Beating a great fighter in his prime is shockingly rare

This may cause debate.....the best win ever by an atg over another atg came in the amateurs....Sugar Ray Robinson beat Willie Pep.

 

..

 

People on here are citing Jones Jr win over Bhop as ATG win criteria (or maybe I read that wrong) but could it not be argued Hopkins was green then? Hence not prime? He didn't win his title until his 3rd point of asking.

Likewise, is there a criteria for two great fighters meeting when they're both not in their prime? Hence perhaps evening the playing the field. A sort of example being Bhop vs Calzaghe, although I'm not calling Calzaghe an ATG

 

Marlon Starling beat Lloyd Honeyghan who was at the peak of his career.

 

Take Pac off of this list.

 

Who did Hearns beat before he fought Leonard, Cuevas? Did that fight certify Hearns as an atg by the time he fought Leonard? Hell no.

 

Yeah man, SRR was an easy name for anybody after LaMotta had beaten him.

 

You're confusing prime with peak. Bhop was near 30 when he fought Jones, he was in his physical prime. When would you say his prime was, shortly after he lost to Jermaine Taylor?

Tito was his most impressive win but not necessarily his prime, just a case of him getting that fight at that time. BHop that fought RJJ would have done the same thing he did to Tito.

When would you consider Floyds prime? When he beat Corrales, or when he beat Canelo? He looked pretty impressive in both yet they are over a decade apart. Are you saying then that if someone had beaten Floyd immediately after he dismantled Canelo it wouldn't have meant that guy beat an ATG in his prime?

How about Pac? Was it when he dismantled Barrera or Cotto? Big gap there.

 

The sport has just slightly over 100 years of real history and most of the prominent names on ATG list are from the last 70-80 years. Tito and Oscar we're amongst the best of their generation, if they are not top 100 then you are clearly a lot more biased towards some generations over others.

 

..

 

Hopkins Didnt lose for another ten yrs after Roy when they fought I beleive he was closer to his prime want he 28 when he fought Jones ?

 

Hopkins took down prime Tito
Floyd took down prime Hatton although at 147
Barrera starched prime Hamed
Kovalev just beat the prime out of pascal

 

Hey of you can present an argument where the likes of Gatti and Judah were as great as SRR Im all ears

 

It's only rare because fans in general are too simple minded and overly sensitive to admit a fighter is in his prime. As soon as a fighter loses, he's shot, regardless of age. Wasn't Barrera all of a sudden shot for losing to Pacquiao in the first fight despite coming off massive victories and being 29 years old.