Barrera: Pacquiao Is #2 Only To Muhammad Ali (!)

tinman · Jul 20, 2019

Enigmadanks said: ↑

Boxing is a very old sport and the major issue is it's the only sport I can think of where the modern day fighter has very little chance to even crack the top 10 all time because of how many times the old time fighters fought. Don't get me wrong, guys like Ray Robinson, Harry Greb and Sam Langford weren't fighting top 10 guys in their division on a fight by fight basis, but they did take on top tier competition quite frequently (3-4 times a year,) while staying active with in between fights against lower tier competition.

It was very common for the old time greats to fight 20+ times a year. That number is staggering to even comprehend. WW Ray Robinson lost his first fight in his 43rd bout I believe to a full fledged MW in Lamotta in Detroit. He took on a fight two weeks later against a guy named Jackie Wilson at MSG and than just ONE WEEK afterward rematched Lamotta back in Detroit and beat him. Robinson wouldn't lose again for about another 75 or so fights until he lost to Turpin in a fight he would avenge soon after.

Manny is a great, great fighter but the list is too long of ATG's that achieved staggering levels of success in the sport. Henry Armstrong was the simultaneous champion at FW, LW and WW and almost won the MW title. He was defending all 3 of his titles at the same time. Sammy Langford started at 135 lbs and moved all the way up to the HW division.

Floyd and Manny are clearly the best of their era- by a wide margin really- but its hard to make a case for either man cracking the top 10 when you look at what a lot of the old time fighters accomplished. Truth be told, if they were making the money that the modern fighters make, they wouldn't have fought so often. They NEEDED the money to keep themselves afloat and for that reason they fought so often (aside from the few crazy guys that just loved to fight constantly like Harry Greb.)

I don't think the Babyface assassin knows the history of his own sport too well.
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Manny fought 3 ATG in their prime in less than 2 years. Much respect to the older generation, but level of competition is not an issue for Pac.

Enigmadanks · Jul 20, 2019

tinman said: ↑

Manny fought 3 ATG in their prime in less than 2 years. Much respect to the older generation, but level of competition is not an issue for Pac.
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I think "ATG" is open for interpretation. If you believe Morales and barrera are All time greats, than we differ on the subjectivity of what an All Time great is. They're 1st ballot HOF'ers but fall short of being All Time Greats.

The 4 kings of the 80's are All Time greats, not Barrera or Morales IMO. I'm a huge fan of Marquez and classify him as a borderline ATG at the very best.

Enigmadanks · Jul 20, 2019

tinman said: ↑

Manny fought 3 ATG in their prime in less than 2 years. Much respect to the older generation, but level of competition is not an issue for Pac.
Click to expand...

I know my initial post was long but I mentioned ray Robinson at WW who fought a full size MW in Lamotta, lost to him in Detroit, fought a "tune up" fight against a guy with a 47-4 record 2 weeks later in NYC and than ONE WEEK after that took on lamotta again in Detroit and beat him. He fought the Raging Bull twice in one month.

I'm pretty sure Barrera doesn't know much about who Ray Robinson is.

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Barrera: Pacquiao Is #2 Only To Muhammad Ali (!)

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Barrera: Pacquiao Is #2 Only To Muhammad Ali (!)

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