Worst Greatest ever.

I can't be arsed to try justifying it, but Sugar Ray Leonard i think can definatley be considered, depending on criteria

 

I nominate Jeffries.

Despite little boxing experience, he never lost a fight until he retired. He decisively beat several hall-of-famers and more impotant, he beat every significant fighter of his time. Only after a 5 year lay off, he lost to another all-time-great who was at his peak.

To me, Jeffries' run is very impressive and despite having lost under less favorable circumstances, he still holds an aura of invincibility in my eyes, when fighting under the ruleset of his time.



A similar argument could be made for Marciano.

 

Harry Simon was the greatest light middleweight ever. Beat a prime Winky Wright, beat a number of undefeated fighters, retired undefeated himself.

Someone once made the argument to me that Khaosai Galaxy was the greatest Asian boxer ever, making the argument that he so ruined all of his opponents that none of them were able to accomplish anything after he beat them down and demoralized them.

 

Your OP never said anything about heavyweights. Just to make the worst greatest ever.

If we're sticking to heavyweights only, I'm sure someone could make an argument for prime Brian Nielsen. Held his title for 7 years with about 20 title defenses, went 51 fights without losing only to lose once he was past prime. Defeated the great Larry Holmes. Defeated a man who defeated Tyson.

 

I saw Rocky Marciano in his prime....I love Rocky Marciano as a powerful puncher, but one small point...Jack Dempsey, as every boxing writer, who saw them both in their primes,invariably picked Dempsey to beat Marciano without hesitation...Dempsey, PRIME,was just as tough, hit harder with BOTH hands, and most importantly was about twice as fast...And as experience teaches us SPEED KILLS...Dempsey, is only known now , by his two bouts with Gene Tunney, when Dempsey was 32 years of age, over the hill. and most importantly, hadn't fought in three years...At least I value his peak greatness...Dempsey wasn't called a "man killer", for nothing.....,

 

Gianfranco Rosi.

Because he is from Perugia.

 

New to forum, so take it easy on me.boxing fanatic, but i try not to pass judgement on fighters of the past,Louis,Dempsey,Marciano etc. i have noticed this thread seems to be missing one of my favorites george foreman,who would in my opinion won the physical battle with Ali, but unfortunately lost the physiological one. in his prime, fighters feared him, some were rumoured to avoid him, he was the Tyson of his era.Ali wore him down.

Interesting to see how some people rate boxers, and have different scoring plans. in mine, i forgive foreman's loss of the war of words, i believe in his prime, he would have demolished Ali, and as most top tens start with Ali at the helm, foreman should be up there?

take it easy on me you guys

 

Th thread is a contradiction to itself, if its the worst answer, it cannot be the best answer.

 

Lennox Lewis should be on that list. A dominant world champion 3 times over a 10 year period. Lewis fought all styles and overcame them and beat every man he fought. He avenged his two losses in style. I count 13 world title claimants on his record, 2 of them cruiserweights, 3 if you count Holyfield. Wins over Holyfield and Vitali strengthen the argument specially the Vitali fight when he was 37 years old, I'd pick a younger Lewis to win this confidently.

 

Mike Tyson.

He beat 4 reigning world heavyweight champions (WBC, WBA, IBF, and linear/RING) before he turned 22.
And he beat several contenders. In style.

After that his life turned to chaos, and much of that strife would have instantly destroyed most champions - or any celebrity - but Tyson carried on winning more than he lost, went to jail and came out and beat 2 more reigning world champions before his career really went under.
Of course, he was never the same without his original training team either, and he was fighting on anti-depressant medication for all his fights from around mid-'88 onwards. That's like expecting him to fight tranquilised !

To think of all that he achieved with all those handicaps is remarkable, and we all know that before those circumstances were there he was UNBEATABLE, and KOing contenders every couple of months !

And .... one last thing - just look at the footage. :deal

 

His brother Khaokor was better.

 

:deal

edit-
I get what you're saying...

Edwin Valero kind of implies he's something that many believe he's not.