HEARNS. HOLYFIELD. M SPINKS. HOPKINS. Who was most effective at their peak?

I'd say probably Tommy Hearns. While the other's are all superb fighters, Hearns at his peak was almost impossible to outbox due to his jab, range and speed. He also had the power to take you out in an instant. The only way to really beat him was to knock him out, but it's no easy feat getting inside the reach and avoiding his quick hands and big punchers for long enough to be able to do so.

A point on Hopkins, I can't actually pinpoint when his peak was. He seems to be getting better and better with age. Obviously he isn't at his physical peak, but arguably in terms of his intelligence, execution in the ring and technical ability, he's as good as he's ever been if not better than he's ever been.

 

Hearns went from welter to cruiser.... and nearly killed Duran. Cant argue with that.

 

Your poll is rather like a poll that asks, "Which is better, chocolate cake or apple pie?"

I voted for Hearns, but I am biased as hell when it comes to "The Motor City Cobra!"

 

Hearns of these four, but TommyV makes an excellent point in that it's hard to determine when exactly Hopkins peak was.

 

I agree with you, but he doesn't make it easy when he puts on a performance like he did in his last fight or in his fight with Tarver
It's hard to tell someone thats not a "prime" Hopkins.

 

Stupid topic coming from a stupid person,
Clown:good

 

Why because there's no Calzaghe option?

 

Agreed he was "prime" when he beat Tito, but where exactly would you say he was past prime? The Taylor fights? This is one thing that I find hard to determine.

 

The real question is when was Hopkins peak ... I think its still ahead of him

 

Shouldn't you be having the daily train ran on you by your cousins right about now?

 

I voted Spinks. The shadow cast over him by the Tyson nightmare really clouds peoples judgement of how good he was @ LHW. Never beaten, a good long reign including v's over: Qawi, Mustafa Muhammad, Marvin Johnson, and good old Yaqui Lopez. Although he had good success mainly because of his skills, his heavyweight forray was pushin' it a bit too far for his natural body size, would have been a great cruiserweight though.

 

Good post :good Unfortunately when people think of Spinks they simply look at his career like it was only 91 seconds long. :verysad