Phoenices: Greatest stretches between defeats.

So Foreman doesn't count?

 

This one is definitely legit - Pernell Whitaker. Between 1988 after 'losing' to Jose Luis Ramirez and 1997 losing a split decision to Oscar de La Hoya, he went 9 years without defeat with a record of 25-0-1 and unbeaten in 20 title fights during this period. He beat Ramirez in their rematch, Azumah Nelson, Buddy McGirt twice and of course fought a winning draw against an undefeated Julio Cesar Chavez. A phenomenal run.

 

I take slight issue with Bernard Hopkins being here because I dont know if he deserves a check mark for quality.

Yes he was active with plenty of fights and defenses. He went almost a decade between losses.

But quality opposition I'm not so sure. Most of his defenses were against ordinary contenders. Why in the hell did he have to fight Robert Allen 3 times? And his 2 most notable fights during his reign were against 2 blown up Welterweights. You could even speculate that DLH wasnt even a natural WW in size. Meanwhile Hopkins was nothing short of a physically enormous Middleweight

I'm biased I dont like Hopkins. But I'd love for somebody to tell me those guys he fought in the 90s were something special.

 

I suppose if you look at the sheer total of defenses against top 10 competition over a period of 9 years its impressive. It's hard to stay that good for that long and not have 1 off night. Because even though those guys weren't the greatest fighters ever they still were world level guys.

But none of his victories in a vaccum were impressive victories in a historical sense.