Is Nino Benvenuti an ATG middleweight?

i'd say he was

 

This thread reminds me of Amir Khan's post fight interview against Mallignaggi where he started calling everyone who was a top 10 contender in his division a 'great fighter', which in some ways maybe true, it depends on your definition

I wouldn't call Benvenuti great, specifically I'm not too sure he makes the top20 MWs

 

Apparently Benvenuti had some unusual training methods. They included having a shot of potent alcohol in the mornings. Was there any mention of this in the program?

 

I think he falls just short of that, a very good champ but not an ATG, imo.

 

True. A decent one. But not a good one.

 

I disagree, why should there not be more ATG than just the Top Ten say, I think any fighter who establishes himself as Champion makes defences over fellow great fighters (and wins) should be classed an ATG.

Also Middleweight has a lot of talent IMO. Monzon, Hagler, Tiger, Ketchell, Fitzsimmons, Hopkins, Griffith, Rodriguez, Burley, Marshall, Robinson, Lamotta, Fullmer, Dempsey, etc....

That is pretty talent laden IMO.

It is just our definition of ATG that is differing rather than our actual ranking of him though.

 

MW is third in termes of talent after LW and WW IMO.

 

Anyone, in my mind, who beats Emile Griffith in a trilogy then KO's Luis Manuel Rodriguez should be regarded very highly. He also established himself as the supreme ruler just slightly before losing to Monzon, with people thinking he (Benvenuti) could reign for a long time.

The win over Luis Manuel Rodriguez is huge in my mind. Although Rodriguez was not quite at his best, he was still a formidable operater and had beaten, and not just beaten but schooled, top Middleweights over that decade, like Giambra, Armstrong etc...

 

Benvenuti might not be up there with the very greatest middleweights of all time, but considering he was a natural 154 pounder, I think he WAS a great fighter, and within the top 120 p4p or so.

Imo he sits comfortably with the likes of Tiger Flowers, Joey Archer, Gene Fullmer, Jake LaMotta, Mike McCallum, Marcel Cerdan, Tony Zale, those sorts of guys.

 

:goodThe Mike McCallum of his day?

 

Of course he is.