Greatest single win for each weight division

HW - Ali/Foreman
CW - Holy/Qawi
LHW - Charles/Moore III
SMW - Jones/Toney
MW - LaMotta/Robinson II
JMW - Hearns/Benítez
WW - Durán/Leonard I
JWW - Benítez/Cervantes
LW - DeJesús/Durán I
SFW - Elorde/Saddler I
FW - Pep/Saddler II
SBW - Gómez/Zárate
BW - Harada/Jofre I
SFly - Moon/Nana?*
Fly - Gonzalez/Canto*
LFly - Zapata/Chang I

*Dunno about these to be honest.

 

So we are counting a "win" where most objective viewers thought was "loss"? Even if you scored the bout for Zapata, he did it against a 19 year old in his first title fight who couldn't train due to a foot injury. Consider me unimpressed.

I like most of your other picks.

 

HW: Schmeling/Louis I
LHW: Charles/Moore III

 

I think Douglas beating Tyson was the greatest win ever at Heavyweight

 

Yeah I thought that too, but in fairness he does have a win over the most talented fighter in the divisions history and pretty much the undisputed H2H king.

Even under the scenario that it is, I'd say it's more impressive than Chocolatito's over Estrada.

 

I guess it depends on how we determine "great" or "greatest" win. Sure, beating a great fighter is important; but equally important is winning convincingly - at least in my definition. That's why I consider Duran's win over Leonard in Montreal the greatest win ever. Leonard was not only an all-time top 10 pound-per-pound type of guy and top 2 or 3 welterweight ever at his peak; Duran spanked Leonard and showed he was the clear superior when both were at their best.

 

Jones Toney definitely for 168

 

I also think this is very important for "greatest win" conversation. For this reason I consider Bob Fitzsimmons win over Jack Dempsey at MW. Is it a bad choice?

 

How in the world do you come up with two fights that were the odd result in a series and say THAT ONE is the greatest win?

Everyone claims Pep is the greatest featherweight ever and Sandy beat him three out of four and destroyed hi in the first fight, make him quit like a dog in the third and battered him in the fourth ... but the one he lost is the greatest win in the history of the division?

Likewise, a 10-round LaMotta win in a non-title fight against a welterweight is the greatest middleweight fight in the history of 160 pounds? And not Robinson battering him along the ropes for the championship? Or his other four wins over the bigger, stronger man?

Please.

 

Robinson is better than LaMotta, ergo, a win over Robinson is more impressive than a win over LaMotta.

Pep, coming off a complete thrashing, whilst past prime and who'd been in a ****ing PLANE CRASH, came back and beat the 2nd best in that division ever. Saddler beating Pep is the 2nd best ever at FW beating a degraded version of the best. The 2nd fight is a degraded Pep beating a peak Saddler. I know which I find more impressive.

Also probably just an oversight, but I actually have 4 picks like that. Elorde also lost to Saddler, but him too. And of course, DeJesús lost to Durán twice as well.

 

Greb win over Tunney should also be very high among the greatest wins ever.

 

And Gonzalez lost twice to Canto.

All I've seen of Gonzalez's win is the last four rounds. He looked better than Canto (I gave him three of them), and as the thirteenth was starting the announcer (who was Venezuelan, to be fair) said that Gonzalez had pretty much sewn it up already. I'd guess that it was a legitimate win, but without a complete version it's hard to say if it's more impressive than Park/Canto.

 

So the greatest win has to be an upset? I don’t see it that way.

And don’t get me started on Pep — yes, he was in a plane crash. And he came back and won 26 fights in a row after that plane crash before meeting Saddler ... go find me one contemporaneous account where writers are talking about him being past prime, on his way down. He had, in fact, regained his old form and recovered. (The pro wrestler Ric Flair also broke his back in a plane crash and had his best years after that ... it’s not like Willie severed his spine — he would have been paralyzed if that had happened. It’s a remarkable comeback but let’s not act like this is old Joe Louis fighting Marciano — Willie was still considered the best at 126 at the time and no one was saying he was done.)

The losses to Sadler are the only ones on Pep’s record in a span of like 60 fights from the plane crash to his next defeat.

To act like Saddler stopping him in four rounds is not a big deal when Pep boxed at the world class level for a decade after the plane crash, to say he was done at this time and a shell of himself, is bullspit.

 

Heavyweight- Schmeling ko Louis
Lt-Heavyweight-Spinks dec Qawi
Middle-Turpin dec Robinson
Jr-Middle-
Welter-Armstrong dec. Ross
Jr-Welter-Pryor ko Arguello
Light-Duran ko DeJesus 1978
Jr-Light-Arguello ko Escalera
Feather-Chacon ko Lopez
JrFeather-Gomez ko Zarate
Bantam-Zarate ko Zamora
Jrban-Jiro dec Poontarrant
Fly-Villa ko Wilde
Lower-who gives a rat's ass. 5th grade Bill Wolf ko Rick Kessler in the Hollow after school.