Who fought the best opposition?

[The Great John L]

Joe Walcott (the original) desreves a mention.

[Syntax Error]

It has to be Harry Greb for this one. There are some other good candidates, but Greb is the standout.

PS: In modern parlance, I think Evander Holyfield is a good shout for this category.

[IRLangmaid25]

Of the current fighters Glencoffe Johnson deserves a honourable mention in order from earliest.

Bernard Hopkins
Sven Ottke
Clinton Woods three times
Roy Jones Jnr
Antonio Tarver two times
Montell Griffiin
Chad Dawson two times
Tavoris Cloud
Carl Froch
and Lucian Bute.

Also Hopkins in order of most recent.
Dawson twice
Pascal twice
Jones Jnr twice
Kelly Pavlik
Joe Calzaghe
Winky Wright
Jermain Taylor two times)
Oscar De La Hoya
Tito Trinidad
Simon Brown

[The Great John L]

Choynski's resume is certainly worth noting as well.

[Ambling Alp]

I think one thing you have to consider is how often a fighter fought another fighter. Langford for example, fought Wills, McVey, and Jeannette several times each. If you don't take into account how many times they fought, then Langford wouldn't be among0.

[Controversial]

Archie Moore. And that ends this thread. Let's move on.

Except that there were guys with better opposition faced

Moore did have a very impressive resume -

Muhammed Ali
Willie Pastrano
Floyd Patterson
Rocky Marciano
Harold Johnson
Joey Maxim
Ezzard Charles
Charley Burley

Thats not including the contenders or top 10 fighters like Bivins, Curtis Shepherd, Bobo Olson, Nino Valdes, Bob Baker, Lloyd Marshall, Eddie Booker, Cocoa Kid and Holman Williams and probably a few others I've forgot to mention.

[duranfan]

I think you have to spare a thought for guys who simply didn't have too many other great fighters in their era. Lewis springs to mind, to an extent McCallum who just missed out on the fab four era.

Still we always have fantasy fight sections to compare these guys against the older legends, thats something, at least.

[Goodnight, Irene]

Archie Moore. And that ends this thread. Let's move on.

Except that there were guys with better opposition faced

Moore did have a very impressive resume -

Muhammed Ali
Willie Pastrano
Floyd Patterson
Rocky Marciano
Harold Johnson
Joey Maxim
Ezzard Charles
Charley Burley

Thats not including the contenders or top 10 fighters like Bivins, Curtis Shepherd, Bobo Olson, Nino Valdes, Bob Baker, Lloyd Marshall, Eddie Booker, Cocoa Kid and Holman Williams and probably a few others I've forgot to mention.

I never said otherwise.

[JDC]

I'm pretty sure there are/have been some journymen who have fought better opposition than those mentioned. I've been blown away by one or two records (all be it losing ones). Struggling to remember who though...

[The Great John L]

I think one thing you have to consider is how often a fighter fought another fighter. Langford for example, fought Wills, McVey, and Jeannette several times each. If you don't take into account how many times they fought, then Langford wouldn't be among0.

There were a LOT of other great names on his resume besides those three.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I think one thing you have to consider is how often a fighter fought another fighter. Langford for example, fought Wills, McVey, and Jeannette several times each. If you don't take into account how many times they fought, then Langford wouldn't be among0.

There were a LOT of other great names on his resume besides those three.

Indeed, Gans, Walcott & ketchel to name just three.

[Controversial]

I'm pretty sure there are/have been some journymen who have fought better opposition than those mentioned. I've been blown away by one or two records (all be it losing ones). Struggling to remember who though...

Everett 'Big Foot' Martin fought quite a few big names -

Bert Cooper (Martin won UD)
Dwight Qawi
George Foreman (first fighter to take Foreman distance in his comeback trail, Foreman was 18-0 (18kos) before fight)
Gary Mason
Francesco Damiani
Pierre Coetzer
Bonecrusher Smith
Michael Moorer (Martin first fighter to floor Moorer)
Riddick Bowe
Tim Witherspoon (Martin won on a SD)
Tony Tucker
Larry Holmes (Holmes said his hands had never been so sore from hitting someone in his entire career)
Herbie Hide
Tony Tubbs
Wladimir Klitschko (fought twice)

plus several other rated heavyweights at the time. Pretty impressive considering Martin weighed as low as 167lbs early in his career.

[JDC]

Good shout