I'm wondering people rank Ken Overlin. MW has such depth historically and im genuinely wondering if one of the many Hopkins is a ATG proponents could make a case for Hopkins being greater than guys like Overlin, Yarosz, Apostoli, Giardello who usually aren't even mentioned in the top 10.
He was great. He held a version of the world championship, and was white, which isn't exactly a fashionable way for a 1930s - '40s middleweight to be remembered. I daresay he ducked Earl Hines and Duke Ellington, but he was still great.
I get what you're saying but how can you be objective and even try to compare Hopkins resume to Overlin's? Ezzard Apostoli Garcia Hostak Soose (should be a W) Belloise DeJohn Brown Seelig
Hard to gauge Ken He only laid off the sauce and trained properly for Cefereno Garcia and was masterful taking the title. Had Nat Fleischer comparing him to the old masters. His 2 losses to Billy Soose were both total robberies. On the other hand he admitted Teddy Yarosz owned him.
That generation of Middleweights tends to get underrated in the grand scheme of things for some reason, which is criminal considering that period was one of the deepest the division's ever seen. I think one of the problems is there was so much talent there that nobody could stay on top for any considerable length of time, and qualified black contenders didn't get the chance- not that I think any of them would've had the title for any considerable length of time had they won it, either. The division was s-t-a-c-k-e-d. Overlin was one of a number of great fighters. And no, Hopkins doesn't have near the success if that's the climate he's fighting in.
Ken Overlin was a great middleweight, in a deep talented era of middleweights...He was called "the poor man's Harry greb" by some because of his somewhat style, but he remarked to this comparison, "i'm convinced Harry Greb would have beaten me and my top contender, both in the same night, with no rest in between ". Heady words about the great Harry Greb, by a great middleweight himself, Ken Overlin...
If you're going by a decade time frame what do you think are the srongest era's for MW. In my mind i would say the years would roughly break down into 1915-1925 1932-1942 1985-1995 I don't think 50's MW's had as much class as the first two golden era's.
I think those top 3 are fine choices- I usually use the more convenient decade rankings and wind up going with the 20's, 30's, and 40's, but picking out the individual years like you did gives a better overlap.
