Who Benefited the Most from the introduction of "Junior" Divisions?

can't vote cos i don't know too much about gomez and pryor.

don't understand why holyfield is in there cos he did ok at heavy.

my guess is calzaghe. in his prime he would've actually had to face either hopkinsin his prime or rjj in his prime. not saying he'd get blown out, but i don't think anyone beats rjj at light heavy (pre-ruiz), and i thought bernard won his fight against calzaghe anyway*.

*i have no problems with the decision - joe was definitely the busier more aggressive fighter, and bhop did hug a lot. but i personally look at clean effective shots above all else, and bhop won that category bigtime.

 

Hatton

 

Out of the ones listed, I'd say Pryor.

Partly because the others proved they could still be successful in the "major" weight classes.

 

Pryor could have had success at 135 or 147, Calzaghe and Gomez had success at the full division above their junior 1 BUT both would be toasted by the best of the best in that division and Gomez was.

 

you missed out Sugar Ray and Tommy heanrs with out them they would only be 3 weight champs same with DeLaHoya and mayweather who would only be 2 weight champs (delahyoa 3)

 

yes i think they would have been decent fighters at any time

but De La Hoyas weight jumping isnt better than Tony Canzoneris but Oscar gets more credit because 7 divisions

 

I wouldn't include them in honesty.

Obviously them winning titles is a fantastic achievement, but they would be ATG's with or without them.

I mean nobody gives SRL much real recognition for beating Donny LaLonde for 2 belts in 2 different divisions, nobody really talks about the titles when they talk about his resume.

But they talk about wins over Duran, Hearns, Hagler, Benitez etc, which firmly cements him as an ATG. Same with the others, they've all won big fights that put them into the greats category.

Hatton was a fantastic call. He'd be nowhere without the light-welterweight division. Couldn't make 135, and looks awful at 147. Even if he comes in at 140 every fight, he's still going to be fighting guys that outweigh him by 7lbs and that takes away his physical strength advantage.

 

what about Oscar

 

Pryor a little since he would not have wanted to fight Leonard or Hearns.

 

he challenged tehm alot

 

Governing bodies. simple.