140 seems to me to be the most historical of the tweener divisions, yet I can't find any consensus on who is the best ever at the weight. The poll isn't as extensive as it could be and if you think there's someone missing, please say.
I think Aaron Pryor was one of those guys that was super close to top 5 all time great, but needed a FEW little things.
Yeah, I thought I added him to the poll but it seems I never. He's certainly in the running for GOAT but I don't know how strong the division he ruled over was and he also lost to Locche, a 17 year old Benitez, and was KOd in four by Pryor. Cervantes never unified either. He's an ATG at the weight but I think he falls short of being the GOAT.
I dunno, Chavez was getting outworked by Meldrick Taylor when Meldrick was beating Chavez with his own style before Chavez dropped Meldrick and Richard Steele saved Chavez from his first loss (and made himself and Don King a lot of money) by stopping it. I'd say prime for prime, I'd give Pryor, Canzoneri, and Locche a good shot at beating Chavez. Chavez also never took that many tough fights at the weight imo. His best wins at 140 are his very controversial win over Meldrick, Greg Haugen (who was only ever successful against journeymen), and a faded Camacho. I think Chavez is rated predominantly on the quantity of his wins rather than the quality of them. I also suspect Don King made sure Chavez padded his record and protected him.
Pryor's the obvious choice for no. 1 at 140 but the black bottle is too hard for me to overlook and presents a considerable asterisk to his best wins. His whole style of being a stamina hound who relentlessly pressured his opponents seemed pretty dependent on the asthma medication Panama Lewis allegedly put in his water to increase his stamina and performance. Would Pryor naturally have been able to stand up to as many Arguello right hands as he did if he never had anything inside him to keep him upright? Maybe, but we'll never know because Pryor did drink that water and did have Panama Lewis, a man notorious for supplying his fighters with PEDs, as his chief cornerman.
Or Bruno Arcari. Bit early for Taylors name to be on this list, I would have thought. stay safe guys.
Just over 140 years after the start of gloved boxing, the question of who is the GOAT, is still hotly debated!
There are some big names missing but they’ve now been mentioned. Loi, Napoles, my man Benitez. De La Hoya was a better fighter than Tszyu & was never better than at 140, though I can appreciate if we’re going by accomplishments at the weight he’s out of the discussion.