Top Ten Middleweights All Time

Cerdan had a 117 fights. This is longevity. He was only stopped once, and it was When LaMotta fouled and Cerdan was injured when he fell.

His left hook was a true power punch. Wins over Zale and Williams were his best. Still extrapolating? Ok, he Ko'd James Toney too.

The IBRO poll has Cerdan in his top ten. Placing Cerdan if you are familiar with him in the top 10 is not extreme.


Harry Greb
Sugar Ray Robinson
Stanley Ketchel
Mickey Walker
Carlos Monzon
Marvin Hagler
Marcel Cerdan
Bob Fitzsimmons
Jake LaMotta
Charley Burley
Tony Zale

 

hagler and monzon 1 and 2 with sugar ray robinson weighing in 150lb at 3.charley burley and the other members of the black murderers row in there too with a modern equivalent, mike mccallum.

 

I would agree Cerdan is border line I put him in myself, but would be just as happy with Steele in his place.
I only rated the champions, and made a separate thread for those that did not win the 160 crown.
I would be interested in your input there .

 

If he made the top ten he would have to be behind Giardello for me ,that would mean displacing two others, and I'm not prepared to do that.A hundred and fifty four pounds still puts him with a seven pound advantage over best weight 147lbs for Turner who like Paret,was never rated at middleweight .

 

Finally. Thank You.

 

Apostoli, Yarosz, Overlin are all guys who aren't getting mentioned that deserve legit consideration for the top 10. Apostoli beat the two best Champions of his era (the deepest ever imo) in Steele and Thil along with

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Yes not rematching Lausse is a big mark against him for me but while Fullmer was a strong MW he was 5'8. Calling him a big MW who beat up WW''s while 5'11 Monzon and 6'1 Hopkins where much bigger and their best wins came against WW's, unlike Fullmer, needs to be kept in perspective.

Definitely, Gus Chritstie too. In general his resume is impressive and can hang with alot of top 20 MW's, fringe top 10 guys even, but considering how short a period of time he did it in is rather crazy. Its unfortunate he missed out on Houck, Gibbons, O'Dowd, or a young Greb had he lived a little longer to truely get a guage on how great he was.

I like Cerdan but his resume is very weak and lacking serious depth when comparing to the top 15 or so. Williams was shot, Zale was shot and is generally overrated, Abrams was past it, Raadik is good and not much beyond that.

For me its much easier to make an argument for Mike Gibbons being inside the top 5 than outside of it. He fought elite MW after elite MW his entire career with one of the toughest schedules any MW in history. During this he showed remarkable consistancy only losing a few to other true ATG's. If Mike is absent from someone's top 10 its a serious oversight.

 

I agree he was much better at 147...

 

With his win over Georgie Abrams and that destruction of Laverne Roach, Cerdan's record is probably a little better than some think, though I appreciate his record against live contenders is a little light.

If we're to rate him purely as a talent at middleweight; that's another question.

 

:thumbsup

Especially considering that Abrams gave hell to (some say BEAT) a prime Ray Robinson mere months later.

 

Where does Martinez rank?

 

Not having Robinson in the top 10 is a disgrace to both the sport and the MW division. Either your doin it because you think its cool or your doin it for attention. How can you put a man who NOBODY has ever seen footage of at 5 and not include Ray who would have murdered Greb on his best day! Just dont make any sense! bash away Gurus and The forum Elite Because I will not be returning to this thread you guys have turned into a joke!

 

Not much love shown for Tiger Flowers, Fought Greb 3 times, beating Greb for the title in Feb.26, and in the August rematch (both bouts were controversial to some). Had a clear victory over Mickey Walker stolen from him and lost the title in Dec.26. The referee decision was widely condemned at the time. Rumours of a fix by mobsters was widely circulated. Flowers, tried to obtain a rematch with Walker, who refused. Had routine surgery to remove scar tissue around his eyes, and died in the hospital in Nov. 1927, eerily like Greb in October 1926.

'The Georgia Deacon', a religous man was the first black American man to hold the Middleweight title, and the first black American after Jack Johnson to get a title shot. 156 bouts in a 10 year career, 150 of them from 1920-27. 115 wins (53 ko's), 14 losses, 21 no decisions, and 6 draws. Flowers, handed Greb 2 of his career defeats, and was the only Middleweight to defeat him. His losses include some of the great black fighters of the era Langford, Gans, Kid Norfolk (2), and Jamaica Kid. His other losses occurred when fighting above his weight at Light Heavyweight, to future/past champs Jack Delaney and Mike McTigue, and to some of the top Light Heavyweight contenders Leo Lomski, Jock Malone and Frank Moody. He fought future Light Heavyweight champ Maxie Rosenbloom, too 2 draws.

A lightning quick southpaw boxer. He was a quiet dignified man, in a hard era to be a black fighter. One can only imagine the tremendous amount of slights and racism he was forced to endure. An estimated 75,000 mourners of all races filed past his coffin in Atlanta. The funeral service held at the city auditorium, was attended by 7,000. Largely forgotten today, he was owed a debt of gratitude from future black fighters, to whom he so graciously paved the way for.