Welterweight champions of the mostly-filmed (WWII onwards) era, listed chronologically: let's sort!

Extrapolated from the "Jeff Horn possibly the weakest ever welter champ?" thread in the General Forum.

The suggestion that he was the worst of the bunch inspired me to plot out a full reckoning of all the champs on whose value we can reasonably make evaluative assessments based on footage (preferably of complete fights) - sorry if that offends the sensibilities of some who may believe you can juxtapose your imagination spurred by old news paper accounts on top of actual footage to do cross-era hypothetical match-up h2h comparisons, but I happen to disagree; starting with the earliest mostly-filmed welters seems a more practical jump-off point to me... - and then determine where he stands against each one individually.

This amount of legwork seems wasted on such a petty and trivial subject, though, and so it struck me that my OCD-fueled labors might serve a higher purpose.

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Following are the original posts, so be advised they are viewed through a prism with current WBO titlist Jeff Horn (inconsequential as he may be in the grand scheme) as the central focus.

 

Here is every welter champ ever:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_welterweight_boxing_champions

Suffice to say, the first dozen or so can be excluded from the conversation as N/A for comparative purposes, since there's no extant/surviving known footage of, say, Barbados Joe or Mysterious Billy. There's a smidgen of Ted Kid Lewis and Mickey Walker, but still. It was a different era; furthermore, with the evolution of styles, training methods, and nutrition one could say it was barely recognizable as the same breed of sport as today's, at least for purposes of puzzling out time-machine h2h match-ups conjecture. Best for multiple reasons to make a cap at, say, 80 years ago...which means we're talking from about Hank Armstrong on.

This is every recognized welterweight champion of the world in the last eighty years (barring 20 champions preceding Armstrong), in chronological order (by the date they won their first world title; with the org indicated as we get into the split of the belts/alphabet soup era):

• Hammerin Hank (ATG, maybe the #1 puncher at 147 all time) - Horn gets stopped.
• Fritzie Živić (Hall of Fame anti-cutie) - Horn probably loses a decision in the mutually dirtiest fight ever seen, or wins (or loses) by DQ.
• Red Cochrane (got lucky with a W over Živić the first time, held the belt hostage for almost 5 years, losing 4x including a rematch with Živić and knocked out twice by Rocky Graziano, before at last making a defense and getting KTFO by Marty Servo in four) - Horn wins by TKO.
• Marty Servo - (unlike Cochrane not just a lucky paper champ; was a very decorated amateur who actually had already fought two close matches with a prime unbeaten SRR, and was robbed in the rematch! - but he was undersized at welter, and feather-fisted) - Horn either loses a decision or wins by TKO.
• SRR (GOAT) - Horn gets spanked
• Johnny Bratton (underrated, tough & clever ambush fighter. Picked up the belt vacated by SRR but was no paper champ. Tall, strong welter. Most of his losses were to middleweights) - Horn probably loses a decision, unless he can find a way to literally break the jaw of Bratton (as was Honey Boy's fate in all three of his stoppage losses)
• Kid Gavilán (Consensus 2nd best Cuban pro ever. Let that sink in...) - Horn gets shut out, or bolo'ed into submission.
• Johnny Saxton (mob prop) - without mafia involvement, Horn UD if they reach the cards. Possibly stoppage to eliminate the chance of screwiness.
• Tony DeMarco (the guy about to chin me in my avatar) - now, part of me wants to say Tony is a given, just because he's such a nice guy in person and local legend around my neck of the woods, but the fact is he was tiny compared to Horn, more of a blown-up lightweight if anything...but then again, the prime WW championship (and slightly beyond) version of him proved his world class punch, chin and heart at the weight twice over vs. Basilio...so I'm gonna cop out here and say "draw" to save everybody some face and spare myself a hard choice.
• Carmen Basilio (the guy the IBHOF was literally invented for; only non-HW boxer to be awarded the Hicock Belt) - Horn loses a FOTY-type decision. Might rock or even drop Basilio a couple of times en route.
• Virgil Akins (underrated technician, has more losses than he ought to on his record due to poor management and some mob tinkering) - Horn by close UD. Akins was neither fast nor athletic but was crafty, slick, and packed a colossal punch, which could scramble anyone's circuits if he timed you just right. Horn would up in his grill, though, setting a higher pace than he liked to deal with. Horn might suffer a flash KD along the way.
• Don Jordan (mental basketcase) - Horn RTD. Jordan would be uncomfortable with Horn's pressure & physical strength and would default to his go-to defense mechanism of tying up, but would be shocked by Horn's infighting (especially on the body) and willingness to use roughhousing to shake him loose...and would eventually quit.
• Benny Paret (famous victim of fatal beat-down in the ring from "maricón" rival Emile Griffith) - Horn on points. He lost plenty to average fighters at welter (his best victory, Griffith II, considered a robbery, as is his only ever other world title defense, another rematch, with Federico Thompson), got several gift decisions, and lost many rounds even in his official wins. His chin is too cast-iron for Horn to crack, but he gets outfought.
• Emile Griffith (probably top 5 modern-era résumés) - Horn loses comfortably on points to prime Griffith. He doesn't have the size or the one-punch KO power to check the Virgin Islander's chin (only middles with the kick of a mule even decked him), and in a pure boxing contest, especially with a pre-tragedy Griffith, he's in well over his head.
• Luis Manuel Rodríguez - (nestled in right behind Kid Gavilán and the original Kid Chocolate) - Horn loses a decision. El Feo is another one that's only losing to All Time Greats or natural middleweights.
• Curtis Cokes (another enshrined in the IBHOF) - Horn loses a decision. Cokes too slick & too fast, paints him with the jab exploting his 5" reach advantage.
• José Ángel Nápoles (the Butterman, arguably the division's GOAT) - Horn gets his **** pushed in.
• Billy Backus (maybe an even luckier SOB than Cochrane, Saxton and Jordan combined) - Horn mauls him and stops him on cuts.
• Ángel Espada (WBA) - Horn by wide UD. The Hornet isn't hitting anybody like Hearns or Pipino did, but he'll for damn sure dominate a guy that lost 10-rounders to guys making their pro debut just a few months before getting a lucky shot at the vacant belt against somebody that wasn't that good.

 

• John H. Stracey (WBC) - Horn loses by cuts TKO. Stracey was skilled (an Olympian) but filthy A.F. in the ring, and while his strategies occasionally backfired (stopped twice on cuts himself) usually it was the opponent whose face got too sliced up to continue.
• José Cuevas (WBA) - Horn gets stopped. People harp on Pipino's chin, but honestly as of his WW reign all but one loss (his debut) had come by decision, and he was red-hot in his prime even if he presided over a weakish field of challengers (ranging from "okay" to "adequate I guess"), the eye of the hurricane before the much stronger WW era to come. He's still got as much thunder in his fists as every other banger you can think of to have laced up at 147lbs, and Gary freaking Corcoran was able to land on Horn and rattle his cage a bit, so...while Horn's chin is good he isn't standing up to ATG punchers of the division.
  
• Carlos Palomino (WBC) - Horn loses a wide decision (or gets stopped late, in the championship rounds if a 15-rounder) against the criminally underrated Palomino.
  
• Wilfred Benítez (WBC) - Horn loses every minute to El Radar. While his time in the division was brief, this version of the boricua legend was on fire and it took SRL to vanquish him. Also, he was the slightly better man than Palomino, whom we already determined to be Horn's superior.
  
• SRL (the fabbest of the 4? WBC, then later added WBA) - Horn gets drilled through the canvas and several layers of the earth's crust, mantle, and core, resurfacing near his own home (or the middle of the Pacific, depending on where they fought)
• Roberto Durán (the baddest of the 4; WBC only) - Horn gets dragged into a brawl, worn down and stopped, unable to deal with the Panamanian Devil's relentless pace or stinging, malevolent punches.
• Thomas Hearns (the Kronkest of the 4, and most naturally-suited to 147lbs; WBA only) - Horn gets decapitated, clearly.
  
• Donald Curry (should be in the HOF, damn it!!; WBA, then later added IBF and then WBC) - Horn loses wide. Another guy you need to be a lot harder punching than Horn (or a natural 154lber+) to stop, and no way does Horn outbox him, not on Curry's worst day.
• Milton McCrory (WBC) - Horn loses to another Kronk welterweight, this one by wide UD; even though Iceman was something of a Hearns clone, he wasn't quite as good. Still too big, too long, too skilled, and too accurate with the jab for Horn.
  
• Lloyd Honeghan (WBA & IBF) - Horn loses by TKO. Honeyghan dethroned Curry when he was p4p #1 in spectacular fashion. Granted there were rumblings of Curry having weight troubles, and Honeyghan didn't remain on top for very long and some would dismiss his triumph (even allowing for Curry still looking his same capable self on the night, and dismissing concerns of drainage) as "styles make fights" but for a short window the Ragamuffin Man had it going on. With a 90's version there would be the risk of his being ground down in a war of attrition with Horn, who isn't as explosive but has by far the better chin, but within that window it has to be Honeyghan..
• Mark Breland (WBA) - Horn gets crushed. He fell short of his expectations from the amateurs in the pros, but this was still a huge, very good, very dangerous welter. Horn doesn't pose the same nightmare stylistic match-up as Starling or Davis, and he can't hit like either.
  
• Jorge Vaca (WBC) - Horn by KO. Now this is a weird case. Vaca holds victories over some guys I think clearly beat Horn (Cuevas, Breland) - but, as is oft repeated, styles - and circumstances - make fights. He caught Breland and Cuevas when they were damaged goods, and even Honeyghan also was exiting his mercurial quick-burning-fuse of a prime (and got unlucky with the cut). I don't really consider Vaca to be a top welter, nor capable of stopping a hale & hearty guy in his prime like Horn now.
  
• Marlon Starling (WBA, then later, separately WBC) - Horn loses wide. Starling was too quick, too smooth, and had too much snap on his combos to not overwhelm Horn, likely slicing & dicing his face.
  
• Simon Brown (IBF, then later added WBC) - Horn loses wide, maybe getting dropped a couple of times, maybe gets waved off by an overeager ref. Brown would force a slug-fest, and Horn isn't winning a slug-fest with Brown (nor does he possess the acumen to go in the other possible direction toward victory - that is, to safely outbox him from a distance)
  
• Tomás Molinares (WBA) - Horn by KO. This guy is a super weird anomaly on this list. He officially never won a championship fight (his after-the-bell knockout against Starling was overturned by the commission and turned into a No Contest, but the WBA decided to buck convention and still uphold Molinares in their lineage forevermore, anyway) and was honestly losing that one until his lucky punch. Now, you could make a case for it counting (as Starling wasn't defenseless; he was actually winding up & throwing his own punch a split-second after the bell at the same exact time as Molinares'; the Colombian just got there first, and detonated a bomb on his chin) but the fact is that Molinares' official record, sans that result, demonstrates what he was: a crude glass cannon as was and is typically produced by his country.

 

• Genaro Léon (WBO) - Horn by KO. Talk about glass cannons. Léon had TNT in his fists but couldn't effectively deliver the payload vs. anybody decent. He won a vacant belt against 19-5 Danny Garcia (the deservedly much less famous one). Wild, slow and sloppy. Horn gets to his chin first, guaranteed. Even if Léon plunks a shot or two on him before getting done in himself, it won't crumple Horn the way it did the below-average Garcia.
  
• Manning Galloway (WBO) - Horn by KO. Another finders-keepers opportunist scooping up a vacant strap. Galloway made do with his given abilities, but he's in a heap of trouble against someone like Horn. The Aussie won't be fooled by any of Galloway's predator-deterrent tricks (swinging his lead arm by his side like a hypnotist; planting a brazen lead right hook on his opponents' cheeks before scuffing away in a cloud of smoke like a ninja); he'll get in there and bust some pipes, and land some right hands which are Galloway's Kryptonite, and plenty hard enough to do him in even though Horn isn't a massive puncher.
  
• Aaron Davis (WBA) - Horn loses a very wide decision, will be lucky to squeak a round or two and dodge getting shut out. Superman was a humongous welter and just too damn good for Horn.
  
• Maurice Blocker (WBC, then later added IBF) - Horn loses a medium-wide decision. Blocker would tower over Horn and was a tough and intelligent counter-puncher whose undoings by KO happened very late in his career, at the hands of far more spiteful whackers than Horn. While the fittingly appellated Thin Man was indeed thin on quality wins, and had zero decisive ones (all three of his career world title victories were by split or majority decision), make no mistake, he was class - and fought on nearly even terms with Honeyghan in the one decision loss.
  
• Meldrick Taylor (WBA) - Horn gets dizzied to a shutout loss. As with Benítez, only stopped at welterweight for a sparse layover, but left an impression. That version was as hard to beat as he was insanely fast. Even if Horn lands a hail-Mary, you can't really make a case for him bailing himself out here.
  
• James McGirt Sr. (WBC) - Horn loses a decision. Buddy was a much better fighter than he was/is a coach (and he isn't even that bad a coach, really, just a bad fit with certain guys). Horn gets lit up with counters all night.
  
• Crisanto España (WBA) - Horn by KO. another guy lucky to be on this list, another glass cannon with an empty record from South America. His title claim stems from catching Taylor immediately after he was devastated by Norris, and even Taylor's own trainer & promoter Lou Duva advised "The Kid" to retire immediately based on his performance and the result (taking into account España's quality or lack thereof). In his only genuine step-up in class he was broken down & destroyed by Ike Quartey. I'm not sure why the judges were split as of the stoppage or what they believed they'd been watching (scoring blind aggression, I guess).
  
• Gert Bo Jacobsen (WBO) - Horn by KO. Too basic and undersized.
  
• Pernell Whitaker (WBC) - Horn loses by whatever method Sweet Pete wants. Horn doesn't have a prayer of accomplishing what JCC, McGirt x2, Rivera x2, and Vasquez failed to do, in outpointing Pea at welter. If he's too aggressive trying for a desperate KO shot, Horn might even find himself Dio Hurtado'ed.
  
• Félix Trinidad (IBF, then later added WBC) - Horn loses by KO. He doesn't make it four rounds w/ prime Tito, but no real shame in that.
  
• Eammon Loughran (WBO) - Horn by KO (if not TD or DQ). Another relatively weak champ from the WBO, in an era before it really hit its stride. Another vacant title grabber with naught but so-so defenses. High chance of butts ending this one, given their styles. Horn will be ahead on scorecards, though, even if halted early.
  
• Ike Quartey (WBA) - Horn loses by wide UD. Once that jab is dialed in (and it won't take long), Bazooka has it already in the bag.
  
• José Luis López (WBO) - Horn loses by KO. Maestrito had substandard hand and foot speed and was notoriously undisciplined but he was NO JOKE in his prime. Heavy-handed enough that he damn near kayoed legendarily teak-tough Quartey (and had it been anybody other than Smoger officiating, they might have waved it off before Quartey bounced up). Horn possesses zero chance of outgunning the iron-chinned López in a shootout; he would need to put on an uncharacteristic cutie-pie type performance well outside his comfort zone just to survive.
  
• Mihai Leu (WBO) - Horn takes it close on points, I think. "Michael Loewe" is something of an enigma. He never lost, but also never really fought anybody (familiar tale by now: vacant WBO strap vs. an ordinary combatant that hadn't earned the chance; and then one successful defense by MD over a then 14-1 ballyhooed Olympic gold medalist who nonetheless ultimately went kind of bust in the pros) before joining the rarefied echelon of boxing champions to retire on top & undefeated, although he's far less proven than were the likes of Calzaghe, Marciano, Ward, Mayweather, Finito, or even Valero, Pirog, & Ottke). Suffice to say that he was pretty handy in the ring, though, as he fought a couple hundred amateur contests and lost just 5% of them. From the footage I've seen Leu/Loewe was okay, sort of a Chris Algieri type - meaning he would be able to put up a good fight against Horn but ultimately be outfought with no extra dimension to separate himself (nothing even close to game changing power, in fact pretty feathery; average-to-decent hand speed; no slickness or agility or fleetness of foot to make him particularly elusive).

 

• Oscar De la Hoya (WBC) - Horn gets stopped via debilitating liver hook, a`la DLH vs. Coley (or, ironically, B-Hop vs. DLH up at MW). Pac - a blown-up, faded Pac, remember - hurt the Hornet pretty visibly with some body shots and Pac was never 1/100th the body puncher ODLH was (esp. in his WW prime). Horn will be right there for him, and Oscar will take full advantage, not even bothering with headhunting outside a few set-up jabs (at which he also had next-level mastery at his best).
  
• Ahmed Kotiev (WBO) - Horn by KO. The bummy champ of the month club from the WBO trucks on. Although he didn't pick up a vacant belt, Kotiev did "back-door" it essentially in the same manner, getting the interim belt and then receiving an upgrade from the organizational bureaucrats. In his first reasonable defense, he required a gift (nowadays overlooked but considered among the worst of the decade by contemporary fans & writers in the nineties) to retain via SD over Daniel Santos, who then rectified matters with an immensely satisfying kayo in the rematch.
  
• James Page (WBA) - Horn shades it on points. Tricky one. Page, on the one hand, boasts a W over Maestrito and was said to have manhandled & dropped a prime Oscar de La Hoya in sparring (although such legends, as with Mayweather vs. Spadafora, often get inflated disproportionately to whatever latent potential they may have belied) - on the other, he needed to climb off the canvas twice in beating a López who already had succumbed to his partying lifestyle and begun a downward spiral from his peak. While tall, athletic, in-shape and powerful, with good fundamentals, Page was a lazy fighter who preferred an economical approach, with his guard typically carried low (while lacking the reflexes of greater fighters that have employed the strategy and gotten away with it against stiff competition). Horn would shake free of his clinching attempts, then make him very uncomfortable for long stretches - though I don't think he can ultimately one-shot him the way 6 Heads did.
  
• Daniel Santos (WBO) - Horn loses by KO. El Pillin was outrageously inconsistent, and didn't tarry long at 147lbs (and never fought that many high-caliber names while there, in order to give us an exact bead on the depth of his value at the weight), but when he was "switched on" as he seemed to be in his WBO championship run, he was simply fantastic. He did have some weight-draining concerns, being a behemoth WW, and his chin was a little suspect, but not enough for a relatively average puncher like Horn to exploit. Santos meanwhile could reach you with his destructive left cross from a mile away, given his savvy punch selection, timing, and reach.
  
• Shane Mosley (WBC, then later, separately WBA) - Horn gets stopped mid-to-late. He might put up a valiant struggle and get up from a few knockdowns, but the ATG is going to pepper him with fast combos that he can't soak up all night, and the Sugarman's patented brand of "power-boxing" courtesy of Papa Jack will find a tragically all-too-willing stylistic patsy in Horn.
  
• 6 Heads Lewis (WBA) - Horn by TKO, in a barnburner. Better than your average "look what I found" vacant title snatcher. Among the p4p all-time best Guyanese boxers, maybe top 5, which is actually more flattering than it sounds when you actually take a look at how many solid guys have come from there. Absolute monster from the nineties into early aughts. That said, he fought recklessly and didn't have the chin to support his offensive daredevilry. Page, were he not already into drugs and deeply flawed to begin with, may have ended 6 Heads' ascent before it began. Horn would be able to walk through just enough of that big, scary (but not quite Pipino-like) firepower to apply the pressure needed to dissolve the protective covering of all half a dozen weakish jaws.
  
• Vernon Forrest (IBF, then later, separately WBC) - Horn gets absolutely raped. The Viper wouldn't miss a single jab, and would be pitching a shutout on points as of the stoppage (whenever he feels like scoring it). Alllllllll wrong for Horn, even more than he was for Mosley.
  
• Antonio Margarito (WBO, then IBF, then later WBA Super) - Horn gets stopped. I always resisted the mythology built up around early-mid aughts Margo the bogeyman, whom many anointed 'the stuff of Mayweather's nightmares' - he was overrated in that sense, but, he was still a handful in those days, with too much physicality to not steamroll all but the most durable (or able to deftly play matador). Can't see Horn standing up to his size & strength, not over twelve.
  
• Ricardo Mayorga (WBA Super, later added WBC) - Horn gets stopped. Look, it has become fashionable to rewrite history and case Mayorga in the role of wild caveman, as if he was a spiritual cousin to Carlos Maussa, but the guy was actually, for all his cigar-puffing, beer-swilling, rubbish-talking antics - pretty damn well-rounded in the ring. His boxing ability was and is underrated, and he could turn most anybody's lights out if you gave him a clear look. The version that dethroned Lewis, defended twice against Forrest, and even the version that lost to Spinks all represent too much of a bumpy ride for Horn.
  
• Michele Piccirillo (IBF) - Horn takes a close decision. Piccirillo was better at light middle, and his brief title reign at welter came as the result of a very controversial decision - and even that was preceded by a questionable ruling in his favor in an eliminator with Pineda.
  
• Cory Spinks (IBF, then later WBA Super & WBC) - Horn loses a wide decision. Spinks would find Horn a perfect foil and would spoil, spoil, spoil...

 

• Jose Antonio Rivera (WBA) - Horn by extremely wide decision. Rivera actually is a friend of mine, and made us Massholes proud by holding a title back in the day, but he was a very pedestrian champ.
  
• Zab Judah (IBF, WBA Super & WBC) - Horn loses a close decision. Though he would later give Mayweather fits in the first third of their fight, the welterweight version of Judah was a diminished commodity next to his 140lb self. The speed and reflexes were still more or less there, but he gave himself more breaks and lowered his output considerably, got hit more, lost more rounds, and gassed more easily. Horn might even put him on the deck, but Judah would have just enough rounds banked early to squeak by.
  
• Luis Collazo (WBA) - Horn by decision. Collazo deserved the nod over Hatton, as he did clearly outbox him, but he didn't look amazing. He was bullied around the ring by a smaller man (Hatton very much belonged in his lane at super lightweight, and Collazo actually is a pretty big welter) and didn't exactly pitch a shut-out, even on the scorecards of the multitudes who believed he was robbed.
  
• Carlos Manuel Baldomir (WBC) - Horn by close but clear decision. Tata was able to score the shock upsets over Judah and Gatti simply by outworking them, via leng t'che, but at his Cinderella-run peak he averaged in the vicinity of 35 punches/round - Horn averages 50 and his punches have considerably more zip on them.
  
• Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (IBF, then later WBC, later regained and in 2nd reign added WBA Super) - Horn gets 120-108'ed, best case scenario for him...and if he doesn't mind his p's and q's and perform to his best capabilities, he might even find himself Gatti'ed.
  
• Ricky Hatton (WBA) - Horn by UD. Hold the collective gasps from the peanut gallery, please, and hear me out. I consider Hatton a bona fide ATG in his native class, 140lbs. I also consider him 0-3 at welterweight. He looked awful vs. Collazo and got a gift in his WBA title grab - and he knew it (hence dropping back down to light welter until the Mayweather clash). Then as we know there's nothing questionable about his other two ventures up; he got stopped both times. He wasn't a small 140lber but he was always too damn small for 147lbs, so I'm not sure why people even bother inserting him into fantasy match-ups with various historical titlists & contenders at the weight, let alone favoring him. TOO SMALL, CAPISCE?? ...k, moving on...
  
• Kermit Cintrón (IBF) - Horn by KO. Cintrón survived a war against Estrada (just two fights after being destroyed by Margarito for the first time) in an eliminator to maneuver himself into a vacant title bout with the unmemorable Suarez, followed up by two comically weak defenses (over can-crusher Walter Dario Matthysse, and Jesse Feliciano, a high-level journeyman coming in 3-4-2 in his last nine but directly off a come-from-behind KO win over D-Rod) before his nemesis Margo swatted him back down to earth.
  
• Miguel Cotto (WBA, then later, separately, WBO) - Horn loses by late stoppage, after putting in a gutsy but outmatched effort. It took plaster wraps to end Cotto's run at welter, and tough as he is, Horn would end up whooped the same as both Alfonso Gómez & Oktay Urkal - two durable, underrated guys that like Horn just weren't operating at that elite tier you needed to be to hang with a prime Cotto.
  
• Paul Williams (WBO) - Horn loses a wide decision. As high a workrate as he sets, Horn's would be drowned by The Punisher's...and he otherwise in this match-up faces every disadvantage imaginable.
  
• Carlos Quintana (WBO) - Horn loses a close UD. If he packed a bigger punch I'd say Horn could exploit Quintana's shaky whiskers, but as it stands he would be lucky to drop him once (and Quintana would bag most of the rounds, enough to offset the disruption).
  
• Andre Berto (WBC, then later, separately IBF) - Horn loses on points, close. Berto has too much speed for him, and like Quintana isn't quite susceptible enough to a middling hitter to have it removed from the judges' hands.
  
• Joshua Clottey (IBF) - Horn loses a decision. Clottey would block an overwhelming majority of Horn's blows and make a stronger impression on the judges with his own, as was his wont.
  
• Yuri Nuzhnenko (WBA) - Horn takes a wide UD. Another interim champ the WBA saw fit to promote to "full/regular". Same exact dimensions & frame as Horn and not better in any one area. Horn would maul him in a sloppy but exciting affair.
  
• Vyacheslav Senchenko (WBA) - Horn takes it on points. Senchenko had a FOTY candidate with Nuzhnenko, but was on the same pretty ho-hum level (and like his domestic rival, failed to really distinguish himself as much better than gritty-but-light-hitting and not very special Euro titlist Fredo Klose). A bit more technically sound, but nothing Horn couldn't figure out. His claim to fame is sapping the will of a small and shot Hatton with a well-placed body punch (but even there, often lost in the narrative is that Senchenko was losing until that point)
  
• Isaac Hlatschwayo (IBF) - Horn by decision. The South African was a natural lightweight, and while Horn isn't stopping him, neither is he losing to him. Horn > D-Rod.

 

• Emanuel Dapidran Pacquiao (WBO, 2 separate reigns) - well, hate to say it, but Horn UD Pacquiao is a fact of life. Granted, no, it wasn't the same version as the Pac that first captured the WBO title in 2009, or even the Pac that recaptured it five years later. But still. He was still a credible welterweight champ, and was coming off two very credible defenses in Bradley III and Vargas. Time for Pac fans to accept that Horn beat a Pac that, while definitely several years past his prime, wasn't as shot to shit as they would like to believe.
  
• Dejan Zaveck (IBF) - Horn takes an incredibly close decision. I think Horn is a half-step above the Zaveck/Rafal Jackiewicz rung of the ladder.
  
• Victor Ortiz (WBC) - Horn by TKO. Victor never really established himself at welter, and had the right style to steal Berto's zero (just barely, after twice dropping Peterson but only scraping through with a draw). His power isn't enough to serve him against Horn, in whose chin I have a bit more faith than Berto's or Peterson's. Ortiz was fragile when the going was rough, and Horn would make it rough (as Josesito did a short time after his reign, or as Maidana did years before it)
  
• Paulie Malignaggi (WBA) - Horn by UD. Since we're talking very specifically of a 2012 Malignaggi here, we are focusing on the version that beat an overrated paper champ in Senchenko, and defended once via gift decision over Cano. Horn easily bats this version around the ring.
  
• Randall Bailey (IBF) - Horn by TKO/RTD. As with Pac, the fact is that Horn does have a victory in the books here. Now, with Bailey, he was even further removed from his prime than Pac and yet he was closer to his original WBO title capture (just four years from his exposure of Mike Jones). I don't think much changes if Horn meets him four years earlier. Horn isn't as vulnerable as Mike Jones was in Bailey's fortunate bit of latter-career matchmaking in a vacant title bout. Horn would always be too big for natural light-welter Bailey, who might drop him an extra time or two if he was a few years fresher but would still ultimately succumb to his fate.
  
• Devon Alexander (IBF) - Horn loses a decision. Yes, this is around the same period Alexander got a gift over Matthysse, but Horn doesn't bring the same offensive firepower as the Argentine. Nor even that of his countryman Maidana, whom Alexander shut out in between the Matthysse gift and beating up old Bailey for the belt (which he never actually defended, as incipient challenger Lee Purdy came in overweight, making it a non-title affair). Too much defensive wizardry from the southpaw, sucking all the air from the building and making this evening less than enjoyable for both Horn & the fans.
  
• Adrien Broner (WBA) - Horn by UD. Jeff isn't some little 130/135/140lber for the Problem to bully. He'd offer a slightly less violent strain of the same harsh dose of reality that Maidana dished out. He's better than either Molina, or Taylor.
  
• Shawn Porter (IBF) - Horn loses a decision. I've always been a critic of Porter's ugly swarming and thrashing style, but it would be very effective against someone like Horn. Even guys like Brook and Thurman had trouble with it, and they're head & shoulders above Horn.
  
• Kell Brook (IBF) - Horn gets stopped. What's that, you say? Brook only has a 66% kayo rate, and Horn is pretty tough? Well guess what? So were Jo-Jo Dan, and Gavin, and Bizier. No less so, I'd say. King Ezekiel was on fire after he displaced Porter as IBF champ, and cut through some very solid and sturdy contenders like a sharp knife through hot butter. Jabs & body shots, baby.
  
• Timothy Bradley (WBO) - Horn loses a close decision. We're examining specifically the Pacquiao I, Provodnikov and JMM versions of Desert Storm. Horn doesn't have the pop to drop Bradley to make it as close as Provo; nor is he boxing in the same atmosphere of Bradley or Pac/JMM in that pair of extremely skillful, extremely close bouts.
  
• Marcos Rene Maidana (WBA) - Horn loses a decision, maybe getting off the canvas to do so. Horn can't help but get sucked into a brawl with El Chino, and he decisively loses a brawl with El Chino.
• Keith Thurman (WBA Super, then later added WBC) - Horn loses a wide UD or gets stopped late. One-Time is cut from different cloth.
  
• Danny Garcia (WBC) - Horn loses a close decision, possibly a robbery. Sad but true. His only chance of victory is to knock Danny out and he can't do that, alas.
  
• Jessie Vargas (WBO) - see Danny Garcia. Yet again, Horn might be crowned in the eyes of the journos/experts & most fans, but no way is he "A-side" enough to get the nod over the protected and babied Vargas.
  
• Errol Spence, Jr. (IBF) - Horn gets clipped in half and stopped with a body shot. It is what it is. Too much athlete for Horn.

Horn is the 90th welterweight champion (including all the post-schism world title "piece" holders) if you count from Armstrong, 110th overall counting from Tommy Ryan (111th if you start with Paddy Duffy, as CyberBoxingZone does).

Facing the gauntlet of all his predecessors as welterweight champ, through Armstrong, we have a final speculative h2h record for Horn, in my estimation, of 32-56-1.

Like I said, middle of the road. Not the best champ, but not the worst.

 

Goddamn thousand character post limit.

 

Come on, lads...get crack-a-lacking!

I did the initial heavy lifting, now take it away...

 

Also feel free to embellish upon or refute my subjectively analytical blurbs on any individuals - the more complete a picture we have on everyone the easier the collective task of ranking them!

 

What, too ambitious?

 

Really just to spite the person ignorant enough to call him the worst despite clearly lacking total comprehension of just how low "rock bottom" truly is for 147lb champs.

The highs are sublimely high (Armstrong, Pacquiao, Mayweather, ¾ of the Fab-4, virtually all the major Sugars, Pea, Griffith...) but the lows...blech...

 

You know, I wasn't really sure what to expect heading in, figured he would lose about 90% of the matchups and was planning on feeling smug enough if Horn was proved to be just the 5th or so worst as opposed to flat out THE worst, but I was surprised to find just how many bad (or just plain mediocre) apples there were in the whole pie. Like I said, a handful of the very best of the division's champs are some of the best ever p4p...and there's a good amount of solid depth behind them...but about halfway in the quality NOSEDIVES.