Bernard Hopkins: One of the Greatest EVER!

All good figthers, yes - but Griffith, Napoles and Bennvenuti were all at the END of their careers, and Griffith particularly, was years past his prime. The best fighter Monzon faced who was near his peak was Bennie Briscoe - a great, and often overlooked fighter, but not, imo on the level of Trinidad, De La Hoya, or arguably even Wright.

 

I thought about this, after I posted - you COULD make the case that Oscar was more akin to where Griffith and Napoles were when Monzon fought them, a great fighter, fighting above his natural weight-class, on the downside.

That said, I'd take his one-sided victory over a prime Trinidad over ANYTHING on Monzon's ledger, and not by a little either.

The other thing is that some of the second tier names on Hopkins resume, guys like Holmes, Joppy or Johnson, are better than the next level guys Monzon fought. We tend, I think, to sometimes overrate fighters from the past based on hearsay. I was around in the 70s - most of these guys were no better than the guys Hopkins fought, and many of them were worse. That's true with Hagler, too, frankly. Once you get beyond the Leonards, Durans and Hearns, it's hard to make the case that guys like Hamsho or Antofermo are much better than most of the guys Hopkins fought.

 

Hopkins IS one of the greatest ever. Deal with it :deal