Top 10 fighters of last 15 years

Im not doing another Calzaghe debate because it just goes round in circles but I will say this... just because he never went to America & held the WBO rather than the WBC or IBF titles does not mean that he never beat most of the top guys in his own division, it might not have been as strong a division as say FWT when Morales & co ruled it but he beat every fighter put in front of him & showed remarkable adaptability & character a few of those defences, 21 defences & never losing then stepping up to LHWT & beating a still mighty capable Hopkins in his 1st fight is better IMO than dominating an OK HWT division when your best wins were past prime former CWT Holyfield, shot Tyson & prime Vitali who was beating him & never recieved the rematch that everycunt knows he more than deserved (sounds like `unfinished business` to me)... throw in McCall & Rahman for un-needed bonus points too.
Calzaghe was clearly more dominant than Lewis in their best divisions, thats beyond dispute. He ranked a lot higher in the p4p charts as well & no, its not impossible for a HWT to do well in the p4p ranks, (Tyson was no1 in 1989) if your good enough, you get rated, Lennox got rated over time, not when he was active.
Calzaghe > Lewis IMO.
I rest my case.


Botswana :smoke

 

i agree with this one:happy:happy:happy:happy:happy

 

Pacquiao won more titles in more weight divisions that Robinson, Leonard, Whitaker & Duran... is he better than any of them ? :think

You see, its a circle, especially when the fighters discussed arent light yrs apart, there is always an argument, just depends what you believe personally.

:good

 

:-( I'm with DINAMITA on this one.

Joe Calzaghe milked his belt by not trying to unify sooner than he did, and often took rematches against over matched opposition. Made no sense.

Lewis beat every man he ever faced, and the 90s Heavyweight division had a lot of talent. He emerged as the best of the best, and unified.

In no particuar order...

Shane Mosley
Marco Antonio Barrera
Erik Morales
Lennox Lewis
Roy Jones Jr
Bernard Hopkins
Manny Pacquiao
Evander Holyfield
Mayweather Jr
Oscar De La Hoya

 

Last 15 years? So since 1994.....

01 - Manny Pacquaio
02 - Marca Antonio Barrera
03 - Lennox Lewis
04 - Roy Jones JR
05 - Floyd Mayweather
06 - Erik Morales
07 - Oscar De La Hoya
08 - Juan Manuel Marquez
09 - Bernard Hopkins
10 - Joe Calzaghe

No one can put Holyfield after 94'.

 

I see many list with out TITO TRINIDAD, thats crazy!!!!!! he makes the top 15 list with out any doubt.

 

I don't need to write much as a response:

Lewis fought better fighters and beat better fighters, and was a more dominant champion.

End of argument.


PS: I'm tired of this myth has Calzaghe cleaned house 97-06, did he ****. There were plenty of smw's around who were better than some of the utter dross he took to the Cardiff Ice Rink. They were not ATGs exactly, but there were better fighters to be fought. If you fancy going through it, I'm up for that :good

 

Yes he sure does. Without ANY doubt.

 

Just a few things that I noticed...Pac nuthuggers amaze me....No doubt that Pac belongs in the top five but number one based on a couple of wins over past thier primes greats, two fights in which most felt he lost vs JMM, several knockout loses, and a resume that could very easy have as many as seven loses if you think about the two JMM fights, the fight with Sanchez and the very odd fight with Hussein in which Pac was actaully knocked out once again only to be saved in some funny hometown stuff much like the fight between Andrade and Bute. Two wins over a shot Oscar and over rated hatton doesnt cover for all that.

Second thing I noticed is that Calzaghe is not getting nearly the credit that he should, the guy was unbeatten, and no matter if you think that he didnt fight the best guys he fought decent fighter and ended by beatting very good to great fighter albeit past thier best days. Fact remains

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should get him a place on everyones list somewhere.

Lastly anyone that leaves Ricardo Lopez off this lists is crazy, maybe the most sound fighter of our era.

1-Jones
2-Hopkins
3-Mosley
4-Mayweather
5-Pac tie Ricardo Lopez
6-Oscar
7-MAB
8-Morelas
9-Calzaghe
10-Tito
---------------------
Wright
Lewis
Tszyu
Wlad

 

Good post, but IMO JM Marquez has been greater 94-09 than Holyfield has. A couple of great wins in this period, but IMO his peak was 86-93. I'd have Evander in the era before along with Whitaker, Chavez, Toney and Ricardo Lopez.

 

Lopez won his title in 1992 I believe which was 17 years ago meaning that the vast majority of his best work came over the past 15 years

 

Who did Lopez and Oscar beat to put them above the likes of Mab and Morales?

I disagree with the Calzaghe thing. He went undefeated because he spent the vast majority of his career not fighting the best fighters in his division and seeking new challenges. Not because he was simply that good.

 

I'm certain Ottke would at least contend Joe didn't beat the most important guy at 168 (whether I believe that or not). Joe got the WBO in October of '97. Ottke got the IBF in October of '98. Both defended their belts 21 times. Both retired undefeated. Pretty clear no one really cleared out SMW.

Joe struggled with far too many fighters to be compared with Lennox. That's ridiculous. Especially when you know he wore the WarrBO. He fought a past peak Eubank (and barely deserved the win as he landed little after the first three or so) then nothing close to even that version of Eubank for basically a decade. And, he struggled in SO many fights and stopped NO ONE of merit or without controversy. Joe was fortunate so many greats passed through SMW and/or retired or were injured right up to about the mid 90s.

 

Be serious Bill.

The actual post you have lifted that from is this:

Now take that into consideration with my post from the same page:

I listed more than just the quote you cherry-picked, and I explained myself. A facile post from you.

Resume is the single most important factor to the vast majority of serious fans, and Lewis, Trinidad and the other nine all have better resumes to Joe Calzaghe. When you examine the other factors, he doesn't score anywhere near high enough to supercede that.

 

pleeease. obviously a known calzaghe hater and i like winky but he shouldnt be in a bracket of winky, tszyu and castillo. thats ridiciolous. Clear the hate and youll see he deserves to be way higher than that bracket