Who Ranks Greb As The Greatest?

Yes, sir.

 

Technically he was, tactically he wasn't. Offensively he was a much better fighter early on, and it would take an offensive fighter rather than a spot picking pot-shotter and spoiler to get the better of Jones. He may have fared better against certain stylists at latter points of his career, but against Jones he'd probably be at even more of a disadvantage in his elder days in comparison to his more youthful ones.

See above.

So you're saying Hopkins didn't become a great fighter until he got old?

That's irrelevant to a matchup between the two prime for prime, unless you're actually insinuating that the Hopkins of the past few years has been in his prime. Stylistically, Hopkins would be at a loss for what to do against Jones, regardless of his technical skills because he simply lacked the punch output and physical qualities to negate Jones's tremendous advantages on the outside. Again, the younger, fresher, more offensively active and aggressive Hopkins (who actually did fight with an intelligent gameplan in their fight) would probably fare just as well as the latter version due to those qualities, even if he lacked the experience. Jones just had a style that was poison for what a fighter like B-Hop would later become.

So you are saying that Hopkins is in his prime now? Because he has the experience? Well, ya know, so did Robinson in 1965. So did Archie Moore in 1963. So did Ezzard Charles in 1959. All excellent technicians who had the makings of great fighters even well past their peaks. Experience doesn't count for much when you can no longer pull the trigger to execute like you used to.

Hopkins has done very well for himself in that regard, no question, but to say he's anywhere near his prime right now because of the fact that he's been exposing over-regarded fighters doesn't hold water in my eyes. Why not actually watch him fight at the different stages of his career and compare.

I agree that Hopkins had not yet hit his full stride by the time he fought Jones, but he would within the next 4 years or so. The same can be said of Jones, though a bit sooner. Hopkins might have fared better in '97 or '99, but stylistically he'd still be at a disadvantage. Their first fight bares similarities in my mind to how a prime vs prime fight would go between the two, just on a slightly higher scale, and slightly closer.

 

Ouch!

Good post sir.

 

Always is mate :good

Fair enough

I agree to an extent. Looking at The Ring's p4p top 10 for the year of 2009, and it's a very average bunch indeed, especially when they have given their past listings and you can compare the current mob to the class of '80 and '82. Even '95 was a different world from last year's best.