The Fifty Greatest Featherweights of All Time

Tier I
Willie Pep, Sandy Saddler

Tier II
Abe Attell, Sal Sanchez, Alexis Arguello, Vincente Saldivar, George Dixon,, Eusebio Pedroza, John Klibane, Freddie Miller, Young Griffo.

Tier III
Azumah Nelson, Marco Antonio Barrera, Henry Armstrong, Louis Kaplan, Battling Battalino, Prince Naseem, Jim Driscoll, Kid Chocolate.

Tier IV
Baby Arizmendi, Young Corbett II, Terry McGovern.

Tier V
Sugar Ramos, Danny Lopez, Davey Moore, Hogan Bassey, Chalky Wright, Chris John, Freddie Norwood, Jeff Fenech, Barry McGuigan

Tier VI
Antonio Esparragoza, Young-Kyun Park, Juan Manuel Marquez, Solly Smith, Eugene Criqui , Johnny Famechon, Howard Winstone, Fidel LaBarba

Tier VII
Eder Jofre, Ernesto Marcel,Owen Moran, Johnny Dundee, Tony Canzoneri, Sal Bartolo, Jose Legra, Kuniaki Shibata, Percy Bassett, Benny Yanger.

 

Yes, in. You rarely disappoint.

 

If you were calling on the next 20, i'd say "bravo", but i think not for your man here. A couple of his best wins above the poundage and he lost to Scott Harrison. I'm Scottish. You know this.

 

A closer look tomorrow Boilermaker.

 

I agree that LaBarba should be up a tier, and i've knocked him up one. This actually means i can bin a tier, so I've done that too, though I can re-introduce it. I'm not sure about Famechon but it is a bit alarming to see him below McGuigan. I'll have to think about that.

Canzoneri - very limited work at the weight. The only question is whether or not he should be on this list, not if he should be higher.


Featherweight is not that deep.

 

I agree but that's more head to head thinking. In his career, Armstrong is 1-0 in title fights at the weight, and there's no reason to see him as anywhere near comparable resume-wise. But I agree, head to head, he's there or thereabouts probably.

 

I think Sarron could squeeze on there based upon what he did against Miller, yes. But he didn't do that much besides.

Armstrong's keynote wins seem to be Sarron, Belloise, Arizmendi and a fat Wolgast. Who else are you thinking?

I think Marcel could go a bit higher too, but he's hanging a lot on that Arguello win.

 

Casanova was ranked but had been chewed out of them by the time Armstrong met him. That's a decent win though. So is Zurita. He was never ranked at featherweight (Did he even make it to featherweight?) but you could argue that should be included.

Chavez\Wright\Klick weren't featherweight contests; technically a couple of them wouldn't even qualify as super-featherweight contests. You have to draw the line somewhere and 130lbs is too heavy.

 

This is what I ended up with:

50 - Jose Legra
49 - Jeff Fenech
48 - Earl Mastro
47 - Solly Smith
46 - Juan Manuel Marquez
45 - Percy Bassett
44 - Kuniaki Shibata
43 - Sal Bartolo
42 - Eder Jofre
41 - Eloy Rojas
40 - Antonio Esparragoza
39 - Young Kyun Park
38 - Johnny Famechon
37 - Howard Winstone
36 - Ernesto Marcel
35 - Chris John
34 - Eugene Criqui
33 - Fidel LaBarba
32 - Baby Arizmendi
31 - Marco Antonio Barrera
30 - Chalky Wright
29 - Hogan Bassey
28 - Benny Yanger
27 - Azumah Nelson
26 - Louis Kaplan
25 - Owen Moran
24 - Davey Moore
23 - Barry McGuigan
22 - Battlinig Battalino
21 - Prince Naseem Hamed
20 - Johnny Dundee
19 - Danny Lopez
18 - Sugar Ramos
17 - Jim Driscoll
16 - Young Griffo
15 - Kid Chocolate
14 - Tony Canzoneri
13 - Henry Armstrong
12 - Terry McGovern
11 - Young Corbett II
10 - Alexis Arguello
09 - Eusebio Pedroza
08 - Johnny Kilbane
07 - Freddie Miller
06 - Sal Sanchez
05 - Abe Attell
04 - George Dixon
03 - Vicente Saldivar
02 - Sandy Saddler
01 - Willie Pep