How would you rank these decades in terms of welterweight fight quality? Which is best, 2nd best and third best? 1990s Pernell Whitaker vs. Buddy McGirt I Meldrick Taylor vs. Aaron Davis Pernell Whitaker vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Oscar De la Hoya vs. Ike Quartey Aaron Davis vs. Mark Breland Ike Quartey vs. Crisanto Espana Simon Brown vs. Maurice Blocker Ike Quartey vs. Jose Luis Lopez Felix Trinidad vs. Pernell Whitaker Pernell Whitaker vs. Buddy McGirt II 1980s Roberto Duran vs. Sugar Ray Leonard I Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Tommy Hearns I Donald Curry vs. Marlon Starling I Donald Curry vs. Marlon Starling II Marlon Starling vs. Simon Brown Simon Brown vs. Tyrone Trice I Marlon Starling vs. Lloyd Honeyghan Marlon Starling vs. Mark Breland I Wilfred Benitez vs. Pete Ranzany Jorge Vaca vs. Lloyd Honeyghan 1970s Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Wilfred Benitez Roberto Duran vs. Carlos Palomino Wilfred Benitez vs. Carlos Palomino Wilfred Benitez vs. Harold Weston II Jose Napoles vs. Clyde Gray Jose Napoles vs. Hedgemon Lewis I Jose Napoles vs. Armando Muniz I Carlos Palomino vs. John Stracey Carlos Palomino vs. Armando Muniz I Pipino Cuevas vs. Randy Shields Carlos Palomino vs. Hedgemon Lewis If you want a criteria for fight quality this is what I used: 50% = action 30% = skill/ability involved 20% = competitiveness I'm sure I've missed some good fights given that I put this list together without a great deal of thought. Anyone that wants to add fights they feel trump these for the decade in justifying their ranking decision is welcome. :good
I dunno man. I haven't even seen all of those fights, and there are some there that i've seen once and there are some there that I haven't seen in years...I can tell you that I enjoy watching the 90's ww's generally, best out of those on the list and that Whitaker is the best fighter on that list to watch.
:good I think welterweight is one of the few divisions that didn't drop off badly in the 90's compared to previous decades (heavyweight probably being the other which had a decent period). That said, I'm probably still inclined to go with the 80's as first. Tough to distinguish the 90's and 70's.
Suffers a little for lack of competitiveness and perhaps ability as far as the dessicated Curry goes, but still I'm happy for it to rate a mention, especially given that you could lay those criticisms at the feet of a good many of the fights I have up there.
Honeyghan's ability and performance more than made up for Curry's inability to compete with him. And I think the "weight drained" excuse was over-sold from day one. It's not really a legit excuse for a world champion to make, IMO. It's half a reputation-saver in many people's eyes though.
I'd probably go for the 70s too. With 80s close behind. By I'm in the same boat as McGrain on this, I simply haven't seen all those fights, or only seen some of them only once years ago. Probably half of them I'm not familiar with enough to rate them.
1- 1980´s......More skilled fighters involved.....High Competitiveness..... I would say Davis vs Breland is the best in terms of action.....but in the 80´s you still have Brown vs Tryce, a great action fight.... 1970´s and 1990`s are very close......
The 1970's had a good spread of solid fights without many outstanding ones. Probably the most depth as far as quality fights goes. As an aside, I think if I did a list for the 60's it would blow the 70's, 80's and 90's out of the water...