Top 3 P4p Boxers In History

1 Sam Langford
2 Harry Greb
3 Sugar Ray Robinson

 

I don't want to offend anyone on here, but how much have any of you guys actually seen of Harry Greb or Benny Leonard or Sam Langford to be able to make such a definitive judgement on them as: they belong in the top 3 boxers ever in the history of the sport? I'm not attacking you, simply a little dubious and seeking enlightenment. My own top three would be SUGAR RAY ROBINSON, ROBERTO DURAN and MUHAMMAD ALI. (I haven't seen enough of Willie Pep, but from what I hear/read about him, he seems to have a case to be in that top three ahead of either Ali or Duran)

 

Ali. Best ever HW. Granted.

...I can think of two best ever LWs who deserve to be in the top 10 before Ali.

 

Duran at 1? Craziness.

 

1. Robinson
2. Duran
3. Armstrong

 

You don´t need to see these men fight to realize how good they were. You can read about them, and there´s plenty, and analyse their records. Than you come to the conclusion that these guys are a notch about Chavez and Whitaker - and i´m a big Whitaker fan.

 

Again, I am genuinely not having a go at you or criticizing you, I just want to voice my opinion here, that I am very sceptical that a judgement made on a fighter you have never seen fight has any real value. It would definitely be fair to rate a guy like Greb very very highly on achievement if you had read extensively about his exploits and thought they compared favourably on paper to those of say, Sugar Ray Leonard or Sweet Pea. But there is just something about placing a Langford or a Benny Leonard so highly on a pound-for-pound fighters list (taking both achievement and ability into account) when you haven't seen very much of them that doesn't sit well with me at all. Although this is a rather crude analogy, to me it's like saying Sophia Loren is the most beautiful woman who ever lived when you don't know what she looks like, but have read that said many times- then when you actually see photographs of her she is not your idea of beautiful at all! I know that's a bit silly, but I'm sure you see the point. Reading about a fighter is not the same as seeing the evidence yourself. It's fine to have opinions on them, but maybe a bit insubstantial to be confident enough of their ability to make such a strong statement as putting them as one of the best three boxers ever. I think Roberto Duran is one because I have seen almost all of his world title fights from Buchanan to Barkley (some full fights, some highlights), and I base my belief on solid evidence of ability and achievement. I still respect the opinion of those who are comfortable putting a Langford or a Greb in there, I'd just like to hear responses from the knowledgable boxing fans in here to what I've said. It is a very interesting topic IMO.

 

Are you telling me that if you had never seen Ali fight, you wouldn't rate him as highly as you do now? Even if you look at his record and reading about what a great fighter he was?

How much have you seen of Robinson aswell because their isn't mounds of footage around of him.

 

I don't have much time to reply mate, have to work for a couple of hours before I come back on. Briefly, yes, I am telling you that of course I COULD NOT rate Ali as highly as I do now if I had never seen him fight, because all I would be doing would be giving out other peoples ratings and not my own. You can't write a book review on a book you haven't read on the basis of what others say about it, you can't say the Pyramids are the most majestic sight on Earth if you haven't went and seen them, you can't say Bob Dylan plays the best music of the 20th century if you haven't heard it- surely this is logic at its most basic?? You would know Ali was great, but you could not know enough to definitively say he was the 2nd greatest fighter ever if you have never even seen him fight!! For instance, many people told me Pele was the greatest football player ever when I was growing up, so I took this as truth. He is still widely regarded as such, the exact same way and to the exact same extent as SRR is in boxing. After I went searching for footage and watched all I could, I then knew he was most definitely not as great as Maradona in my own opinion. Lastly, I have seen enough of SRR to combine that with all I know from reading and research to feel comfortable in my judgement of him as the p4p#1 ever. I have no evidence of Sam Langford to combine my knowledge of his career with. That's my point here. I'll get your reply later on, cheers

 

1. Roberto duran.
2. Carlos monzon.
3 Ray leonard.

 

The first two. Correct.

You'll have to excuse me... I tend to pound keys when a poster puts Ali over Duran, p4p. It's a pet peeve.

 

1 Muhammed Ali
2 Sugar Ray Leonard
3 Sugar Ray Robinson