I’d imagine there’d be a pretty decent consensus over the top 2 but who else rounds off your top 5 and why?
Probably needs caveat of min. length of time at the weight or no. of defences. Otherwise you have Mayweather, Leonard, Canelo, De la Hoya, Duran all in the mix, even though their best work was done elsewhere. For guys whose best work came at 154, I'll go Hearns McCallum Norris Winky Julian Jackson It's obviously a very modern list as the division is relatively modern. I'm discounting guys like SRR, Cerdan, Graziano, Walker who probably weighed around 154 for their best performances as I am limiting my picks to those who officially fought at Jr Middle. And I have picked Hearns ahead of McCallum although Mike is more synonymous with the division. Duran may have been a bit past his best but that performance by Tommy was the single most brilliant performance I have ever seen, not having seen such high quality footage of Robinson. Add beating prime Benitez and Tommy's Jr Middle CV outshines even Mike's.
Yep, Hearns and McCallum were the two I expected to see at the top and I agree with the order you have them in. I’d have Norris and Winky in my list too. Jackson is battling it out with the likes of Benitez and a few others for a spot, I’d say. And I agree with your rationale of excluding guys who never fought in the weight class but fought around 154. Pretty much anyone before 1962 is discounted in my book. I’d still consider the likes of Oscar, Mayweather, Tito, etc though. If they did noteworthy work in the weight class, I think they should be considered.
Certainly Tito. I forgot about him. Beating Reid, Vargas and Mayorga might actually trump his best performances at welterweight where most would judge him. The other name I toyed with Was Nino Benvenuti. He made The Ring's top 100 fighters of al time and did a lot of his best stuff a 154. I only omitted him as I haven't actually seen it so would be taking a leap of faith.
The topic could be top 10 Argentinian Flyweights and you would somehow manage to sneak Emile Griffth in the thread. I respect the commitment.
Hearns McCallum Jackson Norris Trinidad. If Benvenutti is considered a JMW, he might replace one of them on the list.
Jackson > Benitez at 154 without question I’d think. Wilfred had a sterling performance to beat Duran but that’s about it. I guess he gets some credit for the manner in which he took apart Maurice Hope for the title, but Hope was fairly pedestrian. He got stopped by Davey Moore and Matthew Hilton at 154 and took a few more losses in and around that weight. Jackson has that KO of Terry Norris and Baek isn’t a bad win (I’d argue better than Hope) along with Drayton. The rest aren’t really notables. I think his lone loss at 154 to McCallum along with those wins put him above Wilfred by resume.
Not in any order Thomas Hearns Mike McCallum Terry Norris Julio Cesar Vasquez Julian Jackson Honourable mentions Winky Wright Wilfred Benitez Harry Simon John David Jackson Ayub Kalule Sandro Mazzinghi Nino Benvenuti Felix Trinidad
I have almost the same top five except I have Winky over Vasquez. Vasquez beat a young Winky before he really developed that high guard, heavy jab style that dominated Mosley, Tito, Quartey etc. Gun to my head, I have McCallum at number one and have always thought he would have beaten Hearns.
You know what's funny i kept switching between Vasquez and Wright, you maybe right come to think of it. Wright did have a few more standout wins than Vasquez. But Vasquez does have an impressive win over Wright, but as you said vs a younger Wright. It depends how much stock you put in that win. Wright did also have a few set backs at Jr Middleweight aswell vs Vargas, Simon. But i always felt like Wright was a bit of a later bloomer and improved as he got older and wiser.
Vasquez was one tough, strong Hombre but the Winky he beat was in his early 20's and not fully developed. Winky really came into his own when he became friends with Ike Quartey. Winky moved away from that cutie/mover style of early in his career and really embraced Quartey's effective high guard and hard jab which was great for neutralizing faster fighters like Shane Mosley. I honestly believe prime Winky would have beaten prime Norris with that hard right jab. Stylistically he was a nightmare those guys that threw a lot of combinations.
