From best to worst. Stevie Johnston Reggie Johnson Kevin Kelley Antonio Tarver Junior Jones Joel Casamayor Vernon Forrest Ike Quartey Kennedy McKinney Tim Austin
Interesting list, a lot of good fairly evenly matched picks from the 90s there Two rough groups emerge imo the more talented one: Reggie Johnson Stevie Johnston Junior Jones Vernon Forrest Ike Quartey Kennedy McKinney A notch or two below overall: Antonio Tarver Kevin Kelley Joel Casamayor Tim Austin Those bottom four are all quite equal at\near peak.Kelley by far my favourite but i couldn't truly say he was outright better than the other three. Of the top group i think Sweet Reggie(middleweight only) and Quartey are the most sturdy and likely to do most respectably against the fighters throughout their divisions history. Jones was as good an offensive talent as either, arguably better but he'd have more bad upsets and KO's along the way i feel. McKinney, Forrest and Jones are relatively similar in approach really, though Forrest was the least relaxed and strong-willed. Stevie was neat, tidy and good at most things technically.Just not much of a physical marvel and lacked any killer weapon\characteristic. Ultimately give me Johnson as the most effective cutie\stylist of the bunch and Quartey as the most beastly offensive powerhouse.
Great post by Lora, though I'm probably tempted to throw McKinney and Jones in with the second tier. Although both were capable of excellence, I feel less assured of them producing it consistently as those in the top tier. Vernon Forrest is also lucky not to be relegated, but I'll excuse his blemishes somewhat due to latter-career injuries.
Also, Vernon's unavenged losses to Mayorga are among the worst of all the prime defeats by any of them. Maybe i was giving him too much credit for his form circa the Mosley wins.He was only rarely impressive after it. Jones has the biggest gap between his bad efforts and his best.Performances against a past prime but still good Canizales and Marco are among the better ones here, displaying some of the strongest basic tools of the group(jab, Right hand)but his losses were brutal and embarassing, even excluding the arguably past prime ones against Morales, Ingle etc
