KO's Top 12 Lightweights of the 80's.

1. Edwin Rosario
2. Alexis Arguello
3. Julio Cesar Chavez
4. Hector Camacho
5. Jose Luis Ramirez
6. Livingstone Bramble
7. Ray Mancini
8. Jimmy Paul
9. Howard Davis Jr
10. Pernell Whitaker
11. Harry Arroyo
12. Greg Haugen

 

Chavez had 3 fights at lightweight in his 11 month tilt there. A couple of fantastic wins but fighting there for 1 year out of the 10 years available stunts him immensely. It's amazing he actually makes #3.

Whitaker meaningful fights started in 1987 so he only has three years of notable resume. So during the period he has a win over Mayweather who had been struggling, a loss to #5 JLR, a win over #12 Haugen, a minor win over Lomeli, a rematch schooling of JLR and that is it.

I'm not sure whether they are looking past/factoring in supposed robberies/poor decisions or not. If not he is 1-1 with Ramirez and has a fair over Mayweather and good one over Haugen. It's not near enough to get to #1 imo. I personally would have had him comfortably higher tho.

Rosario is awkward to place but he was the cornerstone of the division along with JLR and was very resilient. He was prominent as early as 1983 and tho he had three losses they were to top dogs Chavez, Camacho and who he finished 1-1 with. His loss to Camacho was controversial (like Pernell and Ramirez) and he actually gained stock from it. In the W column he has Ramirez who was #5, Elizondo, Davis who was #9, Randall, Bramble #6 (who was P4P #3 in boxing at the time) and regained the title right at the end of the decade over Anthony Jones. That's a big W column built over most of the decade.

When i first saw the list near three decades ago i was surprised to see Rosario at the top but after digesting things properly it wasn't so out of place. You cannot have a guy who fought there a few times in one year as #1 and Whitaker did not have enough there in that time period either tho i'd have him well up from where he is. Camacho was short there with about three meaningful fights and so was Arguello with five fights.

Rosario sort of gets it by default for being a cornerstone of the division as well as having some damn good wins and performances in there.

The lists are resume based and imagined H2H has no bearing.

 

Rosario lost to Nazario in 1990 so it has zero bearing on this list. He actually defended his title against Nazario in the 80's and stopped him.

Rosario had three losses in the decade - to Julio Cesar Chavez, Hector Camacho in a close one and to Ramirez who he also edged. His body of work is indeed what got him to the top as Philly hints.

 

To be precise you can technically take Boza Edwards and Ramirez out as Arguello came in a touch over 135 in both fights. As said i am not sure if they are taking certain decisions into account but the Ramirez bout was quite controversial and would be a good one to do as a fight of the week.

 

Chavez proved himself a better fighter than Rosario without a doubt but it still comes back to resume and what you have done for the decade. I couldn't possibly put a guy number 1 who fought for 11 months and 3 fights there in the entire decade. It's not about Rosario vs Chavez and who was better, it's just about their entire body of work.

It's the same with Whitaker. He didn't dominate there at all in the 80's if we factor the loss to Ramirez. After that loss he had Haugen, Lomeli and Ramirez over a 1 1/2 year span. Even if we ignored the Ramirez 1 result there's only 1 3/4 years left in the decade including it. Rosario's win over Bramble gets him a lot of territory too.

It's great that this has some nice discussion going, cheers Sal and Philly.