Al Bernstein is just a tv celebrity ,not a serious boxing historian. To not mention a Harry Greb who did things in his career resume simply amazing, nor an Ezzard Charles who dominated Archie Moore 3 times, nor a Sam Langford, nor a Benny Leonard who ruled his division for 7 years, tells me Al Bernstein is not to be taken seriously... atsch
As a list of 10 fighters who he things were best as he saw them on film or live I think it's ok. As usual you can't tell without seeing his criteria. I can think of fighters who would be in a top ten like that, reasonably, who would never ever be in a ten "greatest". Undeniably some odd picks, but who knows?
4 of his 10 are in my ten - leaving Greb out of the top 3 (let alone your top 10) is barking man tho clearly - but then again maybe he had a mental block - I have them all the time and then a couple of weeks after I go "hang on how did I forget...??!" but some on there that wouldn't make my P4P - Langford is another glaring omission for me
I have no issue with Johnson being at the tail end of a top ten.... Lopez... no just no. You think that list is bad.. check out hearn's http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/cbzf...-Emanuel-Steward-List-Their-All-Time-Top-10-s
I was kinda surprised that Ezzard Charles didn't make Al's list, who could arguably rate higher than Moore, whom he has at #3. Not 100% sure if Ricardo Lopez belongs in the top 10, even though his career was brilliant.
Wow...typical American "ignore most of the world" kind of list. Here's a list of no particular importance other than it comes from a real fan's best attempt to be realistic: 1. Harry Grebb 2. Henry Armstrong 3. Carlos Zarate 4. Sugar Ray Robinson 5. Roberto Duran 6. Willie Pep 7. Muhammed Ali 8. Carlos Monzon 9. Wilfredo Gomez 10. Arcie Moore/Roy Jones Jr (tie)
I don't know that the affirmative action route is the way to go. It's like they are put there for simply being a different nationality. If you wanted Mexico, why not Saldivar? If Puerto Rico, why not Ortiz? You could represent Cuba fairly well, as Gavilan and Napoles are both superior to Zarate and Gomez and at least on par with Monzon IMO. Does beating Zamora, moving up 4 lbs and getting whacked really trump the 10 Hall of Famers Robinson put on his record? :-(