Your top five favourite fighters of all-time (strict criteria)

Oh no, i understand favouritism. This is just my opinion by the way, but the man is a snake. I live not far, Liverpool, and i too followed his career from the start with great interest, used to think he was a really nice, down to earth guy. When he beat Tszyu i thought he had a platform to be one of the 140 pound greats of history, at present time a list would be very kind to have him at number 10. I started to notice differences in his attitude round about the Collazo/Urango bouts. 'Man of the people', Roberto Duran and Felix Trinidad would be sick to their stomachs. How he wouldnt give Witter a deserved shot at the title was disgusting, this is a man who claims to be a purist. By the way, the change in attitude i meant was all this trash talking and spotlight lovin that emerged from his personality that wasnt there previously. And all this while constantly reminding us that he's down to earth, Joe Calzage has always been down to earth and never craved fame, but he never reminded us how Ricky did throughout his career.

And the Witter thing disgusts me to my stomach, Witter 'bad-mouthed' him and Ricky used that as an excuse to starve him of what he deserved, i thought history learned from what happened to Burley? Hatton come out after beating a past prime Castillo and totally dissed Floyd Mayweather, someone he has no business doing so to, and Mayweather made the bout in a heartbeat. Money got to this man. I used to go out with a grl from Stalybriidge, just round Ricky's way, ive hears some stuff, as a 'purist', i hate this guy.

 

Just laughed my head off through the first part of your post! Its a pitbull though.

I liked a lot of both yours and his, it just saddens me when you have ones from the Duran-Leonard 2 bout! Joking

Cant remember my fave of McGrain's, i actually liked his Burley one a lot though.

 

I was speaking to a friend on this subject recently, i was a bit shocked at the level of top/great fighters you hear that are violent outside the ring, towards their wiives etc, as i since a chilld, have seen them as artistic and noble (maybe im naive), he simply replied 'they're violent men', shut me up quite fast!

 

marciano
ali
marvin hagler
ken buchanan
calzaghe

 

undertsand what you're saying but don't agree with most of it. there's no doubt he has taken possibly more limelight than his talent has warrented but i don't see how its his fault, i think the public got on themselves to a large degree.
where floyds concerned, yeah he badmouthed him to get the fight, which has been going on for years. and if your referring to the build-up then i'd say mayweather was far worse in the bad-mouthing aspect.
i ****ing love ricky's style, or maybe that should be loved cos he seems to have lost it a bit last few fights.
as for the stories you've heard, don't keep them secret, tell.

 

Good you put Buchanan in there, Robbi said no honourable mentions so i didnt bring him up, but now you have.....

Great boxer, if your defense presented an opening, Buchanan put his glove there.

 

Roy Jones Jr
Joe Gans
Erik Morales
Kid Gavilan
Barney Ross

 

Duran
Monzon
Azumah Nelson
Joe Louis
Mike Tyson

 

Not stories that are anything to tell, just of his attitude really, just shocked me initially that he was a guy who luvs the limelight when he constantly tells us otherwise. And i dont mind bad-mouthing, its just the hypocrite in him i dont like, how he treated Witter different to Floyd treated him. I meant what he said in the ring after the Castillo fight.

And sorry i made it out like i had some big stories for you there, you were probably expecting something juicy there. It was just that i live a good 30 miles away, and when i come round his area for a drink or whatever, people were telling me of an attitude he seems to have, not a bad attitude, but just the limelight type thing, i was just shocked because it wasnt expected, that was it really.

 

DURAN
salvador sanchez
manny pacqoui
tyson in the 80s
louis

 

They have to bring themselves to a point where violence is easily accessible. We all have it in us. But in fighters and soldiers for example, it's not far from the surface of the skin. I read a Robinson bio alotta years ago. Now that I know more about him, I'm sure it was a whitewash. But I have heard about him beating up on his wife a little. That too could be bull****. Just don't know.

On that note, I'd say that some fighters are better at keeping their violence unexpressed, either in between fights or once they retire.... Point: I think it's a question of how naturally violence came to them in the first place, of how much of a stretch it was for them to get to that place... the easier it was, the more natural it came, the better! If it's not such an aberration, it doesn't have such an effect on their psyches long term; case in point? My brother and I were the only two boys growing up on our street that didn't regularly get beaten by our dads. He tried to pull my tongue right out of my mouth a couple times, and those fists were clenched at times, the look in his eyes said in a breath he could destroy me without breaking a sweat, but he never did it. He was a big enough of a man to not let his time in the ring dictate his civilian life.

 

1.) Salvador Sanchez
2.) Sugar Ray Leonard
3.) Alexis Arguello
4.) Carlos Monzon (The only one on the list I never saw fight live (TV)
5.) Julio Cesar Chavez

 

1. Muhammad Ali
2. Erik Morales
3-5 in no order
Roberto Duran
Julio Cesar Chavez
Ray Leonard

Those are my top 5 today but who knows who will be in 3-5 tomorrow.

 

I laughed out loud at that part!

Your old man sounds like he was a nice guy Chinx

 

Thanks T, he was. His mother loved him.