Barkely or Mosley - Greater Fighter?

I think you're crazy! I'll play along for shits and giggles though.

Iran Barkley went 43-19-1 (27) overall and 3-6 (2) in World Title Fights. He won World Titles at MW (WBC), SMW (IBF), and LHW (WBA). He was stopped 7 times.

Sorry, I'm not counting the B.S. WBB HW title he won by beating a 253 Lb. 42 year old Gerrie Coetzee. Barkley looked pretty decent but it was only the 4th fight in over 11 years for Coetzee. He had been stopped in 1 round by Frank Bruno more than 11 years before.

Back to Iran... he was always hot and cold, but I'll try to focus more on the good things.

He won a split-decision vs. J. Kinchen and about a year later he fought S. Kalambay for the vacant MW title. Barkley fought well but came up a little short on the cards.

He came back with wins over S. Williams (WSD10) and M. Olajide (KO5) which set up a fight vs. Thomas Hearns for the WBC MW title. He was now 24-4 (15) and he was much better than the he was when he lost to Robbie Sims 4 1/2 years earlier (LKOby6).

He was almost stopped early by Hearns but Barkley came back and was able to stop Hearns in the 3rd... huge win!

Barkley lost his next two fights but I felt those decisions could have went either way... LSD Duran (lost WBC MW title) and LMD Nunn (for the IBF MW title).

Barkley fought Benn for the WBO MW title but was stopped in the 1st. It was a crazy foul-filled fight while it lasted and they really should have fought again.

Barkley won his next 4 fights including wins over D. VanHorn KO2 (for the IBS SMW title) and Hearns WSD12 (for the WBA LHW title). I felt the decision over Hearns could have went either way.

The 2nd Hearns fight was really his last hurrah IMO. He vacated the LHW belt and kept the SMW belt. I think this was a bad choice.

Barkley had struggled to make the 175 limit and making 168 was damn near impossible for him anymore. In 1990 he fought his last fight at 160 Lbs. (LKOby1 Benn). He fought at 176 Lbs. in his next two fights and was still solid (1991). He moved to 168 for his fight with VanHorn (1992) and IMO it should have been just for that one fight. In 1992 he also beat Hearns for the second time (at LHW).

After Hearns he fought a non-title fight at 178Lbs. in 1992 (KO4 R. Folley). I really don't understand why at this point Barkley went back down to 168 Lbs. to fight a top fighter like Toney (1993). Barkley looked like a shell of his former self vs. Toney (LKOby9). Not much to say after this fight!

...to be continued

 

Mosley is 46-5 (39) 1NC and has never been stopped. He is 16-5 (12) in World Title fights. He has won World titles at LW, WW, and JMW. He could have easily won a world title at JWW IMO but skipped the division for bigger challenges. He'll be 39 in September and is still one of the best fighters in the world.

 

And he is a dirty drug taking cheat.

 

I like them both, I´m suspicious of Mosley and doping though - just like Jones, Toney and Holyfield. Still, Mosley has to rank higher not considering drugs. I don´t know how doping can or should influence rankings.

 

maybe i'm obsessed, but this thread stinks of Robertard propaganda.

 

I see no comparison ,though Mosley ,was somewhat overated before he ran into Forest's left jab, and right hand, he is streets ahead of Barkley for ability,imo

 

You were right with your first few words Pach...you are obsessed. You were the first one to bring him up bar a very brief mention by Hookie.

Its getting comical now dude...just let it go.

 

Sugar Shane, no contest.

 

well its not that farfetched. Theres been a fierce debate going on, on a Duran v Mosley thread recently. Barkley is considered one of Duran's very best victories. Despite him clearly not being all that great, at all, there was another thread recently with a poll comparing durans win over barkley to spinks win over holmes in which durans win was held in a higher regard by a hell of alot of posters, and now theres this thread in which iran barkley is being proclaimed comparable to shane mosley in terms of ability and achievements. Although its as clear as day to see he is nowhere near.

 

You obviously have a huge problem with putting things into context. :-(

 

Mosely has beaten better fighters has been up at the top for some time and has been impressive in his victorys...Barkley beat Hearns 2 times, a style thing, he had Tommy's #

 

Damn n!gga you made me laugh with this post right here.:rofl

 

Mosley was ruthlessly cheer-leaded by Merchant, early on. This meant he made his name for the mainstream fancy, but turned him against the hardcore.

I have mellowed over the years, and it is pretty clear Mosley was a very special fighter, and far better than The Blade in a very unfair comparison as Barkley deserves a ton of credit, not least for the classic banner headline The Ring ran with after the first Hearns upset:

Middleweight Terrorism, Iran bombs The Hitman!

 

Duran's victory over Barkley is more based on physicality than anything else - Duran overcoming by brawling a very strong, tough, powerful guy enjoying almost absurd physical advantages over him. It's an extraordinary achievement not because Barkley possesses a particularly ATG skillset, but because the guy was BIG and had good enough fundamentals to enforce that advantage against most opponents, yet Duran took it away from him. This is irrelevant to Barkley being "better" than Mosley on a P4P, general basis.

I'd probably rate Duran's best performances something roughly like this:

Leonard I
De Jesus III
Barkley
Buchanan
Hagler
De Jesus II
Palomino

 

Well, you're half right.

Actually everyone in this thread is slating Barkeley quite heavily.

But it's kind of ironic that Barkley's being put down on this thread but being built up when Duran beats him. The whole "Duran-Barkley a better win than Spinks-Holmes" thing was ridiculous, and it surprised me how many otherwise reasonable postors were subscribing to that statement.