can someone list his achievments??i just read he won 63 in a row lost and won 73 more in a row..i know he was in some kinde of wreck..but what were his achievments and where is he ranked???
Consensus seems to be top 10, sometimes top 5. I personally think anywhere from 6 to about 12 can be justified. The numbers are staggering. That one loss in those first 140 fights was when he moved up to challenge Sammy Angott for the Lightweight title. He basically cleaned out the Featherweight division - took the title from Chalky Wright and beat him 3 other times, beat Bantamweight great Manuel Ortiz, and pretty much all of the top contenders of the era. He was in a plane crash in 1947 and was severely injured, but came back just a few months later, put together another impressive winning streak and a few defenses of the title before losing it to Sandy Saddler. His victory over Saddler in their rematch is one of the best wins in history, not only because Saddler is a great fighter himself and it was obviously a less-than-primed Pep, but because he overcame possibly the worst style for him. Plus he looks fantastic on film, most of which is post-plane crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8x1...476AEF3C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=20 I would say about 6 Great defensive fighter and awesome record as a professional with his 4 fights against Saddler only surpassed by the 3rd round win against Jackie Graves in '46 ,when he never threw a punch,after telling journalists BEFORE the fight he was going to win a round without throwing a punch, and got the round from the ringside referee's...part of boxing folklore..the Graves mention is at 4 minutes into the video Enjoy
i have him in the top 5 i used to have him 2nd but the more i looked at it Greb, Armstrong, Robinson had better resumes and Pep slots in at 4th. (note: I dont rank fighters pre 1920 as i feel it was a different sport then) but most of you will know im a huge Pep fan
You can go to the following web site and read for yourself that this wasn't true. http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/w0403-jw.html
I have him top 3. He should NEVER be seen outside a top 10 list IMO. Probably the smoothest, slickest boxer to ever lace them up, best ever FWT - maybe that hurts his ATG standing a little, he was a one weight virtuoso, he never climbed thru multiple divisions like Armstrong but he was a complete master boxer with a final record of something like 230-11-1 (give or take a number or two) I wouldnt argue with anyone having Pep as no1 all time, seriously. :good
Excellent post & all very very true. (except I couldnt justify having him outside the top 10 personally) :thumbsup