P4P was supposed to mean how good you were relative to your size. Surely the epitimy of being a great fighter relative to your size is being a small man yet scaling the hights of the HW division despite being seriously undersized. This rates higher for me than a MW who stays in 1 division and relys on their size and strength at the weight to dominate a division. First Tier Small P4P Men at HW (in no order) Patterson (started at 160ish, blown up at 1) Langford (started at 135? Prime at between 155-185?) Fitzsimmons (MW) Charles (MW-HW) Moore (MW-HW) M Spinks Second Tier Small P4P Men at HW M Moorer Byrd (started at MW, has allot of impressive wins on paper but I don't rate him that highly as I think quite a few were gifts and he lucked out against Vitali) Toney (unfullfilled potential but beating Ruiz, Peter (should have won), Jirov, Holyfield looks good) RJJ - only 1 fight, would have liked to have seen more Borderline Small HW P4P Men (not quite as small but competiting against bigger men) Dempsey (went upto 190 but did he start as a LHW? A questionmark on how many GOOD big men he fought resides) Marciano (didnt fight many MUCH bigger than him but only a bit over the 175 limit) Schmelling - started at 175 but was probably better at around 190 Holyfield - started at 175 very briefly, was a cruser champ and went at it with 2 of the greatest Super HWs ever. Tyson (yes a full blown HW, but often outweighed by 40lbs, having 10-15inch reach disparity and giving up 7+ inches in height, also allegedly only 5'9, despite being officially 5'11)
Most fighters put on weight as they mature Ali won the gold medal as a LH,Jimmy Ellis was originally a middleweight,many LH,s fought with sucess against the bigger men,including,Jack Dillon,Tommy LoughranBilly Conn ,Joey Maxim,if you go by your criteria ,I would suggest the greatest p4p fighter is Bob FItzsimmons,or Henry Armstrong,the alltime best ,for me is SRR.
Mickey Walker held the welterweight and midleweight titles yet he beat most of the top heavyweights of his era and even held future heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey to a draw. What a man!!!!!!
Whatever he weighed at the Olympics has zero relevance to his pro career. That way we can claim some heavyweight fighter starting from minimumweight, if he started fighting amateur as a young kid.
Yes, he lost a few at middleweight, HURRICANE CARTER BEAT HIM AND DROPPED HIM, LOST TO DON FULMER,HENREY HANK,HOLLY MIMS AND GEORGE BENSON BUT WHEN ELLIS MOVED UP HE DID VERY WELL
