The Gods of War

True but 105/108 are no wonder. How many small guys are there. 154 albeit not knew was always just a "passing through" division. And 168 is a pretty new one - you could add 200 too btw.

The hws have a pretty rich history. But just not up there with 135 to 175 qualitywise. Aside from very special fighters like Pep or Ali, the greatest fighters will come out of those.

 

That would be Cruiserweight.:good

I agree with that. Of the original 8 weight classes the Heavyweights are arguably the weakest historically, but they clearly beat out the in-betweener weights for the most part.

 

Eh, I beg to differ. And why would anyone rate exclusive on talent. The fact that Heavyweights generally don't fight 100+ times... even the old timers says a lot about how they have a worse chance of making such lists under certain criterias. Dare I say, their wins and performances should be given more credit. With bigger guys you get bigger punchers. Let's face it, there's more for a freak punch or bad luck to lose. In the smaller divisions, it happens less generally. But one punch should can change a fight just like that. In the Heavyweight division, we should appreciate that more. Especially the defense and victories you make. At least in my opinion...

 

Well said.

We're just talking here. The articles are wonderful. We can dissect/argue about the placement/criteria on and on I suppose. It makes for a good discussion, anyway.

 

Which says a lot about how hard it is to a heavyweight. This is no coincidence. It's also hard to gauge the talent respectively when you get guys jumping weight classes all over. With the big boys, attaining and unifying in a long and good era is difficult. Maybe Joe Louis 14 year run and 25+ defenses is underrated. Maybe just getting a lot of great victories is harder for Heavyweights. So in retrospect, it looks weaker historically, but the division features much more intangibles and factors as to why it's so harder to keep fighting over a longer spanned career. The Heavyweight champion has always been seen as the "Baddest man in the planet." Or was... I don't see how it can be the weakest division in history, especially when considering that many ATG fighters make their marks all around rather than in just one weight class. I guess that's where the allusion comes in. It's just more divisions being by great fighters.

 

I overlooked that, sorry.

That what I meant actually :good

I never said it´s weak either. Just weak compared ot lw, ww, mw ... got it?
Also if you compare the fighters within the Top20 of those divisions you will see the quality of the lower weightclasses is just higher. Nothing to be ashamed about. Most people on earth are more in the lw-mw/lhw area sizewise than in the hw area. So, there will be more quality fighter there. It´s natural.

 

So, you want more or less to penalize the people for fighting more often? Putting themselves in danger more often? Having longer careers and proved them more thoroughly?

The hws are the most recognized division in the world that´s enough of compensating for what you critizise I think. Look at the lists of the people who are boxing fans but not as deep into it as most here on the classic board. You will find Ali, Louis and probably Marciano in the top10.

Joe Louis run would be great in any division and any era.

And no I don´t they the hw division bad or has no talent. It´s just that the lower divisions produce slightly higher talent and especially more of it.

 

So, there are five left. I think it´s a given that Robinson, Armstrong, Greb and Charles are among those and I´m looking forward on the articles on them. But who is number five? Duran? Ali? Ross?

 

When can we expect number five?

 

read anther article about Archie Moore the other day

John Scully when he was a boy sent a letter to Archie Moore and Moore wrote back and throughout the years they kept in communication. Just shows Moore really was a man of the people.