Rank the following 8 fighters.

I don't remember it. Forgive me, the state of the general has put me in a more condescending mood, perhaps. It's gotten even worse than usual over there.

 

Ofcourse it takes away from Spinks achievement that Holmes was a clearly faded 35yo getting a gift decision in his prior fight. Even that Holmes is better than Ruiz though I won't debate that

Hopkins, if you don't think Tarver is a quality opponent, tell me how many of his fights you've seen and which ones. Probably just the Hopkins fight and Jones 2 by the sounds of it

As for Spinks infinately better LHW resume, I never said it wasn't better I said you underrate Jones resume, which you do. Take Qawi/Muhammed/Johnson from it and its looking pretty weak and I wouldn't even put the latter 2 in a bracket above Tarver/Hill

 

Fair enough Teeto I understand why you consider him great, I consider him very good. I'm not sure he makes my top15 WWs. I consider Norris great in terms of ability and I'm a massive fan, but did he really do enough to go down as a great? It comes back to where you draw the line

 

1. I think he's very fundamentally sound crouching pressure fighter and tough as nails

2. Very good wins, Galivan beat him despite being past his prime I didnt see the controversy, Robinson was old, Ike was a LW. It depends where you draw the line of greatness

3. Robinson was 38 coming out of a 2year retirement to pay his bills and shadow of what he once was. Robinson still had his chin and his power but he didnt have his legs, stamina or reactions

 

That (bolded) is a problem in your analysis, you're only comparing their LHW-HW careers, Jones started his career as a light middleweight the weight he won the Olympics at and his best wins and his best weights are at 160 and 168, so comparing their LHW-HW careers alone is short sighted he's clearly a smaller man than Spinks

As for Tarver not getting a belt in that time, he has his weaknesses but would 5'5 Qawi have an easy time with a 6'3 Tarver? Qawi has the right hand to neutralise him but the size difference is massive like the Spinks fight. I think fights with Johnson/Muhammed would be close calls too.

Lopez was a good win no doubt, and think maybe he could grab a belt at some point pre-Jones. Sutherland and Davis, I really dont think they proved enough

Tarver's run from 2002-2005 is very strong for me. Griffin/Reggie Johnson were ex champs past their primes and good scalps, Harding a top contender who'd beat him (worth watching this 1 below). He then goes 2-1 against an ATG and deserved to go 2-0 against Glen Johnson. Its not great but its a very good run

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f09E5TyPnrI[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkOMVwkcBXc&feature=related[/ame]

Yes Hopkins was older than Tarver but we know Hopkins ages like a fine wine, and stylistically is great against southpaws. Tarver didn't age well and declined after climbing his personal Everest in Roy Jones, Hopkins may well beat him every time anyway. I'm not sure Chad Dawson has an easy time with prime Tarver though but he shut him out a couple of years after Hopkins did too.

 

Something like this;

Roy Jones Jnr
Eder Jofre
Thomas Hearns
Michael Spinks
Alexis Arguello
Julio Cesar Chavez
Carmen Basilio
Larry Holmes

They're all pretty close though - you could probably make a half-decent justification for any order at all.

 

Eder Jofre
Carmen Basilio
Roy Jones Jr
Julio Cesar Chavez
Michael Spinks
Thomas Hearns
Larry Holmes
Alexis Arguello

Jofre and Basilio very close
Chavez , Jones , Spinks and Hearns close too .

 

Addie I await your response?

 

Arguello is so over-rated. He's nowhere near Roy Jones.

 

Éder Jofre
Julio Cesar Chavez
Alexis Arguello
Roy Jones
Michael Spinks
Larry Holmes
Carmen Basilio

Basilio, great fighter, no disrespect, but lose too much....Jones, Chavez, Spinks, Holmes, Jofre and Arguello dont....