Which fighters were one big win away from being considered an ATG?

Can you think of any fighters who may have been considered an ATG had they won just one more big fight? Could one big win make a difference in their legacy?

Is Cotto an ATG if he beats either Floyd or Manny?

Is Toney an ATG if he defeated Jones?

What if GGG gets the win vs Canelo in either rematch?

Who are some others whose legacies may have shined a little brighter with one big win?

 

I already consider Toney and G all time greats.
A past it G already beat Canelo twice IMO.
Toneys skill set speaks for itself

 

James Toney is already an ATG. I'd probably say Cotto as well.

GGG is debatable but I would have no issue with people calling him one, although I think his case would have been even greater had he had one official win over Canelo.

I'd say Lomachenko came in so close to that and might have been seen as an ATG if he had won narrowly against Devin Haney and became undisputed.

 

I think so. He already had a pretty damn good career as it was and I believe is in the hall of fame. A win over Floyd, Manny or even Canelo would have elevated him to that status. While I already consider Mike McCallum fairly close to ATG status, a win over Toney might have secured it

 

Tyson Fury beating Oleksandr Usyk
Carl Froch beating Andre Ward
Edwin Rosario beating Julio Cesar Chavez
Danny Lopez beating Salvador Sanchez
Diego Corrales beating Floyd Mayweather Jr
Julian Jackson beating Mike McCallum
Curtis Cokes beating Jose Napoles
Naseem Hamed beating Marco Antonio Barrera
Carlos Palomino beating Roberto Duran
Daniel Zaragoza beating Erik Morales

 

Palomino and Cokes have always been very underrated. Good to see them mentioned here.

 

Donald Curry prior to Honeygan

Camacho prior to Rosario

Sonny prior to Cassius Clay

 

Richard Dunn.

 

A few more to consider

Buddy McGirt wins over Whitaker (I felt he did enough to in their first fight)

Laguna wins over Buchanan

Paddy DeMarco can be in the conversation if he beats Pep. He had two wins over Saddler, Jimmy Carter, Dupas., Graham

Hamed wins over Barrera?

 

Vitali beating Lewis. The resume would still be a little thin, but he'd have the big scalp to go with the dominant run and perceived H2H ability.

 

If Povetkin beats Wlad
Tua beats Lewis
I think if Buster Douglas had one more good win after Tyson he would be on a lot more lists of top 20. Shame what happened to him.

 

Already an atg but if Frazier won in Manila I feel like he'd be in more top 10's

 

I think Ken Norton is close to this threshold but maybe needed a second win. Let's say he takes two from Ali and the Holmes fight, he may be considered an ATG.

 

I feel he's in the majority of people's (Experts and poll results) top ten.

 

There's some really well thought out names in that, nice one Flo.