Khaosai Galaxy is considered as one of the best Asian fighters of all time but it's so hard for me to envision him as a real ATG considering how weak his opposition is. ATG puncher for sure but his resume leaves a lot to be desired.
Seems that there are always going to be boxing fans that favor one fighter and not another fighter. And vice versa, groups of fans that are not in favor of certain Fighters. It all seems to equal out to me in the end.
Mike Tyson Yes, he beat two ATGs. One was old and inactive and the other was a blown up light heavyweight. Against the two best fighters of his era he was 0-3.
I mean, Nonito Donaire, Omar Narvaez, Ryoichi Taguchi, Stephen Fulton, and Manny Rodriguez were all great fighters in their weight classes (Donaire is an ATG full stop of course though). Inoue has certainly made a sizeable claim as a top 10 BW (no small feat given how stacked a division it is historically) and is in the process of making a claim for surpassing Wilfredo Gomez as GOAT of 122. His resume has a fair bit of depth and if he clears 122 by beating Goodman, Akhmadaliev, and Junto, I personally think that would set him in the ballpark of top 30 of all time honestly (if not even higher depending on the nature of the performances).
Not yet but he’s well on his way. I don’t think he is over rated, he’s only a known name in boxing the casuals haven’t caught on yet. They will soon though.
Sugar Ray Leonard. Here's my case: - Lost definitively to Duran in their first fight. Duran forced SRL to fight that way, I hate the narrative that SRL just forgot to box and so slugged it out inside. - He timed the rematch so that Duran would be out of shape, knowing he was partying and overweight, scheduled the fight really soon. I know this sort of thing happens occassionally in boxing but in the Duran documentary SRL brags about this and says he did it on purpose to catch Duran out. - The rematch was competitive. But SRL won by clowning, not by showing he was the better boxer. He then waited Duran out for nearly a decade when he was past his best. - Was losing the fight to Hearns. Fair play to him coming back to win by knockout, that's an atg win. It was his power that saved him that night tho, not his skill. I always find it funny when people talk about SRL being an insanely sklilled boxer when his power and chin were his standout attributes. - Lost to Hearns in the rematch but got a gift decision. - Arguably lost to Hagler. Close fight, could maybe have been a draw. Regardless, he only fought Hagler because he saw him struggle with Mugabi and so thought he had a chance at winning. Shows why he didn't fight him years before. Didn't fight Pryor when a lot of people expected him to as well. - He's obviously a good fighter but he won mainly through gift decisions or making sure fights were unfairly stacked in his favour. If we're talking right now it's Crawford. I just can't get the hype.
Besides Donaire, not a single name on that list is a “great” fighter.. With that said, Inoue will almost certainly go down as an ATG and rightfully so - although as I’ve said in other threads, I do believe he is over rated (in a sense), mostly due to a weak resume (by no fault of his own). If we’re calling Stephen Fulton a “great” fighter, then we have considerably lowered the bar for being great.
