Greater boxing brothers: Marquez (JMM / Rafael) or Klitschko (Wladimir / Vitali)

Just compare who they fought and how they fought. Actually, I rate the Canizales brothers ahead of the K2.

 

Hmm, this is an interesting question. Props @Flo_Raiden, you always seem to get me thinking!

In their own respective divisions, Wlad is clearly the best here. Everything he ever did is at heavyweight, and so his entire career being locked into a single division makes it a bit unfair to Juan Manuel, who's best wins are above and beyond his best weight (IMO FW). However let's not pretend like Wlad didn't put on as much as 30lbs. throughout his career. It just so happened that his weight class (heavyweight, obvs) encompassed all of it. Marquez's wins over Pac, yes; multiple, are undoubtedly the best achievements here. He was also much more skilled.

So Juan Manuel is clearly the best pound for pound, whereas Wlad is clearly the best in his division. What about the lesser counter parts? Well, I always go for the guy with the better résumé, and that's Rafa, but it feels weird saying he's greater than Vitali for some reason. I think I agree with the person who said Vitali's affect on his division/boxing was more prevalent and for longer, that said I'd say Rafa's wins over Vasquez and Too Sharp take the cake. Being a two weight world champion doesn't hurt either. I'd also say Rafa was more skilled, but not as tough or well conditioned.

An excellent point; thought provoking. If we're comparing these six fighters from a 'skill-for-skill' perspective, I think the Canizales brothers are without question the best pick. However for the proposed question, I'm going with Marquez brothers.

 

Klitschkos rate higher.

They ruled a decade and Wlad was within a whisker of getting the most HW defences ever. If he'd been a little more unscrupulous and had fought Arreola, Stiverne, Duhaupas etc instead of Tyson Fury and AJ, he'd have done it easily. Vitali is a legit H2H monster at the weight, even though his resume doesn't do him justice.

 

The Marquez brothers. Vitali's resume is shockingly thin and comprised of a who's who of mid/late 2000's mediocrity. Rafael's wins over Vazquez, Austin, and Johnson are better than wins over Peter, Sanders, Chisora, Williams, and the like. Juan Manuel arguably has multiple wins over an all-time great, including an emphatic win over him at welterweight at a time when Pacquiao hadn't decisively lost since the first Morales fight. Huge win. Then you throw in his featherweight and lightweight wins, the win over an aging, but still sharp Barrera, and the fact that his losses were usually very debatable (not stoppage losses like Wladimir), and I'm pretty comfortable in saying he's a greater fighter. Juan Manuel proved himself to be at least the equal of an elite all-timer over four fights and three weight divisions; Wladimir's best win is what? Chris Byrd? Povetkin? Chagaev? Haye?

 

Well, let's just go ahead and compare their Johnsons. Two wins against Mark Johnson VS a win over each Kirk and Kevin Johnson. Whose Johnsons are bigger and better? I think the ones that were too sharp were the best. Let's just look at it that way.

 

The greatest fighter of those four is Juan Manuel Marquez. Rafa may have one time been rated higher but overall career wise, JMM should clearly be ranked as he greater of the two.

With Wlad and Vitali it is a lot closer. I think Wlad will be seen as the greater because of the number of defenses he put in but he had durability issues. Vitali was cruder to watch but tougher.

Obviously we're comparing one set of brothers against the other rather than to each other but just taking them on their own this is the way I see it.

None of them imo crack the top 10 of their best weight class although Wlad is probably closest but that is obviously highly subjective (I have him around 15). Quality of opposition wise I don't think there's too much to shout about with the Klitschkos, the Marquez brothers both faced the tougher opposition.

I'll say the Marquez brothers.

 

The best brothers are Baer brothers!

 

JMM for me.