Norton I can accept is a very talented fighter, just weak punch resistence. Shavers, Cooney, Witherspoon were all limited boxers with Witherspoon being the most talented of the three. Chagaev is better than all of them. Shavers was pretty crude, hit hard as hell, but pretty crude.
cooney was a good fighter who has wins over ron lyle, ken norton, and jimmy young. he also competed with some great fighters.
you said "great" and none of those guys are "great". Norton was very good. Other than that the guys you listed were Class B and C contenders.
Does anyone here reall think that Vlad would have gotten off the canvas if Shavers drilled him with that shot ????
Holmes would school and TKO Wlad in about 10 rounds. Bonecrusher Smith and Mike Weaver is better than 99% of Wlad opponents. Do you really believe Wlad could take a Mike Weaver left hook? Nope.
So who did Wlad beat that was great? And if those guys are B and C+ fighters then what are the grades of the fighters Wlad beat lol...?
Most fighters don't get a chance to beat a bunch of great fighters in their prime, but they do get to beat a great or two and a bunch of good fighters.
Perfectly posted except I also question Cooney's punch resistance & overall defense. Jerry had power and decent skills but his defense was nothing to write home about.