Top 10 Fighters of the 1950s

Ambling Alp · Post by **Ambling Alp** » 06 Mar 2008, 15:33

For fun, I made a Top 10 list fighters of the 1950's. It always gets a little tricky when you rate people by the decade; What about someone that was great in the 1940's but barely fought in the 1950's? Or someone who fought a little in the 1950's but really was more of a 1960's fighter?
I decided to rate people just on their fights that actually occurred in the 1950's.

There was a lot of close calls. Hardly anyone seemed to be the top guy of a weight division for that long of a long stretch. Some guys began the decade strong then either retired or lost a lot of fights when they got old.
Anyway here is what I came up with:

1. Ray Robinson
2. Archie Moore
3. Gene Fullmer
4. Carmen Basilio
5. Rocky Marciano
6. Pascual Perez
7. Sandy Saddler
8. Floyd Patterson
9. Harold Johnson
10. Bobo Olson

Honorable Mention:
Joey Giardello
Joey Maxim
Randy Turpin
Ingemar Johannson
Jimmy Carter

I'm sure that I could change my mind on these with a strong arguement. I'm also almost positive that I overlooked someone obvious. Anyway, what do you guys think?

HomicideHenry · Post by **HomicideHenry** » 06 Mar 2008, 16:35

1. Ray Robinson
2. Archie Moore
3. Gene Fullmer
4. Carmen Basilio
5. Rocky Marciano
6. Pascual Perez
7. Sandy Saddler
8. Floyd Patterson
9. Harold Johnson
10. Bobo Olson

Gee, Alp, I never would have thought I'd have seen the day you would have Marciano in a top five list ever, let alone one above the likes of Perez, Saddler and Johnson.

actjac · Post by **actjac** » 06 Mar 2008, 20:56

Have to move Rocky up to #2 having beaten Moore and also beating one of the greatest LHWs in Ezzard Charles plus retiring undefeated.

I Feel Fine · Post by **I Feel Fine** » 06 Mar 2008, 23:12

Rocky was a Heavyweight, Moore a Light Heavyweight, so that's not really a reason to put Rocky ahead of Moore P4P. Moore accomplished a lot more in the 50's. Plus if you went by that logic you would also have to put Patterson ahead of Moore.

john2345 · Post by **john2345** » 07 Mar 2008, 07:31

I'd include Joe Brown rather than Bobo Olson. Also I'd try to squeeze Kid Gavilan into the list.

J

Ezzard · Post by **Ezzard** » 07 Mar 2008, 07:58

Fullmer would not make my top 10. Saddler would be in the top 3. Johnson would be in the top 5. Paterson might not make my top 10 either.

Ambling Alp · Post by **Ambling Alp** » 07 Mar 2008, 16:12

HomicideHenry wrote:
1. Ray Robinson
2. Archie Moore
3. Gene Fullmer
4. Carmen Basilio
5. Rocky Marciano
6. Pascual Perez
7. Sandy Saddler
8. Floyd Patterson
9. Harold Johnson
10. Bobo Olson
Gee, Alp, I never would have thought I'd have seen the day you would have Marciano in a top five list ever, let alone one above the likes of Perez, Saddler and Johnson.

Perez was pretty dominaint for a while, but I wasn't sold on his competition which makes him hard to rate.

Much of Saddler best days were in the 1940's; which don't count here. I would rate his entire career better than Marciano's.

Likewise, Johnson's fights in the 1960's don't count here.

As for Marciano, I do have high regard for him. I consider him one of the Top 10 heavyweights of all time and have said so numerous times. I voted for him on the first ballot when we started the Boxrec Hall of Fame.

However, at times I have responded when someone makes claims about him that simply aren't valid. ie -Silly things like he had a superb defense, he fought a lot of tough competition, the film he made or computer fights mean anthing etc.

Have I ever started a thread bashing him? No.
I don't see the need of starting numerous threads bashing the same fighter.Nor do I twist threads that really aren't about Marciano into Marciano bashing.

Unlike some people, I also don't criticize anyone (including Marciano) for anything that I wouldn't criticize for anyone else under similar circumstances.

I Feel Fine · Post by **I Feel Fine** » 07 Mar 2008, 16:37

Why would you take Fullmer off and leave Basilio? Fullmer beat Basilio twice. Fullmer was one of the more accomplished fighters of the 50's, he clearly belongs on the list.

As for Marciano... according to my Playstation II circa 2001 (which was when I owned a Playstation) Marciano would lose to Roberto Duran... and because we all know that Computer Fights are the ultimate authority, Marciano cannot be ranked in the top 10 on this list. He lost to a guy who was a Lightweight who hadn't even turned pro yet, for Pete's sake..

Also, Marciano was knocked down a couple of times, so that automatically disqulifies him as being a great fighter. I could find pictures of those two knock downs, if you like. And, though I've never seen the fight (*cough* elmer), I heard somewhere that Marciano-LaStarza I was a bad decision, and my intuition tells me it must therefore be true, and therefore Rocky should not get credit for any of his wins; they were all suspect because of that one fight.. which I've never seen.

Martin Sosa Cameron · Post by **Martin Sosa Cameron** » 09 Mar 2008, 16:08

Any other names:

Jersey Joe Walcott
Billy Graham
Johnny Bratton
Johnny Saxton
Joe Brown
Willie Pep
Jimmy Carruthers
Peter Keenan
Dado Marino
Yoshio Shirai
Charley Humez
Kenny Lane
Flash Elorde
Eddie Machen
Joey Giardello
Alphonse Halimi
Hogan Bassey
Davey Moore
José Becerra
Sadao Yaoita
Benny Paret
Dai Dower
Terry Allen
Ratón Macías
Leo Espinoza
Young Martín
Ralph Tiger Jones
Sonny Liston
Luis Rodríguez
Carlos Ortiz
Eduardo Lausse
Tiberio Mitri
Duilio Loi
Percy Bassett

Ezzard · Post by **Ezzard** » 10 Mar 2008, 09:20

I Feel Fine wrote:Why would you take Fullmer off and leave Basilio? Fullmer beat Basilio twice. Fullmer was one of the more accomplished fighters of the 50's, he clearly belongs on the list.

As for Marciano... according to my Playstation II circa 2001 (which was when I owned a Playstation) Marciano would lose to Roberto Duran... and because we all know that Computer Fights are the ultimate authority, Marciano cannot be ranked in the top 10 on this list. He lost to a guy who was a Lightweight who hadn't even turned pro yet, for Pete's sake..

Also, Marciano was knocked down a couple of times, so that automatically disqulifies him as being a great fighter. I could find pictures of those two knock downs, if you like. And, though I've never seen the fight (*cough* elmer), I heard somewhere that Marciano-LaStarza I was a bad decision, and my intuition tells me it must therefore be true, and therefore Rocky should not get credit for any of his wins; they were all suspect because of that one fight.. which I've never seen.

Basilio was a better welter than Fullmer was middle

Ambling Alp · Post by **Ambling Alp** » 10 Mar 2008, 15:24

You must be talking about Don Fullmer.

Basilio was not a better welterweight than Gene Fullmer was a middleweight.

I Feel Fine · Post by **I Feel Fine** » 10 Mar 2008, 21:18

I would rate Fullmer ahead of Basilio P4P or as a Middleweight.