what type of fighter is the entry standard for being great

Billy Graham is my bench mark ,I call him very good ,but not great ,so a fighter has to be better than him imo.

 

id say nigel benn does just enough to be great , any better than him and your great for sure

 

Johnny Tapia

 

Tapia and Graham are examples of "close to being great".

 

Here's a list (not a complete one by any means) from middleweight and down of guys that I think are door keeper types:

Ricardo Lopez
Joe Calzaghe
Winky Wright
Kostya Tszyu
Marlon Starling
Buddy McGirt
Johnny Tapia
Miguel Lora
Santos Laciar
Hiroyuki Ebihara
Yuri Arbachakov
Jose Medel
Lupe Pintor
Chucho Castillo
Lionel Rose
Johnny Famechon
Howard Winstone
Sugar Ramos
Kenny Lane
Del Flanagan
Ralph Dupas
Gil Turner
Meldrick Taylor
Luis Federico Thompson
Jorge Fernandez
Don Jordan
Johnny Saxton
Bobby Dykes
Donald Curry
Sumbu Kalambay
Eduardo Lausse
Rodrigo Valdez
Freddie Dawson
Michael Carbajal

 

I would consider Mosley, JM Marquez and Trinidad part of this list, perhaps JL Castillo too. You?

 

Orlando Canizales as well.

 

Jose Luis Castillo
Diego Corrales
Joel Casamayor
Bazooka Limon
Frank Bruno
Ricky Hatton
Julian Jackson
Terry Norris

Are the type of guys on the fringe for me.

I think anyone not ranking Joe Calzaghe as a great is simply just doing it out of spite. People talk about him having a massive deluded fan club on here but all i've yet to see is people talking him down

 

As much as I'd like to think of Tito and Mosley above this level, you're right, they are right there with this lot.

Yeah, JMM and Orlando Canizales too.

Castillo I'd say is perhaps just a step below them, though an argument can be made that he fits in here...

 

Stop. :-(

 

I don't think them three names are of all the same level.

For me Fenech is definitely an ATG.

 

I scored the first Castillo-Mayweather fight to JLC, hence my grouping of him with these guys. That puts him up significantly further than his actual paper resume merits IMO.

 

I scored it for him too, but it's just that Floyd looked so average in that fight. I didn't see it as a monumental effort from Jose Luis Castillo or anything.

I see what you're saying though, a (arguable) win over Floyd should count for something, even if it was done in less than stellar fashion.

 

In order to be called great the fighter has to have accomplished something that stands out in the sport of boxing from the rest of the competitors. This could be longevity, dominance, sheer ability or something else.

Today's examples of proven great fighters would be the likes of Manny Pacquiao, JM Marquez and Bernard Hopkins, all nearing all-time great status (standing out even among the greats). A fighter who would be "very good", due to his dominating yet largely unspectacular LW reign and later success at welterweight, would be Mosley, if not for the big win over De La Hoya which may just and just put him in the category of a great.

A Jose Luis Castillo is on the fringe, but I would hesitate to call him great. If he could claim a win over Mayweather, that would definitely put him on the short list but he did not get the job done convincingly enough and gave a disappointing effort in the rematch while having the opportunity to set things right.