I don't have the relevant Ring magazine rankings. But he beat Cerdan two months before Cerdan beat him, and then figured at #5 in Ring's ratings a few months later. So it is possible.
It is and I think it's likely. I'm 99% sure Georgie was number five too, he took out the champ, so it's all down to Williams. The problem with Williams is I suspect he was eliminated from the top five before he met Cerdan by Bert Lytell. Either two or three months before. But I don't know that - he might have been number five, because he was beaten when he was number two.
Lloyd Marshall might be worth a look. He has a lot of impressive wins, although how many of them occurred at the middleweight limit I'm not sure of.
GGG has 2 more wins- Lemieux (ranked top 5 by both Ring & TBRB) and Murray (ranked #4 by TBRB but #6 by Ring).
I think Proksa needs removed, however. The Ring had him at #9 before the Golovkin fight. Proksa was as high as #4 before he was upset by Hope in early 2012, though I recall there being controversy around the decision. Of course if Golovkin had actually gotten Pirog, the original opponent, that would constitute another.
I'd wager he has just one, might be two. Teddy definitely wasn't ranked; Burley definitely was, though. Basora was fresh off a win over LaMotta, but Jake was quite young then and both Jake and Jose were yet to fight Robinson. Just checked, both Burley and Basora were ranked top five.
Wow, I just checked Burley's record and I could only see two guys he beat who were top five at the time. Holman Williams and Joe Carter.
Massively cheating, as he had already left middleweight for Zale, but Billy Conn? Teddy Yarosz Vince Dundee Young Corbett III Solly Krieger Tony Zale I understand perfectly why this will not count but I do not accept it. Either way, four's pretty good. Edit: Oh silly me, how could I have forgotten Steele's demolition of Dundee. Bollocks. Maybe Risko was top five??
