An Extended Appreciation Thread for the Lushless Light-Heavies; Historical or Otherwise.

Point taken, but can you name his top 5 wins? If you can, which I'm not doubting, it's lackluster. Like, God awful. I don't care how many title defences he made, it was over such poor opposition I don't think it's a stretch to say Virgil Hill could've gotten past them all. And I'd actually say that Spinks, Moore and Satterfield hit harder. Fitz and Langford too, although I don't rank them at LHW. But it's hardly a strange opinion to have Foster at #1.

He beat the prime out of Greb. A guy who you clearly rank highly at LHW, Greb was also probably a natural SMW. Tunney's résumé is insanely deep, but the main factor is him going undefeated in the rest of the over fights at 175. Which I already explained. Also, the fight with Loughran was in Philadelphia; where Loughran is from. Tunney scored a KD and virtually everybody ring-side scored it for Tunney. Although he probably should have lost the 2nd Greb fight. Also, Greb is without question the better fighter P4P.

He definitely wasn't the first LHW to win the title. Tunney did it, Charles did it, and Patterson did it. Spinks is awesome though, make no mistakes. I love Mike, but his LHW career was pretty short in comparison to Tunney's, and Loughran's, actually. The Qawi win is excellent, but is it better than wins over Greb? I don't think so.

With a résumé like Foster's, I can't see a case at all for him over Tunney. And I hate Tunney, ask Greg or Lachlan.

Spinks isn't unreasonable, but I pretty strongly disagree. Greb has a definite case, but I think similar résumés but with one losing plenty to the other and losing more in general is pretty damning. Although the Loughran wins are awesome. Like I said, I pit Greb at MW.

 

Think we can both agree on our dislike for Tunney then. But we can agree to disagree on his placement. Greb fought almost 300 times. Tunney a mere 1/3rd of that. And as I said Greb was campaigning at 3 weights simultaneously. His work at LHW was almost as impressive as his MW career imo.

You make some good points and you are right its hard to name Foster's top 5 wins - they are all pretty meh. Tiger, De Paula, Finnegan, Cotton and gee I dunno maybe Anderson (decent amateur pedigree - very mediocre as a pro).

On Spinks what I mean was he was the first LHW to step in the ring as LHW champion and win the HW title. Not just against some mediocre fighter - against Holmes. Who at the time had everything to fight for being 48-0 going in the fight.

It's just the way I see it. Hence why these forums are so great to get the views and justifications for them from other knowledgable fans like you

 

George your salvia is all over my screen I’m afraid to mention a certain light heavyweight lest you cream your pants.

Very well written though my friend my list looks a lot like yours with Archie higher and the unnamed one lower hahaha.

Gold like always!

 

Greb is awesome. A fighter I really do like.

I'd say Foster's top wins are Quarry, Finnegan, Hank 2* and Tiger.

Spinks is awesome, agreed. I'd pick him to beat Foster, Tunney and Greb.

Right back at ya! Excellent poster. Truth be told, I was thinking of taking a break from classic due to the absolute shitshow it's been over the last few days.

 

No, I hadn't seen Gonzalez v Letterlough but it's now on my 'to watch' list.

 

I tried to start some threads but nothing's really caught hold. There are mostly heavyweight fantasy matchups, many of which have been done before. Sometimes it's good to take a break to maintain your enthusiasm. This light heavy thread got me interested again.

 

It's great to hear things like this.

 

Great thread! 175 has always been one of my favorite weight classes as well. I have Spinks, Charles and Moore as the class of the divison but once you get past them I think it becomes very wide open.

I'm going to list some guys that were really good/dangerous fighters at 175 that at their best would be trouble for anyone. In my opinion these guys just missed out on having that signature fight at 175 and due to that will not make the hall of fame.

Zsolt Erdei was a pretty damn good fighter. Unfortunately he mostly fought over in his home country of Hungary and didn't fight on American television. When I watch footage of him a see a well skilled guy with really fast hands and excellent footwork. His footwork reminds me a little bit of Sven Ottke in that he was good at dictating the distance and never letting his opponent set his feet. The difference is that unlike Ottke he could really punch and he like to overwhelm guys with combos before stepping out of pocket. Very underated.

Michael Moorer's career at 175 will be forever debated but there is no argument that he is without a doubt one of the hardest hitting guys ever at that weight. The guy could flat out crack!!!! Unfortunately for him and for what ever reason we never got to see him fight the top guys in his era at 175. I believe a signature win against Hill or Maske would make a stronger case for this two time heavyweight champ to get in the hall of fame. I often wonder had he got to face Hill and grabbed a belt at Cruiserweight on his way to heavyweight if that would have been enough to get him in?

I just can't put either Ederi or Moorer in my top ten on accomplishments but they are two guys that I believe were good enough to compete with anyone in the history of the divison. They were to very different fighters that had incredible skillsets.

 

I think that Bob Fitzsimmons can be ranked inside top 10. His best wins: Hall, Maher, Creedon, Gardner, O'Brien, Choynski. I know that LHW division didn't exist in most of these fights, but they fought at that range.

 

If he's like Ottke, and beat González... I don't like him.

 

Eh, maybe. Although I'd pit him at MW like Greb.

 

You should watch that fight. It's on youtube. He has good footwork like Ottke but was not a runner. He could punch as well. I'm curious what you think of him.

 

I'll try and get round to it, although it's not a given since I have my GCSEs soon, so I'm not watching as much boxing as I'd like.

 

Just posted my card for Gonzalez-Letterlough in the scorecard thread btw.