50 Greatest Welterweights of all Time

The welters.

Within the tiers, the fighters are listed in no order. I'm most interested in who these guys beat and what any title reign was like; what was their longevity like? Stuff like how good they were compared to each other isn't ignored but it does come next.

So who have I left off? I always leave off one guy. Who is too high? Who is too low? Who doesn't belong?

Thoughts?




TIER I
Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, Jose Napoles, Kid Gavilan, Emile Griffith, Jack Britton.

TIER I
Ted Kid Lewis, Barney Ross, Jimmy McLarnin, Floyd Mayweather, Mickey Walker, Joe Walcott, Tommy Ryan.

TIER III
Tommy Hearns, Luis Rodriguez, Carmen Basilio.

TIER IV
Fritzie Zivic, Pernell Whitaker, Charley Burley, Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, Manny Pacquiao, Curtis Cokes, Jackie Fields.

TIER V
Donald Curry, Young Corbett III, Roberto Duran, Carlos Palomino, Mysterious Billy Smith, Wilfredo Benitez, Pipino Cuevas.

TIER VI
Rube Fearns, Honey Melody, Marlon Starling, Lou Brouillard, Young Peter Jackson, Harry Lewis, Mike Twin Sullivan.

TIER VII
Buddy McGirt, Tony DeMarco, Lloyd Honeygan, Cocoa Kid, Dave Shade, Joe Dundee, Billy Graham, Paddy Duffy, Matty Matthews, Benny Paret.

 

I think the Griffith fight gives him a very strong argument - Jordan (obviously) and Thompson were also ranked highly.

But that's really it for ranked guys (because he died) - and he lost twice to Ortega. Ortega himself has a reasonable case based upon longevity and scalps but inconsistency barely gets him in - i'm a bit woozy about pushing Paret ahead of Ortega.

But yeah, I think Paret is a very reasonable shout (although he's not hte guy i forgot...)

 

He's 8-1 at the weight. I'm not convinced that's enough for much higher tbh.

 

Interesting thoughts. I think Burley may drop. But he has Zivic (twice), Cocoa Kid and Leto as key wins at the weight. This is probably better than the key wins Hearns has, for example, and includes two guys on the list.

Williams didn't make this list.

Currently, Burley would be ranked top 20 though and that may be too high in fairness.

 

Janitor, I don't think Smith can really be said to be in company with the other two personally.

Ryan was heavily credited at MW as you know and some of that will undermine his WW resume. Walcott was a sensation, but he was heavily credited p4p because of his exploits while weighing in at the WW limit but crushing bigger foes. These wins don't qualify him for the purposes of this list.

But yeah, they could come up with a gold watch each when pounding out the specifics comes around i agree.

 

Couple of changes - I binned Ortega and introudced Ike Quartey, see how that feels. It was nearly Benny Paret.

I dropped Burley a tier.

 

There is a similar thing with the 1920s bantams. That doesn't hold true now. This situation is not the same as that one but obviously if your GOAT in 1899, it's possible for you to be ranked in the low 20s, even, in 2015.

But yeah they may come up low.

 

In the end, I have identified seven welterweights that i think are locked above Ryan and Walcott.

I don't think this is an unreasonable number.