List: 1975 Ring Magazine All-time Top Ten in Each Division

And I am supposed to take these old wags seriously when they put an Ali and all he accomplished by '75 below Corbett, Fitz and Tunney?

 

It’s important to remember that it’s best to wait until a guy retires. It’s pretty incredible that both Frazier and Ali make it whilst still active.

Interesting Sonny Liston was long dead and still not rated..

 

So true. I remember reading the Ring's 5 best fighters per division back in 1994 and in 20 years the lists were almost unrecognisable from these ones in '75.

 

Wow! Hard to believe it's been 40 years since that list. I recall looking at it when i bought the issue hot off the stands and grumbling to myself, "The same as Nat Fleischer's list only shuffled around a bit." In actuality, the writers who compiled the list such as Dan Daniel, Nat Loubet, et al, were all Fleischer's old cronies/yes men, so it doesn't surprise me that Liston was left out recalling how Nat felt about Liston and how they were probably growling with the begrudging inclusion of Ali.

 

Sugar Ray Robinson not being in the top ten welterweights is offensive. They had him at no. 2 in 1994 so they eventually corrected their error.

 

On Fleischer's list he would not rate any fighter in two or three divisions. Only one. So, it should not surprise anyone that all his old cronies/yes men did the same. I personally have always rated a fighter in multiple divisions if I think he rated it. I think failing to do so penalizes a fighter for being good.

 

How did Nat feel about Liston after Maine? I have a collection of my fathers magazines from the early Liston period and Nat is a big booster for Liston getting his shot. Articles imploring that it only Sonnys boxing record, not his police record, that should count.

 

Crazy

 

Sugar Ray Robinson not being rated as number 1 in the top ten welterweights back then is offensive.

 

You got to remember. Though Ali was a hero to most under 30, in 1975 most over 40 and white hated him for his stance on Vietnam. I'm sure a certain amount of bias factored in his opnion. And not havingR.Robinson listed at welter tells me all I need to know about the writer and his rankings...

 

Look at the lightweight rankings. All but Ortiz and Brown fought in the stone age. Duran was in the process of tearing up the division.

 

Exactly...