Here's the bottom line folks; given the time he fought, the competition, the frequency that they fought, not to mention his immense talent, he is clearly the greatest fighter to EVER step into the ring. Jeez-o-Pete the Macy's store folks actually cleared out the store dummys and let him spar in the window which drew one to two thousand people on a regular basis in the latter 40's. In his first loss to LaMotta, a decision, he was outweighed by 15+ pounds! They fought again 2-3 weeks later and Ray virtually ran the table on Jake. After the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" in 1951, Ray's record was 131-1-1!!! (Jose Basora, you have a place in history) His middleweight career was full of excitement. (Before you naysayers talk about his ups and downs in the late 50's consider that he was still scraping after 150 wars!) He was THE GREATEST! Plain and simple. My somewhat weak $0.02
HoI, good post...Hagler was a great MW,and let's not kid ourselves, being a southpaw as Marvin was doesn' hurt...A left-hander always holds an advantage ,for he is used to fighting orthodox fighters, whilst the right-hand fighters are doing everything backwards...I have Ray Robinson over Hagler as a fighter, though Robby was at his prime a welterweight..No one I ever laid eyes on compared with the 147 pound Sugar Ray i saw ringside against a somewhat past Henry Armstrong,and other WWs. As a MW I saw Robby come from behind [a bad cut eye] and obliterate the still formidable Randy Turpin at the old Polo Grounds in 1951..What a victory...This awkward but STRONG Randy Turpin I think decisions Marvin Hagler, both at their bests... Harry Greb was another cup of tea...His frenetic style of fighting was never seen before and never seen since...His opponents, whatever weight larger than him were always on the defense, he never gave his opponents the ball,and one victim was quoted as saying " I thought the ceiling opened up and a carload of gloves came flying at me ". Harry's volumes came from any angle, and you couldn't time him as he was never in the same place for more than a moment...unlimited stamina, with an iron chin made Harry Greb a tough customer indeed...Anyone that could have 300 fights against LHs and heavyweights,and still kick ass ,whilst handicapped with ONE EYE rates as the best P4P fighter ever in my opinion...Cheers...
Greb is the #1 Middleweight. He was beating ATG Light Heavyweights at or around the limit. I like that particular post above because people tend to lay on whatever criticisms MW Robinson opened himself up to after around 130 fights despite his numerous great (and usually KO) wins at the weight. His resume of MWs was already half-way stacked before he even won the title. He could easily be rated above a Monzon or Hagler.