Who was the best fighter from each decade?

Jung Koo Chang has a stronger case than Tyson imo.

 

Can't leave Benny Leonard out of the mix..,By all accounts leonard was the "early" Ray Robinson.LW champ for SEVEN years,who ruled over a great division of lightweight contenders in over 200 bouts.

 

Because of the artificiality of the splitting to decades which hurts some fighters and benefits others arbitrarily it turned out like this :

1900-1909 Sam Langford
1910-1919 Sam Langford
1920-1929 Still not sure , maybe Langford
1930-1939 Still don't know
1940-1949 Ezzard Charles
1950-1959 Rocky Marciano
1960-1969 Still not sure , maybe Frazier or Doug Jones
1970-1979 Still don't know
1980-1989 Mike Tyson
1990-1999 Still don't know
2000-2009 Still don't know


After all it has no advantage whatsoever than splitting it into :
1893-1902
1903-1912
1913-1922
1923-1932
etc.

Which may have yielded different results in some of the 10 years periods

 

1920-1929 - Harry Greb
1930-1939 - Henry Armstrong
1940-1949 - Ray Robinson
1950-1959 - Rocky Marciano
1960-1969 - Muhammad Ali
1970-1979 - Roberto Duran
1980-1989 - Ray Leonard
1990-1999 - Pernell Whitaker
2000-2009 - Manny Pacquiao

 

tbh, I think Archie Moore is unbelievable. But I think the same of Marciano.

so either way, its close.

both are legends.

 

1960-1969 Muhammad Ali
1970-1979 Roberto Duran
1980-1989 Ray Leonard
1990-1999 Pernell Whitaker
2000-2009 Manny Pacquiao

Don't know enough about the others, why kid myself.

 

1900-1909: Gans
1910-1919: Langford
1920-1929: Greb (with an honourable shout for Benny L)
1930-1939: Armstrong
1940-1949: Robinson
1950-1959: Moore
1960-1969: Saldivar - his overall body of work pips Ali's, who's career was cross-decade.
1970-1979: Duran, though Napoles and Monzon have claims.
1980-1989: Leonard
1990-1999: Whitaker
2000-2009: Pacquiao

 

del

 

Leonard's got enough BIG moments to take it, but excepting him, Hagler and Chavez, Michael Spinks had a great decade. 10 defenses including a unification, beat Holmes twice in making history and only lost to the skyrocketing Tyson. His title opponents probably surpass Holmes as well. EMM and Qawi compare favourably to anyone Holmes beat.

 

Trust me, I had a tough time trying to edge Greb and Leonard in front of each other. Greb's resume edged it for me over Leonard's technique and LW prime..... Strangely I took the opposite approach with Gans/Ketchel and Louis/Armstrong for their respective eras, but whatever. :nut

 

jones barely beat out whitaker for the bwaa fighter of the decade in the 90s. jones was clearly better imo in that time span but a case could be made for whitaker or holyfield.

 

This is a really good list--The only substitution I would consider is Benny Leonard for Sam Langford, but that's a close call, and possibly Marciano as co #1 with Moore.

 

I believe this is the way The Ring's Michael Rosenthal rated the best fighter of those decades except that he had Roy winning the 90s

Edit: Sorry, I believe these were The Ring fighters of the decade (not necessarily chosen by Rosenthal) with the exception of Pernell.

 

Lewis was the greater heavyweight - but when assessing Holys Cruiserweight resume as well he is surely P4P above Lennox