This was done a few years ago, when Hopkins was the champion. They excluded active fighters, so B-Hop wasn't on the list. 20. Nonpareil Jack Dempsey 19. Joey Giardello 18. Tommy Ryan 17. Bob Fitzsimmons 16. Rodrigo Valdes 15. Gene Fullmer 14. Dick Tiger 13. Emile Griffith 12. Tony Zale 11. Marcel Cerdan 10. Billy Conn 9. Mickey Walker 8. Stanley Ketchel 7. Tiger Flowers 6. Charley Burley 5. Jake LaMotta 4. Marvin Hagler 3. Carlos Monzon 2. Sugar Ray Robinson 1. Harry Greb
Don't know much about lamotta and his competition, knew he was a tough sob. lost to SRR 4 out of 5, beat cerdan thoguh cerdan was injured in the fight, beat zivic I think 3 out of 4. reagrding the rest don't know how good they were. Also anyone know why he wasn't in the service? or was he. 40 fights during the war years a/p cyberboxing records. If he was able to fight why not in the service (flat feet?) Also agree SRR is too high as a Middle
I'm pretty sure I have that issue laying around the house somewhere. Pretty good issue actually, I think it coincided with the then upcoming Hopkins-DLH match. If I remember it also lists the top 20 middleweight bouts through history. Greb at #1 is a good pick, but yeah Robinson and Lamotta are a bit high, though theyboth would probably be in my top 10 somewhere.
Because he is. He was just tough. He had limited skills, and would be picked apart by guys like Monzon, Burley, and even Zale. Raging Bull is responsible for LaMotta's overratedness. LaMotta probably isn't even top 10 to be honest with you.:good
Raging Bull is also responsible for LaMotta being looked upon as a powerful guy without much skills or defense, when he was known for being crafty and slipping and rolling with shots well.
thats why he gave robinson some of his toughest fights, beat marcel cerdan, was the #1 contender for the middleweight crown for 4 years, was the middleweight champ, and was only knocked down once in 106 fights. a very poor fighter indeed.:yep
Robinson was a natural welterweight, LaMotta was at least a natural super middleweight (cutting weight and picking on a lot of smaller fighters). Cerdan got an injury in the very first round, that had reduced him to a punching bag against aggressive LaMotta. McCall and Chuvalo weren't off their feet, but it doesn't mean they have more than average skills.
Ketchel too low, Lamotta right below top 3-4 :good Jake would give anyone trouble* tough style, Walker could be higher,Great body puncher
The first four choices are fine. After that it becomes elephant dung. LaMotta at #5 and Flowers at #7? A bit too high for Mr. Lamotta and Mr. Flowers. No Roy Jones?
A very ordinary list but I suppose the good folks at Ring had to fill their fair and unbiased top 20 with an adequate amount of American fighters (14 by my count) to keep their public happy. Although what Billy Conn ever did at middleweight to achieve a spot is anyones guess,considering how patchy his record was at middleweight,and the fact he was a much better fighter at Lt Heavy. Honestly a list of great middleweights that can't find a place for the great Les Darcy is a dud as far as I'm concerned.