If Griffith and LMR fought another 4 times, it would go 3-1 Griffith,...all split decisions, including his loss.
I'm also with Berlenbach on this one! Beating a full-fledged middleweight as good as LaMotta (and giving away a huge amount of weight in the process!), when he himself weighed less than 147 lbs... how on earth does that not boost Robinson's welterweight standing? Doesn't make sense to me!
For me a fight in the welter division bolsters his welter ranking. It's just so I don't double credit a victory. I do understand the counter argument though, as long as it's consistent across all rankings it's neither here nor there. I personally rank on H2H so actually, for me, just seeing the guy fight in his division is enough criteria to make a judgement on. But if I rank on resume, I on include divisional bouts.
Cheers Mc. I don't rate fighters...(but I enjoy the articles! I've got Leonard,Armstrong, and Burley in Tier I joining SRR...Why? because my criteria would deal more with who they fought...and beat. Especaillly considering Burley and Leonard... Longevity? Give Trinidad his due. Wouldn't Holman deserve a mention? Fine job with the middleweights sir!
Ooof, the middleweights were like being tortured. A bump for Trinidad is an interesting idea. Williams didn't really do much serious business at welterweight, surprisingly, and was dominated there by CK of course.
By the same token Billy Graham beat Joey Giardello Graham weighed149.5lbs Giardello155.5lbs. Graham beat Rocky Castellani. Graham147.5lbs Castellani155lbs
Six defences. Pete Latzo in 1923. The debacle against Jimmy Jones in 1923 (not much credit here...) Lew Tendler in 1924. Bobby Barrett in 1924. Dave Shade in 1925. 1925 Sailor Friedman.
I mean Robinson never lost at the weight in over a decade fighting there and has wins over Sammy Angott, Fritzie Zivic, Kid Gavilan, and Henry Armstrong. And that's even before we talk about all the top guys he beat like Tommy Bell and Jackie Wilson. So Robinson beat three Hall of Fame former or future welterweight champions anx suffered no defeats. It's the same as Mayweather's record if Mayweather did with another couple of dozen top 10 contenders thrown in. It's an incredible deep resume.
I might be in the minority, but I think Duran's one win over SRL is enough to move him up a tier or two.
Blocker Vaca Trice (x2) Plus some Top 15 guys like Martelli, Young, Howard and Santana. Main reason why I think he's worth a look is the way he beat the guys... Vaca gave Honeyghan fits in the first fight, and looked like he belonged in the same ring with Lloyd the second time around. But he was dropped six times and blown out by Brown. Trice was a solid contender, who got off to a great start against Brown when they fought for the vacant IBF bauble. But Brown roared back and dropped him thrice before stopping him in the 14th. In the rematch, Brown toyed with him and beat him up over 10. Blocked also gave Honeyghan fits and was coming off a career best win over Starling. Brown walked him down and stopped him in 10 thrilling rounds. Howard had dropped a comebacking Leonard, but didn't enjoy nearly the same level of success against Brown. And so on. His competition wasn't great, and the loss to McGirt was pretty resounding. But it took a masterclass from one of that generation's most underrated technicians to dethrone him. And I believe I see McGirt slotted in around the low 40's at this point. Up until then, he'd been impressive once he got rolling. I think it's enough for him to sneak into the 45-50 position.