Does Julio Caesar Chavez make the Top 20 All-Time

No, I don't think so.

I would probably have him inside my top 35 if I had one, maybe he could just make the top 30. Top 20 is for the really, really special fighters, and Chavez isn't quite there for me.

 

I have him in the top 25 but not top 20.

 

i dont think so.

 

He could possibly squeeze into the top 35, but top 20 is pushing it big time.

 

I appreciate Chavez's ability and his achievements very much and I think it is perfectly valid to have him in a top 30, but I cannot envisage how he could be included in a top 20. There are just too many fighters who deserve to be ahead of JCC. His resume is good by contemporary standards, but not strong enough in my opinion to justify a top 20 placing, that really is serious elite level. For me guys like Griffith, Tunney and Saddler are around about the twenty mark, and I don't think JCC is quite on that level.

 

Can we get everyone's actual top 25 or so in this thread?

 

Here ya go Russell.

1. Ray Robinson
2. Sam Langford
3. Harry Greb
4. Henry Armstrong
5. Roberto Duran
6. Ezzard Charles
7. Benny Leonard
8. Barney Ross
9. Joe Walcott
10. Bob Fitzsimmons
11. Mickey Walker
12. Muhammad Ali
13. Ray Leonard
14. Pernell Whitaker
15. Willie Pep
16. Joe Louis
17. Archie Moore
18. Charley Burley
19. Joe Gans
20. Carlos Monzon
21. Tony Canzoneri
22. Jimmy McLarnin
23. Roy Jones Jr.
24. Jimmy Wilde
25. Eder Jofre
26. Carlos Ortiz
27. Alexis Arguello
28. Emile Griffith
29. Luis Manuel Rodriguez
30. Kid Gavilan
31. Gene Tunney
32. Sandy Saddler
33. Ike Williams

 

Thanks, Pea.

 

I'm starting to think that Chavez should be above Jofre, not certain on it, but i'm leaning that way.

 

I might agree on that.

Jofre is one fighter who has a general reputation that far exceeds his ability shown for me.Which is quite a feat considering he's obviously a special and great fighter.

 

Oh hell yes he was.

Entering the ring against Pernell Whitaker, with his prime behind him, Chavez sported a record of 87 wins with no losses and no draws, with nearly 80 of those wins coming inside the distance. He held wins over Rocky Lockridge, Juan Laporte, Edwin Rosario, Jose Luis Ramirez, Hector Camacho, and Meldrick Taylor - just to name a few. Truth is, he beat everybody, and it was a very good field.

He was indestructible in his prime, never knocked off his feet. He was a vicious body puncher, constantly coming, throwing short chopping shots from both directions. He excelled at trench warfare. And even extraordinary boxers like Camacho and Taylor suffered brutal beatings at his hands.

Even at the age of 31 with this record of wear-and-tear warfare, Chavez held the welterweight champion to a draw. I didn't agree with the verdict (I thought Whitaker won), but it was the hardest fight of Whitaker's prime.

Chavez's powers declined rapidly after this fight (he was, after all, in his 30s), losing a split decision to the very talented Frankie Randall two years later in a fight in which, for the first time, he was knocked off his feet. He avenged the defeat. Stopped on cuts in 1996 against de la Hoya, Chavez should have hung up the gloves. But like many great fighters, the ring haunted him. Winning more than he lost, Chavez finally retired at the age of 43.

Chavez was a throwback to an age when a fighter fought all the time and fought everybody. But unlike most of those great fighters of yesterday, Chavez never lost a fight in his prime.

If you were in the ring with him, you were in a nightmare situation. He sapped the will of his opposition, beating them up rather than just knocking them out. He was the quintessential warrior, exactly the type of fighter the sport needs and that we the fans want.

Chavez is definitely top twenty, if not top ten.