Top 5 fighters of the last 20 years?

nice post!

very strong reasoning,


my pics would be,

1. roy jones jr. - this one is a the real controversal pick of mine because he was alot of smoke and mirrors, he was alot of hype and he was very vulnerable all of a sudden. but, victrories over age less near great virgill hill, age less great bernard hopkins, john ruiz, antonio tarver, montell griffen and james toney to me is a great hand. four titles in four weight division and skipping the cruiser weight division by going up to heavy weight is incredable.

2. pernell whitaker- nelson, haugen, vazquez, mcgirt, rodriguez, mayweather, ramirez, pineda, hurtado, chavez and maybe even dela hoya it was real close between him and roy and i thought roy's big step to heavy made a difference.

3. julio cesar chavez- greatest mexican fighter in history, maybe even best body puncher in history. despite plodding style, cutting of the ring was his science. he scares me more then mike tyson because at least tyson's would take you out quickly... chavez would cause internal bleeding, broken ribs and lacerations in your mouth by hooks that could leave you never the same.

4. floyd mayweather- the inigma that has cleaned out 5 divisions without a loss. maybe the most well rounded fighter in the last 20 years.

5. evander holyfeild/lennox lewis- i think it dead even if you add in that some of holyfeilds accomplishments where a little before 20years ago. holyfeild the best cruiserweight in history, qawi, douglas, comming back to beat bower, comming back to beat moorer comming back to beat tyson and then comming back to beat rahman and then comming back to beat enough contenders to get a world title shot at age 45? / lennox lewis was never any less then 2nd best hw for 15 years! not to mention beating every single name (except bowe) within those 15 years.

 

I think that is the correct five, good post. My own personal order of greatness would be:

1.Roy Jones Jr
2.Pernell Whitaker
3.Julio Cesar Chavez
4.Floyd Mayweather Jr
5.Lennox Lewis

Some points tho:

- The only reason why I wouldn't have Holyfield above Mayweather and Lewis is because your thread is called '...of the last 20 years', and I believe Holyfield's peak was at cruiserweight in 1986 and 1987. I think historically he is greater than both, but his career solely from 1988 onwards, his heavyweight career, was not as great as Lewis's.

- My opinion is that only Hopkins from those you mentioned after your own five deserves a place in this discussion. De La Hoya, Toney and Nelson aren't quite in that league I think, Mosley and Eubank definitely aren't. I would place Morales, Barrera, Manny Pacquiao, Ricardo Lopez and maybe Mike Tyson above all of them- and I think the way he is progressing, there is still time for Pacquiao to achieve enough to gatecrash the top 5, but whether he does or not is anybody's guess as I believe there are guys now in the weights around hm who could beat him (Casamayor, De La Hoya).

 

4. Bernard Hopkins- Some argue the last fighter to defeat him was Roy Jones. I personally thought he lost to Jermain Taylor, but looked like the better fighter in losing. I guess it is just a flaw in boxing's scoring system, but he really did look to me to be the better of the two. Anyway... He beat Tarver who had defeated Jones. I still say he beat Calzaghe. Hopkins has been near the top of the sport for a decade now, and he is still there currently. He is well into his forties.

I agree with goodrighthand. Hopkins's negative image often works against him in these discussions, but he has been a supremely talented champion and has achieved so much. Yes, he was outclassed by Jones, but I also believe he looked the better fighter v Taylor and Calzaghe, it was age that beat him. His achievement in taking the risk to jump 2 weight divisions at 40+ and then dominate the linear LHW champion is consistently underrated.

 

Half of these people are in mental asylums, the other half should be in mental asylums. Holyfields head was a speed ball in that 1

 

Did you mean to agree with me?

 

1. Pernell Whitaker
2. Julio Cesar Chavez
3. Roy Jones Jr
4. Floyd Mayweather Jr
5. Evander Holyfield

 

1-sweet pea
2-jones jr
3-Hopkins
4-toney
5-mayweather

 

Thats your top 5 favourites of the last 20 years. Must be with Calzaghe and Tsyzu on the list.