Was there any other fighters, in the same era as these guys, who were on the verge of becoming or could of became as legendary as these four Boxers? If so, who were they? And why didn't they becomes as highly spoke about as these guys?
Wilfred Benitez should have been part of them. He lost to Leonard and Hearns, but beat Duran, all in title fights. Had he fought Hagler, it would have been called the fab 5.
Pryor - career cut short by drugs. McCallum - didn't get the right fights. Kalambay - late exposure, lost his biggest fight in a terrible fashion. Sanchez - died in a car crash. Chang - fought in a midget division. Curry - didn't last long enough at high level. Galaxy - became a legend and a certified top 10 P4P ATG.:tong
what was rare about this era was none of them really dominated completely, and the fights had everything, Knockouts, brawls, boxing exhibition, controversy. They were so different in boxing style and personality that their fights were always intriguing, and the odd thing is they fought between them 11 times if you count Benitez in exactly a 10 year period. Ray probably comes out the best of all of them since he did beat all of them including Benitez.
Shame about Benitez. If only his mental state and self discipline had matched his sublime talents. Mike McCallum could easily have become one of the 'Kings' He never got any match ups with the 'Big 4'
Interesting read,frank. I respect a lot of your views,rather than agree,with them on it. Glad to see Carlos Palomino's name mentioned. A fine fighter who was unlucky to have come along in that golden era.
