Some truly great fighters have had fewer than what many would deem as a higher number of fights, we know Harry Greb and Sam Langford had around 300 fights a piece, Willie Pep 240+ fights, Ray Robinson with 202 fights Henry Armstrong 181 fights and Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez both with over 100 fights, of course all great fighters. Then you have the following- Ray Leonard 40 fights Kostya Tszyu 34 fights Joe Frazier 37 fights Jim Jeffries 24 fights Jim Corbett 35 fights I suppose it comes down to quantity vs quality, as a teenager I remember if a guy didnt have a high number of fights I didn't think they were great. I looked at them as "dodgers" or just guys that were only in it for a big payday. Time changes one's views but I still lean towards guys who had higher numbers of fights. These days if a guy makes to 30 fights people are amazed. Any thoughts?
Speaking for myself, I do think having a "low" number of fights weighs against a fighter's legacy when compared to fighters that have higher numbers. It's the primary reason that I don't rate Ray Leonard among the all-time top 10 despite his enormous talent & some individually ATG victories.
Having more fights tends to help your resume become deeper, far more often than not. Obviously, Jose Luis Ramirez and Johnny Dundee aren't going to rank higher than Vicente Saldivar or Sugar Ray Leonard, because the latter's top quality wins are way too good in comparison. But there's also little to no argument for someone like Usyk being above Ali, Jeffries being above Louis, Lomachenko being above Whitaker, Rigondeaux and Lara being above Napoles and Rodriquez, Ray Leonard being above Benny Leonard, or Beterbiev and Bivol being above Charles and Moore. Some people like to use the argument that those fighters achieved what they did in far less fights, or that the guys with the bigger amount of fights padded their record with low level guys, but that still doesn't change the fact that their resumes are far shallower in terms of top level fighters in most cases. Take a look at the top 10 Heavyweights of the mid 60's and 70's and then count how many of them were beaten by Ali. Do the same thing for the CW and HW era of recent times and compare the number of guys that Usyk beat from those lists. A lack of fights is mostly a matter of inactivity, and inactivity kills potential greatness.
