How do you rate already established great fighters in unconventional i.e. junior or super weight classes? This question is based on some (imo) unreasonably high listings of established greats who were effectively passing through these weight classes in Ring magazine's top 5 per division listings of 1994. An example of what I mean: Barney Ross was one of the all-time great lightweights and welterweights and is a well-established p4p top 30 on most lists. He also won the junior welterweight title. Does he deserve a higher ranking in that division's history than Antonio Cervantes (as per the Ring's ranking), or is he merely an interesting footnote, similar to someone like Sugar Ray Leonard at super middle? Does a fighter who was an all-time great deserve to be ranked highly in a division he was passing through because he was overall a greater fighter than anyone else who actually spent time establishing their own greatness particular to that junior division?
Not for me, but I'm not really into ranking fighters or placing importance on lists etc. I'd rate Cervantes as a greater light welter than Ross even though Barney was a greater fighter and might very well have won a fight between the two. That's just me though.
the last question is great. No I don't think so. Otherwise Hearns would be rated at lightheavyweight.. Although. he beat Virgil Hill, and Hill is on some lists. Does that make Hearns get a ranking there? Probably not. He only had 3 title fights at 175 out of his 19 total title fights.
I might be thick and be misunderstanding the question, but are you asking if a fighter's overall greatness should bolster their resume's in weight classes where they didn't do a whole lot of weight? For instance, should Pernell Whitaker's overall greatness boost his rather sparse achievements at 140 when discussing his historical ranking at junior welterweight? If that is your question, then no.
Hearns and Hill are good examples of this, although I was thinking about more recent weight classes, rather than light heavyweight. Hearns was an already great fighter while Hill made his career at light-heavyweight (the quality of his own reign is a separate conversation, though).
The Jr. Welter Division was not well recognized in the early half of the 1900 century: In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, in which boxers weigh above 135 pounds and up to 63.5 kg or 140 pounds. The first champion of this weight class was Pinky Mitchell in 1926, though he was only awarded his championship by a vote of the readers of the Boxing Blade magazine. There was not widespread acceptance of this new weight division in its early years, and the New York State Athletic Commission withdrew recognition of it in 1930. The National Boxing Association continued to recognize it until its champion, Barney Ross relinquished the title in 1935 to concentrate on regaining the welterweight championship. A few commissions recognized bouts in the 1940s as being for the light welterweight title, but the modern beginnings of this championship date from 1959 when Carlos Ortiz won the vacant title with a victory over Kenny Lane. Both the WBA and WBC recognized the same champions until 1967, when the WBC stripped Paul Fuji of the title and matched Pedro Adigue and Adolph Pruitt for their version of the championship. Adigue won a fifteen-round decision. The International Boxing Federation recognized Aaron Pryor as its first champion in 1984. Julio César Chávez holds the division record for the most consecutive title defenses with 12. He also defended the title an additional 4 times after regaining it
