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Boxing fans are divided into two schools of thought I think: (1) those who believe you have to have seen footage of a boxer to have an opinion on them, and (2) those who believe you can have an opinion on a boxer having never actually seen them fight. I believe both schools of thought are perfectly legitimate, so I wouldn't take issue with your point of view.

Personally, I used to belong to (1) but now I belong to (2). My reasons for changing my position on this are (a) I have realized just how much you can learn about boxing by reading different sources, both primary and secondary, and (b) it seems a bit silly and a bit disrespectful to me that boxing fans like ourselves should choose to ignore/reject/forget some of the amazing fighters that shaped the formative years of our sport.


IMO :bbb

 

You're right, those four untouchables are out there on their own without question, I simply chose to make the first tier of eight because I strongly feel that my top 8 is THE top 8, I don't think it can be altered or changed. I'm pretty sure you would disagree over Ali and Duran, but for me that 8 is set in stone, so that's why I went with that top division.

Williams was in my thoughts for the original 50, but didn't make it. Upon subsequent revision, I realized that to have Williams below guys like Michael Spinks and Marciano was lunacy. If I have Burley around 20, I cannot have Williams not even making the 50.

You say that I got the 1-55 right - other than the inclusion of Foreman and Dempsey, what do you think of the 55-100 listing??

I sneaked Dempsey in at the end because I feared excluding him would have been to do so on the basis of what he didn't do rather than because of my rating of what he did. OK, he never fought Wills (and others), and that will (rightfully) always be a black mark against his name, but I don't think that excluding him for not doing some things is right. Considering what he did do, he was a damn good heavyweight and beat some good challengers, and although he had a size advantage on Tunney, Tunney was a special fighter (as Harry Greb would testify) and Dempsey should have got one win of those two fights obviously. A man who deserves his place in the pantheon of historic heavyweight champions.

I didn't actually want to include old Shoddy Resume as I have been saying for months that I didn't think he would make it into a top 100, but I promised myself that if I wrote it and he ended up in there, I wouldn't boot him out. It took me a long long time to decide on those last two or three places as there was a wealth of great fighters going to be left out, guys whose styles and mentalities I much much prefer to Calzaghe, but his standing at supermiddleweight swung it his way in the end. The guy is the #1 smw ever in terms of achievement and longevity, so in the end he made it by the skin of his cherrypicking teeth. The *******.

:good

 

That's a shame, your input would have been appreciated.

 

Wills is considerably higher up than Dempsey??? So is Liston???

 

Oscar De La Hoya won world titles in 6 weight divisions

Oscar De La Hoya has a better resume than Tito

Oscar De La Hoya beat Tito convincingly when they fought IMO

For those 3 reasons, I cannot place Tito in the same tier, though I like both fighters.


And we disagree on Chavez, for me his resume does not justify second tier, and to talk of him being in the 1st tier is just silly.

 

McGrain you are misunderstanding - look at my list, I have ranked Harry Wills and Sonny Liston both far higher than I have ranked Jack Dempsey the heavyweight. Wills is in the 51-60 bracket, Dempsey 91-100. I agree with you, Wills's resume is FAR superior, hence my ranking of them both. Look at the bloody list!!!!

 

Cheers mate. I love Sanchez but I'm sorry, I think Pac is where he belongs on that list. I'm telling you, if he beats Hatton to win a world title at a 6th weight, then beats Mayweather, then wins a title at welterweight for a 7th weight division, and retires as the only 7 weight champ ever and the only man in history to win world titles at flyweight and welterweight, we're talking deep in the top 10 IMO, Roberto Duran and Ezzard Charles class! It's all if's and but's now, but I think Pac has the potential to do this. We'll know better in a year. :good

 

at you getting all hot and bothered there! Hey, if we didn't care about things like this we wouldn't be the boxing fans we are.