Top 20 Light-Heavyweights

Different is good, I think you have been a solid addition to the forum and I appreciate your opinions takes and thread/discussion ideas.

Ezzard Charles stands out to me as the 1 LHW and 15 HW. But there are others I rank in 2+ divisions

 

I do but have to locate it in my docs. I have not done one in 5 years so they are not necessarily reflective of my opinion today in all cases. I have been working on a new list for almost a year now, and some days I feel like I am farther away from completing it than I was when I started. No easy task determining how to equate and contrast across the eras in a fair and consistent manner.

 

Well to me the top 5-6 are locks the bottom half to 15 are flexible

1 Ezzard Charles
2 Archie Moore
3 Harry Greb
4 Michael Spinks
5 Gene Tunney
6 Tommy Loughran
7 Bob Foster
8 Harold Johnson
9 Jimmy Bivins
10 John Henry Lewis
Honorable mentions
Matthew Saad Muhammad
RJJ
Lloyd Marshall
Jack Delaney
Tommy Gibbons
Rosenbloom
Conn
Galindez
Langford

 

Seems like most of these guys are being judged on achievement at heavyweight... Tunney, Moore, Charles, Conn, Spinks, Loughran...

 

Considering the size of Ross, it'd hardly be impressive either

 

Victor Galindez would have been a tough opponent for the above mentioned fighters at 15 rds.....he changed his style from a pure puncher to a boxer / puncher due to the potential cut issue.

 

I agree. I put him closer to 15-20 than top 10 but he would be hell for just about anyone

 

One of my all-time favourite fighters. Love him.

Those years which separated the reigns of Foster and Spinks were amazing. No dominant or unified champion who clearly proved himself the best, which kind of excludes them from making a top ten to fifteen of all time. But in terms of having a great pool of fighters near the top of the division with a great mix of styles to create awesome fights, I don't think there's been anything else like it at 175.

Galindez, the three Muhammads, Conteh and Pops Johnson. Good value-for-money supporting cast in Kates, Lopez, Ahumada, Rossman etc., too. Together they produced so many fights which were like highlights packages.

I'd have Galindez and Saad between 15 and 20 on my list. I reckon Light-Heavy is the strongest division historically, along with maybe Welter and Lightweight, so that's still pretty good going.