Who has faced most great opponents who were in their prime?

roberto duran is one that comes to mind
prime leonard twice, prime hagler, prime hearns, prime Buchannon, prime de jesus, prime benitez, prime marcel

emile griffith is an even better example
benny paret three times, luis rodriguez four times, carlos monzon twice, jose napoles, nino benvenuti three times, joey archer twice, dick tiger and gaspar ortega
of all these only the second tiger fight was when he was past his prime

 

Ezzard Charles fought Archie Moore, Rocky Marciano, Harold Johnson, Jimmy Bivins, Joey Maxim, Jersey Joe Walcott, Lloyd Marshall, when they were in their prime.

Roberto Duran fought Wilfredo Benitez, Ken Buchanan, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Barkley, Carlos Palomino, Esteban De Jesus, when they were in their prime.

I know Harry Greb/Henry Armstrong/Sugar Ray Robinson fought alot of amazing opposition but i haven't got enough knowledge of boxers in those days to tell you what stage of their careers they were in regarding peaks.

 

Very good mentions so far with. Oscar, Duran & Charles.
I'm not really an expert of the lower weight classes but i think Chavez deserves a nomination aswell and ofc Ali (ended Liston's prime, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, Quarry, Foster, Shavers, Lyle, Holmes...Williams, Terrell, Chuvalo, Cooper also worth to be mentioned).

 

Benny Leonard
Harry Greb
Ezzard Charles

 

Evander Holyfield - It deserves a mention for sure.
Because it's not a question of how many opponents in the prime he defeated, but how many opponents in the prime he faced.

 

How come Palomino was in his prime?

Retired afterwards and it was widely publicised that he wanted to pursue a career in acting at the time of the Duran fight. Also coming off a dominant loss aganst Benitez.

 

Palomino had made up his mind on retiring by his 30th birthday, which was only 2 months away from the Duran fight, it had nothing to do with him being past his best. And he gave a good account of himself against Benitez, he showed no signs of being past his prime.

 

He was dominated against Benitez. There was a vocal uproar about the scorecards at the time by the press which I'm happy to post for you.

I don't consider Palomino to have been prime.

We'll agree to disagree.

 

In or very close to their prime I would say Fritzie Zivic fought quite the who's who.

Sugar Ray Robinson, Billy Conn, Jake LaMotta, Henry Armstrong, Lou Ambers, Bob Montgomery, Beau Jack, Sammy Angott, Charley Burley and Eddie Booker

 

i'm not gonna research it but charles is my answer. ludicrous resume.

 

Possibly Harry Greb followed by Charles and SRR

 

Sam Langford deserves a mention.... Wills, McVea, Jeanette (all a bizillions times), Ketchel, Kid Norfolk, Gunboat Smith, Jim Flynn, Jack Johnson two years before his title...

 

Dominant loss to Benitez ? it was a split decision and two other judges had it to Benitez by only 3 and 4 rounds. Whilst i don't think Palomino has any case for winning the fight and the 145-142 scorecard for Palomino is ridiculous and highly dubious, Palomino did win his fair share of rounds it wasn't a blow out.

Palomino just happened to run into a Duran who had one of his best ever performances above 135.

 

Palomino still believes he won the fight against Benitez. It was a close fight nonetheless. To claim he was past prime would be an excuse, but a certain sect only sees excuses if an opinion favors Duran.