Has the talent at middle weight gone up or down over the past 40 years? Today the ten best guys according to Ring Magazine are: Champion - Pavlik Abraham Wright Strum Sylvester Castillejo Asikainen Griffin Joval Lopez Duddy Here are some previous years in ten year intervals from 2008: 1998: [url]Bernard Hopkins[/url] [url]William Joppy[/url] [url]Hacine Cherifi[/url] [url]Keith Holmes[/url] [url]Otis Grant[/url] [url]Antwun Echols[/url] [url]Robert Allen[/url] [url]Robert McCracken[/url] [url]Ryan Rhodes[/url] [url]Julio Cesar Green[/url] 1988: [url]Sumbu Kalambay[/url], Champion [url]Michael Nunn[/url] [url]Sugar Ray Leonard[/url] [url]Roberto Duran[/url] [url]Iran Barkley[/url] [url]Thomas Hearns[/url] [url]Herol Graham[/url] [url]Mike McCallum[/url] [url]Darrin Van Horn[/url] [url]Julian Jackson[/url] [url]Rene Jacquot[/url] 1978: [url]Hugo Pastor Corro[/url], Champion [url]Marvin Hagler[/url] [url]Vito Antuofermo[/url] [url]Ronnie Harris[/url] [url]Marcos Geraldo[/url] [url]Mike Colbert[/url] [url]Bennie Briscoe[/url] [url]Rudy Robles[/url] [url]Tony Chiaverini[/url] [url]Elijah Makathini[/url] [url]Bobby Watts[/url] 1968: [url]Nino Benvenuti[/url], Champion [url]Don Fullmer[/url] [url]Luis Rodriguez[/url] [url]Stanley Hayward[/url] [url]Emile Griffith[/url] [url]Sandro Mazzinghi[/url] [url]Juan Carlos Duran[/url] [url]Carlos Monzon[/url] [url]Doyle Baird[/url] [url]Denny Moyer[/url] [url]Freddie Little[/url] >>I think the talent at middle weight has remained pretty good even with the creation of the new super middleweight division in 1990.
It's absolutely terrible right now compared to previous decades, other than the late nineties, which was dire was well.
About the same. Say, 1968, some may look up the names of Rodrigues and Griffith and say that's cool, but they were blown up welterweights, Monzon was a nobody yet, and Benvenuti has been somewhat overrated over the years. Now, say, 1993 had a much better one than all five listed above: For the period ending April 15, 1993 1. Julian Jackson 2. Reggie Johnson 3. Roy Jones 4. Sumbu Kalambay 5. Gerald McClellan 6. Bernard Hopkins 7. Thomas Tate 8. Lamar Parks 9. Otis Grant 10. Frederic Seillier
It's a nice list of names and one of the last good years imo. Howver if you are going to dismiss the likes of Griffith then it's only fair to point out that Kalambay and Jackson were washed up(neither were good fighters anymore and nor were Seillier, Grant or punching bag Tate)and most of the other good names were largely unproven. I think it's better to look at a period of years rather than one alone for these kind of debates.
