Past fighters have a disadvantage compared to guys starting in the 1980's, because with de & rehydration, instead of guys coming in right around the division limit, they might be near or sometimes over 10% heavier in the ring. So if you really want to know who is better if transported in a time machine, make them fight under a subset of rules midway between what they are accustomed to, or 3 fights, 1 under each version & a hybrid... You can refuse to let the old timers have modern training methods IF all you wanna know is who was better in an absolute sense, not who could be with the same advantages. But then you would also need to give more recent guys frequent fights under the samel often grueling conditions. Who would be the GOAT at what size if you corrected for in-ring weight? SRR used to eweigh in the mid 140's-imagine him at lightweight, 135 or even 130? What about Duran as a Bantamweight? Maybe you would pick someone from even further back? How about a great HW slimmed down & rehydrated to LHW? Or a top LHW like Charles, Foster or Spinks at a max of SMW? Hagler or Monzon coul easily have made WW, right? Go through all the greats, decide who would have the biggest advantage "fighting lighter" like guys have now done for decades, & If your life depended upon it, what are your top 5 or so guys to beat all comers, & maintain dominance, & at what divisions?
Let us get the ball rolling! Part of what makes it easier to dominate is if you go down to a less fiercely contested division. So how about peak Duran at Super Bantamweight? That would be around the 10% limit, anyone else might be more untouchable? Who at what size, why, your top 5 please!
Charles with a day before would get down to middleweight, maybe even lower. The guy was extremely athletic and could likely lose a load of water weight like a Hagler or like today's Charlo's & Jacob. If he gets down to 160 or lower, he decimates everyone. He'd literally beat just about everyone. Maybe a Greb could take him, but no-one else could. Jones likely has the best bet.
154 would be well over 10% & he was lean at LHW, that would be his limit to be effective. Was Jones good enough at MW? It would be hard to beat everyone in such a competitive division- as MW-I should specify that other historical figures *also* get to weight drain. Whether guys will tend to prefer lighter weights dropping yet lower, or say an old HW going down to LHW is a big question! Ali & Tyson could both easily have made CW-would they be as dominant as the smaller guys who took off weight if they fought at CW? Frazier & Louis could have both dieted & dehydrated & made LHW. But then each one would have to beat the other, & while Louis was the greater fighter, Frazier would have the stylistic advantage, can't pick either of these guys! To me it looks like Duran at 122 lbs./SBW for the win. I dunno if SRR would be too drained at 130. But I hope to have some top 5 lists here!
Bob Foster cane in as low as 172 in the 70s. In theory if he lost about 12lbs of water and could maintain it as a middleweight he’d be nigh to unbeatable unless another mythical creature like middleweight Qawi or something shows up.
The usual suspects have already been mentioned; Robinson, Charles, Ali, et al. Probably Armstrong, too.. Add other modern training to the mix, and it starts to look like the mismatch you see when you hook Thai stadium champions up with modern conditioning coaches and sic them on Western kickboxers.
Under kickboxing rules too, honestly. But add modern training, and it doesn't look better for the Westerner.
OK, but to advocate for my position...Why not Duran at 122? He would be dropping about the maximum he could have lost & still be nearly as effective with rehydration, + the SBW division should be somewhat less competitive than MW! Foster still might be outboxed-who is gonna outbox or overpower Duran? Or a similar situation presents itself with Robinson at 130. Edit: that may be too much for Sugar to do effectively, let us say 135. Wich leads me to a separate question: with perhaps the stylistic advantage, if They fought at an in ring weight of up to WW/147, could we favor Duran over SRR? Likely not. Back to advocating for Duran at 122 as the GOAT! Armstrong might be his stiffest competition there. Him alone might unseat Duran as the greatest in that category-so maybe it could be a young Armstrong dehyrating to Super Flyweight at 115? Because his swarming style would likely overwhelm other top boxers who de/rehydrated to that level, such as Willie Pep. Eh it is likely that a BANTAMWEIGHT would earn top honors here! Because they could likely drop to minimum/straw weight, which I believe is less competitive just because there are less guys that size? And I know almost nothing about him, but Eder Jofre is apparently the wide consensus GOAT there. Add in how important a few pounds is at this weight, if it is not too big of a percentage drop, why not him?
Many have a chance, non are very likely. But I am saying that another great LHW may become a MW & do it. Therefor a Charles or Spinks or Jones... So I think that we gotta pick someone who was the best combination of very dominant in their division. Could stretch without sacrificing strength to a lower division-that historically is not as strong. Thus Duran, or I came up with Elder Jofre-because if in 80 or so fights at 126 he only lost 2 close decisions when a little past his prime to the same fighter, + there is unusual consensus that he is the best Bantamweight ever... And the minimum weight division is not as relatively formidable.... How is anyone gonna beat him when he sheds ~ 10% of his body weight to fight there?
Freddie steele, at the beginning of his career he was down at low as 138, it makes me shutter to think of that monster left hook landing on a lw or even a sfw.
