Following on from Russell's interesting thread about surviving great fighters. My question is: Is Eder Jofre the greatest fighter still alive? If so would Carlos Ortiz be runner up?
I would agree with Jofre, and very impressive going 25-0 in his comeback and winning title in another division ... Duran is still alive and in the conversation
Yeah, they're the greatest two I can think of off the top of my head. I think I might rank Carlos higher than Eder though, by a little bit. Not sure. I've never properly managed an ATG list to any accurate degree outside of the top 15 or so mainly through not putting much stock in lists, but at a guess I'd have them both somewhere in the top 25 to 35. Jofre had greater longevity and success at a fully higher classic weight past his prime with fewer defeats. Ortiz though defeated a significantly higher number of great/excellent fighters and was dominant over his contemporaries in a similar vein to Jofre despite being an undedicated alky in the historically deepest division of all time who spent half his time training in the casinos (with the very occasional upset defeat to show for it). Jofre has Medel x 2, Caldwell, Miranda, Caraballo, Marquez, Rollo, Sanchez, Jamito, Arias, Legra, Yaoita and old man Saldivar. I also think he beat Harada in the research, which lifts his standing significantly imo. But Ortiz beat Laguna x 2, Loi, Locche, Lane x 2, Ramos x 2, Elorde x 2, Rosi, Vaillant, Busso, Bizzarro, Charnley, Old Bones, Torres, Matthews and Kosaka amongsa others. Both of them are amongst the greatest fighters captured on film.
Also, Ortiz should've gotten his shot at the lightweight title at least two years earlier than he did. Brown avoided him for as long as he could imo, which was why he jumped up to light welter initially. And he was supposedly robbed in Italy against Loi in their second fight. Flip side, I think Jofre was unlucky to possibly not have excellent fighters like Macias and Becerra on his ledger early doors, which would have elevated his standing even more. They both retired young.
I wonder if there are any unheralded journeymen still around, quietly aging well into their 80's or perhaps even 90's, for all intents and purposes living off the grid. Having not talked to a single media outlet or publication in decades. No fanfare, no great story made out of their careers, even though they themselves fought any number of legends. There must be a few of them out there still that no one is quite sure of. Basically, it could be any number of fighters we don't have a confirmed death date on... I'm sure that in itself could become a complicated topic of discussion, confirming much of anything about fighters from the 50's and earlier. I know new fights have recently been added to the resume of fighters as "recent" as the likes of Ruben Olivares. Makes you wonder how people can be so flaky with keeping records.
