Yeah. Just like Bernard moved up and took on new challenges. You wouln't catch him fighting the same household name (Allen) three times in a 20-defence stretch, would you ? I'm a fan of BHop, moreso than ever, after he came through against Pavlik. But his middlewt reign was hardly the stuff of legend. Until he faced Tito, his level of competition was not much more than Joe's. He wanted to break Monzon's record and he did. His best work has come towards the end of his career. Remind you of anyone ?
I'm not saying he necessarily ducked them - or that not fighting them was entirely his own fault - but wins over all these fighters would have improved his resume (as has been asked in the thread), and ranked within at least his top 3 best wins. All fights with sacrifice, and a real push probably could have been made (even if it meant going to Germany - Ottke was up for that). I have left out Toney - who was at cruiser - because it would be unlikly he could cut the weight to fight at SM, or even LH. Prime Roy Jones jr, Prime Bernard Hopkins, Glen Johnson, Antonio Tarver, Chad Dawson, Kelly Pavlik, Jemain Taylor, Winky Wright, Sven Ottke (early unification - Ottke champ in ninety eight). A younger prime Hopkins, and a prime Roy Jones jr were the real obvious two he really needed to make. Aside from those I have named above there are also other solid boxers perhaps of a lower tier such as Clinton Woods, who would have added more to Joes resume then say wins over Peter Manfredo, Tocker Pudwill...etc This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected