Examples: William Joppy was a top 5 middleweight for 8 years in a row. Felix Sturm was a top 8 middleweight for 11 years in a row.
I'm not surprised by Sturm. His longevity is a little under appreciated and the fight with DLH almost forgotten. I don't have time to look this one up right now, but I think Tim Witherspoon did something like 12 straight years in the rankings. He kept lurking in the top ten during Tyson's reign and in the early 90s despite doing little and then made some noise again around 95. Edit: they took him out of the rankings for several years in the early nineties and then put him back in 96-97. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah, it was a shame he was frozen out after leaving King. He couldn't get many significant fights. It preserved him, though and he was able to perfom admirably until age 39 when he barely lost to Mercer.
He did fall out of the top ten for awhile in the early nineties but then came back in from 96-97. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Why is Joppy's rating surprising? He was a top 3 MW for years and for a time was considered Hopkins' only real contender for the first place. Joppy was a good fighter. Im not sure why he doesnt get more respect. He benefitted from and gets hurt by the fact that Don King kept him away from Hopkins but outside of Hopkins I dont think there was a better MW for a long stretch of time during the late 90s up until Tito came along.
Top 5 for 8 years in a row is a seldom accomplished feat. Especially for a non-great fighter like Joppy, who always only seemed marginally better than most of the other top contenders of his weak era, imo. As far as I can tell, the only middlweights to pull it off in the history of the rankings are: Tony Zale Jake LaMotta Gene Fullmer Marvin Hagler William Joppy Bernard Hopkins Sergio Martinez
He was ranked in more years than any other heavyweight in history! I saw him in a different light when the penny dropped on that one!
