Who are some of the greatest H2H fighters in the history of the sport?

Well SRR is obvious. Variety of skills and adaptation. He could adjust and beat you so many ways. And this is from watching PAST PRIME tapes of the guy.

 

At their best:

Ray Robinson
Willie Pep
Roberto Duran
Eder Jofre
Ezzard Charles
Henry Armstrong
Benny Leonard
Ray Leonard
Salvador Sanchez
Muhammad Ali
Joe Louis
Carlos Ortiz
Archie Moore
Thomas Hearns
Roy Jones Jr.
Pernell Whitaker
Marvin Hagler
Carlos Monzon

 

Great list, I would also add Lennox Lewis, Bernard Hopkins, Michael Spinks (tho not vs Tyson....ouch), Evander Holyfield and as much as I hate to admit it Floyd Mayweather Jr.....and thats about it off the top of my head.

Again, great list!!!

 

Yep they are good additions. :good

 

I've always thought RJJ was the best H2H P4P fighter ever. At 160-168 he was as close to unbeatable as one could get.. just an unbelievable amount of natural talent, insane speed with one punch KO power, and an awkward style that anybody would have major problems dealing with. It's sad that he could have accomplished A LOT more in his career, but I think just by watching his fights from the 90's, anyone could tell that he was one of the greatest H2H fighters ever.

 

I don't think Floyd is as good as Pernell or Roy to be honest. He doesn't have the level of skills these guys possess. Close. But just not quite on the same level IMO. Same with, BHop, Spinks, Holy ect. If you are talking about the BEST h2h, SRR would have to be in their, Pernell Whitiker, Prime Meldrick Taylor (short ACTUAL prime but unreal talent IMO), Roy Jones Jr, SRL would be the first ones that come to mind. In the heavies, definitely prime Tyson, prime Ali, Lennox even prime Holmes who is under rated IMO. That said, before I hear the complaints, I don't rate most fighters of the older generation, so I imagine most lists will differ to mine.

 

Agreed. Roy is simply the best h2h IMO. No one could match the stamina, speed, offense, defense and most of all the unorthadox techniques he possessed. Prime Roy would beat most fighters in almost every area. He could fight both in close and at range also easily, back when he used to actually move on the ropes, and counter punch in numbers in close quarters.

 

You don't think a prime Ray Robinson (at 160, not 147) could match him? Ray packed more power, had a granite chin, equal speed (yes, equal), better offence, a slightly lesser defence, could fight in close better than Roy, could fight outside just as well if not better, and was just a genius in the ring.

 

Jones' resume isn't poor at all, it's just not as great as it could have been. I don't want to get into an old time vs modern fighters argument here, but to say that Charles' 3 wins against Moore are worth more than Jones' entire resume is ridiculous. As for H2H, I feel extremely confident saying RJJ would dominate both of them and stop them rather easily. Holman Williams vs RJJ would be a treat? Come on.. it would be a treat if you like mismatches.

Liston is around a #5 H2H HW, but he shouldn't be mentioned as a great P4P H2H fighter, if that's what you're talking about. The only HW's that could even be mentioned as top P4P H2H fighters are Ali and Tyson. I don't think you could even say Louis and Lennox are, because of their fragile chins.

Also, for a guy who seems to like old-time fighters, you're giving Floyd too much respect. He was a monster at 130, but 135 and up there are a lot of greats that would beat him.

I wouldn't say Ray packed more power at 160 than Jones and I would say that no one in history at 160 ever matched Jones' speed at that weight, but just from looking at old tape of SRR, it's hard to tell. Since this thread is about P4P H2H fighters, the matchup we should judge is a MW version of a 147 pound SRR, with the proportionally increased size at 160 against a MW Jones. I think this is the most difficult old era fighter that Jones would have to deal with, but he would still win by decision in a pretty technical fight. RJJ's awkwardness would force SRR to fight Roy's fight moreso than SRR's style would cause Roy to fight his and this main factor would ultimately give Jones the edge. If anyone is getting knocked out though, it's Roy if he gets caught flush at some point. But out of 10 fights, I think Jones would win the majority of them. He truly was one of the biggest, if not the biggest talents ever and damn, it just pisses me off thinking about how much greater his resume could have been and how he would be judged now if he retired after Tarver I.. oh well. I gotta go sleep now. :hi:

 

I disagree (on Roy beating Ray more than vice-versa), but a case can be made so I'll leave it at that.

 

Yeah, it gets real nerdy and silly discussing such high level talent/skill fantasy matchups like RJJ vs SRR, but I wish more people agreed that Jones would have no problem taking out guys like Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Holman Williams, and Sam Langford. SRR was a one of a kind fighter during the old era and those types of guys don't even compare to him on any level, but are still rated extremely high on this forum.

 

Those people are awful.

Anyway from the last decade:
Calzaghe
Jones
Lewis
Tszyu
Barrera
Pacman (can overwhelm most people, especially Willie Pep)
Mayweather