Another census: your 5 favourite fighters from history

Well, most of you know who my favourites are since my top three has always been and always will be the same, but what the hell here goes:

Bobby Chacon
Danny Lopez
Matthew Saad
Alexis Arguello
Fighting Harada

Honourable mentions: Marvin Johnson, Carlos Monzon, Eduardo Lausse, Carmen Basilio, Joe Frazier

 

More Historical

Kid McCoy
Bob Foster
Ezzard Charles
Harry Wills
George Dixon

More Recent

Mike McCallum
Jeff Fenech
Michael Carbajal
Nigel Benn
Marvin Hagler

Today

Kostya Tszyu (I know he effectively retired)
Manny Pacquiao
Joel Julio
Oscar De La Hoya
Rafael Marquez

 

swarmer lover:good

 

That's perfection you're talking about. :good

 

Well, yes and no. Harada and Frazier are the epitome of the ultimate swarmers, although in fairness to Harada he could box quite well when the mood struck him. Chacon wasn`t really a swarmer though, neither was Lopez or Saad either for that matter. They were pressure fighters more like it, although both Chacon and Saad much like Harada could box effectively when they felt like it.

Chacon was an especially good counterpuncher however, and I have yet to see anyone today who is as quick with the lead right as he was. Danny was a pressure fighter all the way though, and was the hardest puncher of the bunch save for Lausse. The one thing in common all the fighters I picked had was that they came to FIGHT! No pussyfooting or prancing around the ring like a fairy with these guys.

You always, ALWAYS got your more money`s worth with them and I am surprised that you so seldom hear their names come up, namely Saad, Lopez and Chacon who rarely ever get a mention here or on any other site for that matter. I have never understood why that is, it seems the big names get all the attention which I have no interest in disscussing while these guys who left a piece of themselves in the ring everytime for our entertainment are all but forgotten. Sad but true.

 

I can't limit myself to just 5.

1. Pernell Whitaker
2. Jim Driscoll
3. Packey McFarland
4. Billy Graham
5. Fighting Harada
6. Kid Gavilan
7. Nicolino Locche
8. Barney Ross
9. Jose Napoles
10. Benny Leonard

And some Aussies as well:
Young Griffo
Lionel Rose
Johnny Famechon

 

I agree with you on Monzon. I've always (well, since the seventies, of course) thought he was the best. Ken Buchanan, as well. Buchanan should have gone on to even greater heights, and I think he may very well have redeemed himself against Duran in a rematch. I don't think that was a legitimate knockdown scored by Duran in the 1st round, and I definitely think it would have gone to a decision were it not for the low blow in the 13th. I've always wondered why Buchanan was unique in modern boxing history by not being given at least a few extra minutes to recover from an after the bell low blow.

 

1. Willie Pep
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Pernell Whitaker
4. Aaron Pryor
5. Sugar Ray Robinson

Mentions: Mike Tyson, Arturo Gatti, Thomas Hearns, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Harold Johnson

 

Robinson
Dempsey
Greb
Louis
Williams

 

Nice to see Benn, Buchanan and Greb mentioned. They'd up there in my Top 10 faves for sure. :good

 

:good
I think it ultimately comes down to it just being a case of the Duran steamtrain in session. It was a brutal match for Ken, in the end I don't think it made much difference, although I do agree with you taht he could have made something of the rematch.

 

tyson
liston
gans
judah
idk i cant pick a 5th there are a few who i wanna put here.

 

i seem to like the super talented asses who waste their talent haha

 

I must give mention to Harold Johnson and Masahiko "Fighting" Harada, two fighters I've always known about, but who in recent times, have really grown on me. Diametrically different in styles, these two, and they seem to be the best representatives of their particular styles. Johnson, the great technician, never really appreciated, and deemed often as "colorless", due to his approach. People who appreciate him are those who appreciate the finer side of boxing, whereas Harada demonstrated twice that he had the great Eder Jofre's number, and since Jofre was such a formidable fighter both before and way after he fought Harada, it underscores the great Japanese warrior's quality as a modern day Samurai, and the greatest fighter of the far East, in my opinion, who ever lived, and one of the greatest, period.