Top 10 greatest cherrypickers of all time

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Paq

Cus D'Amato

The Wacko Twins

Ray Robinson

Jack Kearns

 

Such an interesting topic and one that is sure to have the lynch mob after me again. Why? Because there are some truly great fighters that would fall into this category. But in many cases it has nothing to do with a fighter's lack of stones. Most of the times it is the manager and the promoter who avoids and goes for the low-hanging fruit. anyways here is a random 10:

Henry Armstrong (at welter)
Roberto Duran (at light)
Roy Jones
Bernard Hopkins (at middle)
Pernell Whitaker (at welter)
Floyd Mayweather (welter)
Oscar DeLaHoya (at 130 & 135)
Floyd Patterson
Jack Dempsey
George Foreman

HE Grant mentioned Kearns and D'Amato whereas I mentioned Patterson and Dempsey. Of course it was the mgmt. that was the issue here as he said as was the case with me mentioning George and Duran. I did not mention Manny Pac as he has tried everything to make that match with Floyd. Also, the Wacko twins fighter I felt suffered more from inactivity rather than cherry-picking. Good topic. I'm still amazed at how glaring Armstrong is.

 

calzaghe,
sven ottke,
Bernard Hopkins, especially at middle,
roy jones

 

1) Floyd Mayweather Jr
2) Ray Leonard (usually used catchweights or waited for his opponents to outgrow the wait or get old, and still lost 2 2 smaller men: Duran & Camacho)
3) Roy Jones
4) Eusebio Pedroza
5) Nonito Donaire
6) Carlos Monzon
7) Gene Tunney
8 ) Ricardo Lopez
9) Julio Chavez (in his 140lbs "reign")
10) Mark Johnson


If anyone will remember him as more than a poor man's Michael Grant
Deontay Wilder will be a lock in such lists 10 years from now.

Why was Michael Dokes kept outside of the league during his days or at least got the fewest opportunities?

 

Felix Sturm

 

I take it that you're being cynical? OK, let's look at Henry, whom I rate as one of the great feather/light/welters. His entire 21 title defense reign at 147 was really a feast on blown up lights and feathers. Bobby Pacho received 2 shots in '39 alone and wasn't even in the top ten. Only Garcia and Roderick were true welters (and of course Zivic). Meanwhile, who is sitting in the 147 top ten ratings? Holman Williams, Charley Burley and Cocoa Kid. Again, his '39 was phenominal but it was a crying shame when Richie Fontaine and Phil Furr were getting title shots over these guys.

Re:Roberto Duran, this had more to do with Carlos Eleta and Gen. Omar Torrios, who were calling the shots for Duran. After the DeJesus non-title loss they tucked Duran in Panama like a prized possesion, only letting him out for non-titles. When it came time to put it on the line it had to be the safety of Panama and their title choices were not earth-shattering and they obviously marginalized his earning power. Jimmy Robertson had lost 3 out of his last four, Hector Thompson would not become a force in the division for another year (and at 140 to boot) and Suzuki was marginal and none were in Ring's top ten. Eleta and Torrios avoided DeJesus for 16 months, a contracted Buchanan rematch and dropped negotiations with a Rodolfo Gonzalez unification after they appeared on a joint LA sports Arena card where Duran struggled and Gonzalez excelled. Moreover, his management would not let him out of Panama until his 7th title defense (I won't count that costa Rica defense as being out of Panama). But somewhere along the line it clicked and they realized what they had before letting the leash out.

 

Mayweather is the worst.

Great post from scartissue. As always.

 

Mayweather and Roy Jones Jr. lead the way as cherry pickers.

 

Dempsey was equally guilty of cherry picking as Kearns was.

Hopkins? Odd choice. He went out of his way to get the big fights he got. The division was pretty weak at the time but he was constantly trying to get fights with the other beltholders, and top guys in the divisions both above and below even to conceding to come down in weight to fight guys like Vargas and Tito.

 

Johnson, Dempsey and Zale for me. As for championshio reign, Johnson could be the worst. Did he meet anyone really relevant as a champ?

RJJ failed to take on some notable rivals at both SMW and LHW, but it's not like he was the undisputed champ and they were clamoring for a shot. Fights failed to get made, though, and that's always a shame.

The mentions of Duran and Hopkins (at MW), I don't understand at all. SRL could be accused of some cherry picking after his win over Hagler, but it's not like he hogged a title and he had really payed his dues at that point anyhow. His reign at WW was close to perfect.

 

George Foreman

 

His second reign, certainly.

 

Roberto Duran fought Esteban DeJesus three times, twice when Duran's world lightweight title was at stake. That is cherrypicking?

As the WBA world welterweight champion, Pipino Cuevas had carefully picked opponents. He managed to avoid fighting both Carlos Palomino and Armando Muniz. While having a terrific left-hook and being an exciting fighter, he didn't have that much in the way of skills. He was cruelly exposed in bouts with Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran.

- Chuck Johnston