally fighting in his natural weight class.

Arguello had such huge reach and height advantages he should have been fighting at middleweight. It would be a shock if he couldn't beat those tiny men he was bludgeoning from across the ring. What a great weight climber, going from featherweight all the way to light welterweight where he still had a three or four inch advantage.

 

no near a great but 2 come round from a record of 2 6 1 and become ibo welterwelt world champ. hats off 2 Tsiko Mulovhedzi

 

* Pipino Cuevas (Was 1-2 to start, and was 7-5 at one point. Went on to become WBA welterweight champion and made 11 defenses).

* Victor Burgos may not be a great, but he would win a title at light flyweight and draw with then highly-regarded Rosendo Alvarez in a unification fight after starting his career with 4 losses (2 by first round KO) and going 8-7 in his first 15.

 

Carlos Monzon was 21-3-5 at one point.