Your Hottest Takes:

I think if someone is willing to try to attack you because of your views about boxing history in an online forum, they're probably not worth engaging anyway.

I'm sure I have no idea to whom your fatphobic, but accurate, comment refers...

 

Can relate to your 5th point honestly,I always think Duran was an invincible bloke only defeated by his laziness.

Now I realized that all those defeats were fair and square tbh,and there are some great fighters of today that might defeat him, although I still think Duran was greater than them atleast maybe a hair or so.(Floyd,Crawford and Chavez Sr for example)


I agree with the 6th and 7th take,the 6th is because I believe that every generation has their own crops that could fight on every era of gloves boxing,atleast up from the 40s or so because gloved boxing was still developing before that imo,for the 7th I definitely love some more grappling and bare knuckle punching in my modern boxing.


10 and 12 are good takes, it's not too nice to watch dudes sacrificing their lives for entertainment,and greatness is very subjective because there's so much things to consider "great"



For a "weak" or "strong" era,records or the kind of fighters might tell,but then if you don't really analyze the real level of the guys, or how they actually fought on film, it's hard to assert.


Tommy Burns is cool I agree,he lost to Johnson because his small body carried a balls too oversized and overweight.

 

SRR koing Duran,I would give it a 70% chance to happen, Duran was kind of small,he had a frame big enough to jump into super middleweight but still quite small to be a welterweight/middleweight,but considering how infighters gave SRR troubles(even Olson made him look bad),I give Duran a shot, despite how he started to change his style at middleweight,being more similar to Carbajal,sharp shooting counterpuncher that could fight at close quarters.

 

Which ones am I meant to read Mr CT? Just so I can knee jerk react correctly and call you stupid and unenlightened according to my creed.

 

Take your pick!

 

Interesting take. I'm think we'd definitely see more top guys in the 6'8" to 6'9" range. Valuev is the only good 7' Heavyweight I've seen, but there are some obviously athletic basketball players at that height. Train some of them to use the Wlad Klitschko approach...use that reach, immediately clinch in close and who knows. Might be hard to beat. This is assuming they skipped basketball altogether, and got into boxing early on.

 

For me, SRR is a blend of Leonard and Hearns. He hits very quickly, very hard, can get dirty in the trenches and enjoys similar leverage advantages against Duran as what Hearns did.

I have no doubt that Duran will test him but I think Robbi catches him quite similar to what Tommy did and when he does, if Duran doesn't go, Robbi was significantly a better finisher than Hearns was, for my money.

 

Yeah,very possible, although most likely it would work better at welterweight,you see how SRR struggled with middleweight pressure fighters.

 

Valuev had a pituitary tumor. I don't think anyone with that condition has made it in the NBA besides George Muresan.

I could see Dirk Nowitzki or Hakeem Olajuwan ruling the division.

 

Removing the comment about Marciano's resume since it was meant to be positive, and I realized that the feature not bug meme tend to be used sarcastically.

A couple more:

* While Manny Pacquiao and Mickey Walker are undeniably great, neither guy really dominated a single division long enough to warrant automatic entry into an all time Top 20
* The increased emphasis on a specific type of technique ultimately detracts from the sport. Someone perceived as awkward, or crude may actually be just as skilled in their own way as someone with more pristine technique.

 

Disagree on the weight class.

Duran until Montreal was a pugilistic marvel. After Montreal his lack of discipline caught up with him. I could still see WW Robbi sparking him but it's less likely as that Duran was conditioned and motivated.

Put Robbi at 154/155 versus some of the MW versions of Duran and Roberto gets outboxed and stopped trying to negotiate his way to the inside. Robbi could catch him with either right hand ala Hearns or the left hook ala Fullmer.

Duran was noticeably slower in footspeed and whilst still a great fighter was even more prone to good, elusive footwork, a long jab, height and power disadvantages at the higher weights.

 

Although Duran from the Barkley fights had slower foot speed than the Montreal one,he had a good amount of experience already and was still capable of the inside,and just look at Robinson vs Olson ii.

 

Robbi of the St Valentine's Massacre stops him.

Barkley stood more or less in front of Duran. That version of Robbi is faster handed, has more snap in his punches, much better feet and is more elusive.

I hear the argument that you're putting forward but I don't see any version of Roberto doing anything other than maybe seeing the final bell against that version of Robbi.

 

Boxing should be illegal.

 

Using assumptions of a fighter's character from what is displayed in the media to like/dislike fighters is pretty stupid. Expecting exemplary behaviour from participants who are paid to inflict maximum violence against each other seems irrational.