I know we claim that RJJ ducked so many fighters, and PBF did too, so did hopkins and Lewis and so on. But which of the top "duckers" has really fought the best opposition? I think PBF has. Any thoughts?
good a post on this. i hate it when people say "he ducked john doe" and "dodged whats-his-face" but come on man you cant fight every person in the division with a hint of talent it's impossible. also you know that thing at the end of fights when the interviewer will say "so will you fight him"...what a dumb question if you say yes then a fight is then made and you then have few options of fighting bigger ,better ,respected opponants. and if you say no then you hae declined a fight and thus saying you dont want to fight him... if somone doesnt want to fight another fighter it might not even be dodging but just politics. the only person i remember who openly ducked a fighter was ray leonard with tommy hearns when a unification was evident.
A lot of it is politics with promoters or issues with money. THere are always fighters who claim they were ducked (including guys like Margarito) but unless they can prove a written offer was given with the right numbers making sense to both parties, then we can take their claims with a grain of salt.
Interesting posts, but I don't think Floyd has to fight anyone after hatton to be considered an all time great. I mean he has beat the likes of Corrales,Castillo and DLH. He has also fought just plain warriors like his fight with Emmanuel Augustus was a classic. When Augustus made him bleed I was enjoying it. Good fight.
Some like to tarnish Lewis' legacy by saying he avoided fighting prime Holyfield and a 90's version of Tyson and then go on about how he ducked Byrd and Ruiz. :-(
I by no means wish to diminish Lewis' legacy, but he most certainly side-stepped Byrd & Ruiz. Holyfield & Tyson are debatable.
LMAO - bird and ****in ruiz - he could fight them both at the same time with one arm tied behind his back. lewis fought everyone, tyson and holyfield did the ducking. lewis would have always had there number. Lewis fought everyone who was around - ruddock, grant, galotta, mercer, morrisson, tua, rahman, bruno, tucker, botha, biggs, briggs, holyfield, tyson, kitschko. he ducked no one - anyone he didn't fight ran from him like riddick ' big chicken' bowe.
I wouldn't even argue the case for Ruiz or Byrd as he clearly avoided them though not for the reasons some would insinuate. As for Holyfield and Tyson niether of them were clamouring to fight him during the 90's so how can you avoid a guy who isn't even interest in fighting you.
