-- Who are they? My list.. 1. Julio Cesar Chavez 2. Kostya Tszyu 3. Aaron Pryor 4. Antonio Cervantes 5. Nicolino Locche 6. Barney Ross 7. Jack Kid Berg 8. Ricky Hatton 9. Eddie Perkins 10. Tony Canzoneri 11. Wilfredo Benitez 12. Duilio Loi
That list sure is not right. Ross is number one. HEAD and SHOULDERS ahead of Chavez. There is a big differnts between whipping 94 Don King Hype jobs, and beating McLarin, Cani and Petrolle muiltply times.
how long did benitez stay at 140, like 3 years? I think this list is based on the career in the division.
I watched his last fight against John H Stracey a couple of weeks ago. Action packed affair. Naploes was 2-3 years past his prime. His achievements at welterweight are as good as any other over the last 40 years.
I prefer to rank aaron pryor #1 on head to head and he's top 3 in accomplishments too. Even if cervantes was out of his prime, he was still the man when aaron fought him. Arguello was the top lightweight when he fought aaron too, and remember aaron pryor is a natural lightweight. He didnt stay in the division cuz all of the lightweights during the 1977-1980 period ducked him nicely.
And the rest. Napoles was at the end of his prime by 1970; then he descended into alcoholism and his training suffered. Problems grew as he got older. Around '67-'70 as a light welterweight/welterweight, he was on fire.
Making a 140 list is really hard becuase you have the option of putting in a lot of great lightweights who had limited forays into the 140 pound division, or putting in lesser like natural 140 pounders who spent their whole careers there and "accompished" more. E.g. in my mind the likes of Ike Williams, Carlos Ortiz, Pernell Whitaker and Oscar de la Hoya beat the likes of Kostya Tszyu, but they probably don't make a top ten if we take accomplishments at 140 into account, whereas Tszyu probably does. I haven't put a great, great deal of thought into it, and I'll do it later, but these are the guys that are candidates for top ten imo: Packey McFarland Barney Ross Wilfred Benitez Jackie Kid Berg Eddie Perkins Jose Napoles Julio Cesar Chavez Kostya Tszyu Aaron Pryor Antonio Cervantes Nicolino Locche Duilio Loi Tony Canzoneri
