A Sequel: My Top 25 Fighters From The 25 Years Before Last (1958-1983)

A couple of months ago I wrote my Top 25 Fighters Of The Last 25 Years. Here it is: (*with explanation for the inclusion of Tommy Hearns)

1.Pernell Whitaker
2.Roy Jones Jr
3.Julio Cesar Chavez
4.Evander Holyfield
5.Floyd Mayweather Jr
6.Lennox Lewis
7.Bernard Hopkins
8.Mike Tyson
9.Thomas Hearns*
10.Mike McCallum
11.Oscar De La Hoya
12.Manny Pacquiao
13.Marco Antonio Barrera
14.Erik Morales
15.James Toney
16.Hector Camacho
17.Felix Trinidad
18.Joe Calzaghe
19.Ricardo Lopez
20.Azumah Nelson
21.Winky Wright
22.Shane Mosley
23.Kostya Tszyu
24.Juan Manuel Marquez
25.Johnny Tapia

*yes, his 147 peak and fights with SRL and Benitez were before 1983, but his career went on successfully long after 1983, in a way that Leonard and Hagler and Duran's didn't, those three were on the way back down after '83, the best periods of their careers were undoubtedly before '83- except maybe Hagler's, but he didn't fight on long enough after 1983 to be considered for this time period IMO. Hearns on the other hand went on from 1983 to beat Duran, fight Hagler, beat younger naturally bigger guys like DeWitt and the previously undefeated Virgil Hill, get the better of SRL in their 2nd fight, and between 1983 and his retirement, he held the WBC light-middleweight title, WBC middleweight, WBO super-middleweight, and the WBC and WBA light-heavyweight titles, before finishing up as a cruiserweight. If the time period was the best fighters from the last 30 years, then obviously Hearns would be higher than 9th place, but I think his post-1983 career justifies his placing here



So, I thought it would be good to produce a sequel and write my top 25 fighters from the previous 25 years, 1958-1983. Now, I am not a bona fide boxing historian, my knowledge decreases as we travel further back in time, so I am not as sure of this 25 than I was of my 25 1983-2008, but I hope you appreciate my list and please do comment on anything you approve/disapprove of:

* list of fighters who fought on after 1958, but whose post-58 careers were not good enough to justify inclusion: Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep, Archie Moore

My Top 25 Fighters 1958-1983


1.ROBERTO DURAN

2.Muhammad Ali

3.Sugar Ray Leonard

4.Carlos Monzon

5.Alexis Arguello


6.Marvin Hagler

7.Eder Jofre

8.Thomas Hearns

9.Emile Griffith

10.Salvador Sanchez

11.Jose Napoles

12.Ruben Olivares

13.George Foreman

14.Aaron Pryor

15.Wilfredo Gomez

16.Bob Foster

17.Wilfred Benitez

18.Larry Holmes

19.Michael Spinks

20.Joe Frazier

21.Miguel Canto

22.Antonio Cervantes

23.Carlos Zarate

24.Vicente Saldivar

25.Carlos Ortiz



Thoughts/opinions??

 

Who would you give the boot to put him in there amigo?

 

What number would you have him at, if you had to insert him into my list? Or what number do you think you would have him at if you wrote your own 25?