Current All Time Or Near Greats?

Manny Pacquiao
Rafael Marquez
Juan Manuel Marquez
Wlad Klitschko
Joe Calzaghe
Ricky Hatton
Zab Judah
Antonio Margarito
Miguel Cotto
Floyd Mayweather jr.
Diego Corrales
just a couple off the dome....

 

How many fighters through history have established themselves as the lineal champion at flyweight and featherweight or even flyweight and bantemweight?

If there was a historic fighter who atained Paquiaos curent record then fell under a bus nobody would dispute their all time great status or even question it.

 

His flyweight belt is tarnished by him looking so poor in winning it and subsequently losing to journeymen in my opinion.

 

Harada achieved similar things, but in much more impressive fashion at the lower weights instead of the higher weights, against better opposition, in more convincing fashion.

And as Mantequilla said, his Flyweight title really means little. He was a mediocre Flyweight all in all, only made to be so by his power and speed. His win over Sasakul was pretty fluky IMO, and he showed his status at Flyweight against Singsurat in an embarassing blow-out loss.

I guess what it comes down to is, I also give credence to what goes on inside the ring when judging a boxer's greatness rather than just what they officially accomplished on paper.

 

Well the only active borderline great is Jones Jr... when did he fight him? And even if we are going as low as the Boxing Hall of Fame, who has he beaten who is a member?

 

None of these guys with the exception of Pac and PBF could be considered great right now. But a few have a chance of becoming one, Wlad, JMM, Calzaghe.

From the older guys i think RJJ, Hopkins, DLH and Toney already have a cemented legacy as atg - so all of them not up there with the big boys.

 

He wasn't the best Flyweight on the planet though.

Also keep in mind Harada really should have won the featherweight title.

I do think Pac is one of better choices from the initial options.

 

Harada went from Flyweight to Featherweight though, and should've won titles at all 3. He was also far more impressive and overall skilled at Fly and Bantam than Pacquiao. Much naturally smaller fighter as well, Pacquiao was simply young and undeveloped at lower weights.

Yes, the fact that I had to bring up Harada shows that Pacquiao rates as a great, just not as high as the likes of Harada and other guys I'm missing likely.

We've discussed this. He was never the best Flyweight on the planet, in the same way a guy like Braddock or Baldomir were never the best HW's or WW's on the planet. He was technically pretty awful at Flyweight, and was being schooled prior to catching Sasakul in the 8th I think it was. All he had was his power and speed. A guy like Mark Johnson would've beat him up badly and KO'd him.

If you re-read my initial post, you'll see that my main criticism of him is in head to head circumstances, by which I don't think he'd match up well with many great Feathers in their prime. Or really any weight he fought.

Based on resume, I was just stating that his is a tad overrated, not lacking in greatness. The fact that he has been able to acomplish so much and fight at such a high level with his limited technical skills says a lot about him. I'd say he's a great fighter. Among current fighters in or around their prime, he's the best choice right now probably.