When was each division the most stacked in it's history? 1991 Heavyweight top 10 Evander Holyfield Mike Tyson Riddick Bowe Razor Ruddock Ray Mercer George Foreman Tim Witherspoon Tony Tucker Lennox Lewis Michael Moorer 1924 Light Heavyweight Division Gene Tunney Young Stribling Kid Norfolk Mike McTigue Ad Stone Jeff Smith Paul Berlenbach Tony (Young) Marullo Tommy Loughran Jimmy Delaney 1953 Light Heavyweight Division 1.Archie Moore 2.Harold Johnson 3.Joey Maxim 4.Yolande Pompey 5.Danny Nardico 6.Jimmy Slade 7.Gerhard Hecht 8.Floyd Patterson 9.Alex Buxton 10.Willi Hoepner Middleweight Division 1959 1.Sugar Ray Robinson 2.Gene Fullmer 3Gustav Scholz 4.Ellsworth (Spider) Webb 5.Joey Giardello 6.Henry Hank 7.Carmen Basilio 8.**** Tiger 9.Paul Pender 10.Joey Giambra Middleweight Division 1992 1.Julian Jackson 2.James Toney 3.Reggie Johnson 4.Roy Jones Jr. 5.Mike McCallum 6.Sumbu Kalambay 7.Gerald McClellan 8.Lamar Parks 9.Bernard Hopkins 10.Thomas Tate 1980 Welterweight top 10 1.Sugar Ray Leonard 2.Thomas Hearns 3.Wilfred Benitez 4.Roberto Duran 5.Randy Shields 6.Pete Ranzany 7.Adolfo Viruet 8.Joergen Hansen 9.Luis Primera 10.Clint Jackson 1985 Bantamweights 1.Richie Sandoval 2.Jiro Watanabe 3.Khaosai Galaxy 4.Miguel Lora 5.Greg Richardson 6.Gaby Canizales 7.Daniel Zaragoza 8.Freddie Jackson 9.Alberto Davila 10.Jeff Fenech
Some terrific ones there. The WW division from 1980 is just insane, though. That top four... Wasn't the early 80's LHW division something else, as well?
This is an intruiging question and a refreshing change from the usual BS the rest of us have been posting. I need to think about it.
I thought '81 was a really strong year, probably 3rd best. 1.Dwight Braxton 2.Michael Spinks 3.Matthew Saad Muhammad 4.Eddie Mustafa Muhammad 5.Jerry Martin 6.Carlos DeLeon 7.Marvin Camel 8.Murray Sutherland 9.Jerry Celestine 10.James Scott
Yeah, so did I but even though you have all kinds of really talented guys in a decade, it's pretty rare that they all are fighting and ranked in the same division at the same time. Guys are always aging out or moving up. That's why I couldn't get Ezzard Charles in the light heavies. It's almost impossible to get more than 4 quality guys ranked in the top 10 at the same time. The best years for Lightweight appear to be 38, 77, 82, and 88. Lightweight division '38 1.Henry Armstrong 2.Lou Ambers 3.Pedro Montanez 4.Davey Day 5.Baby Arizmendi 6.Sammy Angott 7.Billy Beauhuld 8.Aldo Spoldi 9.Petey Sarron 10.Maxie Berger Lightweight division '77 1.Roberto Duran 2.Esteban De Jesus 3.Vicente Saldivar 4.Andrew Ganigan 5.Edwin Viruet 6.Vilomar Fernandez 7.Giancarlo Usai 8.Josue Marquez 9.Antonio Guinaldo 10.Enrique Solis Lightweight Division '82 1.Alexis Arguello 2.Aaron Pryor 3.Ray Mancini 4.Edwin Rosario 5.Howard Davis Jr. 6.Andrew Ganigan 7.Greg Coverson 8.Roberto Elizondo 9.Livingstone Bramble 10.Jose Luis Ramirez Lightweight Division '88 1.Julio Cesar Chavez 2.Pernell Whitaker 3.Jose Luis Ramirez 4.Greg Haugen 5.Edwin Rosario 6.Azumah Nelson 7.Amancio Castro 8.Tony Lopez 9.Anthony Jones 10.Rocky Lockridge
Yeah, but the rankings only go back to '24. I'm not very knowledgeable about that division and that time, but when I look back at the rankings there's usually only two or three names I recognize there. Leonard and Dundee, McLarnin and Petrolle, Canzoneri with Berg and Singer. It's hard to get everyone to the party.
Featherweights 2001 Title Vacant 1. Marco Antonio Barrera 2. Erik Morales 3. Naseem Hamed 4. Johnny Tapia 5. Derrick Gainer 6. Manuel Medina 7. Juan Manuel Marquez 8. Frank Toledo 9. Mbulelo Botile 10. William Abelyan Mayweather was just one division north and Pacqiao just one division south.
That's probably the best year for featherweight. The contenders would be 1980 with Salvador Sanchez, Wilfredo Gomez, and Eusebio Pedroza or '48 with Pep, Saddler, and Ray Famechon.
