Greatest fighters in the original 8 weight classes

[Ezzard]

Flyweight All Time Champion: Jimmy Wilde
Honourable mentions: Pascual Perez, Pancho Villa, and Benny Lynch

Bantamweight All Time Champion: Eder Jofre
Honourable Mentions: Panama Al Brown, Ruben Olivares, Carlos Zarate

Featherweight All Time Champion: Willie Pep
Honourable Mentions: Sandy Saddler, Salvador Sanchez, Terry McGovern

Lightweight All Time Champion: Henry Armstrong
Honourable Mentions: Roberto Duran, Benny Leonard, Joe Gans

Welterweight All Time Champion: Sugar Ray Robinson
Honourable Mentions: Emile Griffith, Kid Gavilan, Ray Leonard

Middleweight All Time Champion: Harry Greb
Honourable Mentions: Carlos Monzon, Marvin Hagler, Bob Fitzsimmons

LightHeavyweight All Time Champion: Ezzard Charles
Honourable Mention: Archie Moore, Sam Langford, Gene Tunney,

Heavyweight All Time Champion: Muhammad Ali
Honourable mentions: Joe Louis, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey

[King Carlos]

Some great choices above.........except Michael Spinks! He should not even be mentioned in the same breath as the top 5 Light Heavyweights. The clear-cut ATG I think is Gene Tunney. 65-1, almost 50 KO's. Only loss was to Harry Greb, and he avenged that loss 3 or 4 times. Also moved up to heavy to beat Jack Dempsey. No one can match his record. In any weight or era really.

Spinks beat a relatively similar level of opposition at Lt. Heavy (in under half as many fights), also only had one loss (at the tail end of his career up in weight, unlike Tunney, who lost to a smaller man), and similarly stepped up in weight to beat a long-reigning, all time great champ that was past his prime.

I definitely consider Spinks on a par with Tunney.

[Crease]

This thread deserves a: BUMP

[Ezzard]

Flyweight: Jimmy Wilde
HM: Pancho Villa, Jung-Koo Chang, and Miguel Canto

Bantamweight: Eder Jofre
HM: George Dixon, Ruben Olivares, Fighting Harada

Featherweight: Willie Pep
HM: Sandy Saddler, Henry Armstrong, Salvador Sanchez

Lightweight: Roberto Duran
HM: Joe Gans, Benny Leonard, Henry Armstrong

Welterweight: Ray Robinson
HM: Kid Gavilan, Emile Griffith, Ray Leonard

Middleweight: Harry Greb
HM: Carlos Monzon, Marvin Hagler, Bob Fitzsimmons

Lt. Heavyweight: Ezzard Charles
HM: Archie Moore, Gene Tunney, Sam Langford

Heavyweight: Muhammad Ali
HM: Joe Louis, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey

[dempseyfire]

Some great choices above.........except Michael Spinks! He should not even be mentioned in the same breath as the top 5 Light Heavyweights. The clear-cut ATG I think is Gene Tunney. 65-1, almost 50 KO's. Only loss was to Harry Greb, and he avenged that loss 3 or 4 times. Also moved up to heavy to beat Jack Dempsey. No one can match his record. In any weight or era really.

Spinks beat a relatively similar level of opposition at Lt. Heavy (in under half as many fights), also only had one loss (at the tail end of his career up in weight, unlike Tunney, who lost to a smaller man), and similarly stepped up in weight to beat a long-reigning, all time great champ that was past his prime.

I definitely consider Spinks on a par with Tunney.

Similar level of competition??? Not even close . . .

[King Carlos]

Some great choices above.........except Michael Spinks! He should not even be mentioned in the same breath as the top 5 Light Heavyweights. The clear-cut ATG I think is Gene Tunney. 65-1, almost 50 KO's. Only loss was to Harry Greb, and he avenged that loss 3 or 4 times. Also moved up to heavy to beat Jack Dempsey. No one can match his record. In any weight or era really.

Spinks beat a relatively similar level of opposition at Lt. Heavy (in under half as many fights), also only had one loss (at the tail end of his career up in weight, unlike Tunney, who lost to a smaller man), and similarly stepped up in weight to beat a long-reigning, all time great champ that was past his prime.

I definitely consider Spinks on a par with Tunney.

Similar level of competition??? Not even close . . .

Tunney has the better wins against Greb (the smaller fighter whom he pretty much split the series with if you're going by accounts of the day), but apart from that he doesn't hold much of an edge, even less so if you're only counting fights fought at or below the Lt. Heavyweight limit.

Tunney: Tommy Gibbons, Jeff Smith (whom Tunney outweighed by 12 pounds), Georges Carpentier, Jimmy Delaney, Battling Levinsky, Leo Houck, and a draw with a pre-prime Tommy Loughran are the strength of his Lt. Heavyweight resume. And that's including the above the weight bouts.

Spinks: Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Marvin Johnson, Yaqui Lopez, Eddie Davis, etc.

I don't see any gulf in class there, especially their top wins. Tunney may have slightly more depth (goes with the territory of having over twice as many fights), but Spinks beat some other contenders I didn't mention as well. All in all, it's pretty close.

[Crease]

I wonder how many more compelling wins will Floyd have to do before his name is brought up in here somewhere.

[elmersalsa]

Pretty Boy Floyd did not stay long enough in the divisions he participated in. If one would like to classify him in a weight class as an all-time great of any weight division would be jr lightweight. That was his longest stay in his career.

[jimglen]

try Britain.

Flyweight: Jimmy Wilde, Benny Lynch, Peter Kane, Jackie Paterson, Elky Clark

Bantamweight: Jim Brady, Peter Keenan, Joe Bowker

Featherweight: Jim Driscoll, Owen Moran, Nel Tarleton, Alex Lafferty, Naseem Hamed

Lightweight: Freddie Welsh, Ken Buchanan, Eric Boon, Dave Charnley

Welterweight: Ted Kid Lewis, Ernie Roderick, Jackie Kid Berg, Arthur Danahar

Middleweight: Jock McAvoy, Bert Gilroy, Randy Turpin, Nigel Benn, Joe Calzaghe,

Lt. Heavyweight: Bob Fitzsimons, Len Harvey, John Conti, Freddie Mills

Heavyweight: Lennox Lewis (Super-Heavyweight), Tommy Farr, Henry Cooper, Bruce Woodcock, Frank Bruno

[gilgamesh]

Flyweight Jimmy Wilde (Pancho Villa, Fidel Labarba, Benny Lynch)

Bantamweight Eder Jofre (Ruben Olivares, Manuel Ortiz, Carlos Zarate)

Featherweight Willie Pep (Sandy Saddler, Salvador Sanchez, Azumah Nelson)

Lightweight Roberto Duran (Benny Leonard, Joe Gans, Henry Armstrong)

Welterweight Ray Robinson (Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Emile Griffith)

Middleweight Harry Greb (Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon, Stanley Ketchel)

Light Heavyweight Ezzard Charles (Archie Moore, Sam Langford, Michael Spinks)

Heavyweight Muhammed Ali (Joe Louis, Larry Holmes, Jack Johnson)

My list would look basically like that. Especially your guys at the very top.

[dr_devious]

try Britain.

Flyweight: Jimmy Wilde, Benny Lynch, Peter Kane, Jackie Paterson, Elky Clark

Bantamweight: Jim Brady, Peter Keenan, Joe Bowker

Featherweight: Jim Driscoll, Owen Moran, Nel Tarleton, Alex Lafferty, Naseem Hamed

Lightweight: Freddie Welsh, Ken Buchanan, Eric Boon, Dave Charnley

Welterweight: Ted Kid Lewis, Ernie Roderick, Jackie Kid Berg, Arthur Danahar

Middleweight: Jock McAvoy, Bert Gilroy, Randy Turpin, Nigel Benn, Joe Calzaghe,

Lt. Heavyweight: Bob Fitzsimons, Len Harvey, John Conti, Freddie Mills

Heavyweight: Lennox Lewis (Super-Heavyweight), Tommy Farr, Henry Cooper, Bruce Woodcock, Frank Bruno

How does Arthur Danahar get on the list and Lloyd Honeyhan doesnt? Also, Bert Gilroy at MW but no Minter, Graham, Watson or Eubank???? David Haye should make the heavyweight list, as well as Joe Bugner

[jimglen]

How does Arthur Danahar get on the list and Lloyd Honeyhan doesnt? Also, Bert Gilroy at MW but no Minter, Graham, Watson or Eubank???? David Haye should make the heavyweight list, as well as Joe Bugner

better Era's vs weaker eras & comp. and yes defo Bugner, and Haye might as we should soon see.

[Crease]

Good topic this. It's a shame that more people don't pick Marvin Hagler as their number one Middleweight, I didn't expect the majority to, but it would be nice to see The Marvellous One get a few votes.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

You could have joined me, but you picked Monzon.

[King Carlos]

I think I was smoking crack when I picked Jimmy Wilde for my Flyweight choice. Honestly. Must've been on a kick of his at the time. Very overrated fighter. Benny Lynch was better.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I think I was smoking crack when I picked Jimmy Wilde for my Flyweight choice. Honestly. Must've been on a kick of his at the time. Very overrated fighter. Benny Lynch was better.

Agreed, LaBarba was too.

[Mr E]

Honorable mentions listed in chronological order.

Flyweight Champ: Jimmy Wilde
Honorable Mentions: Fidel LaBarba, Pascual Perez, Miguel Canto

Bantamweight Champ: Eder Jofre
Honorable Mentions: Terry McGovern, Manuel Ortiz, Ruben Oliveres

Featherweight Champ: Sandy Saddler
Honorable Mentions: Jim Driscoll, Willie Pep, Salvador Sanchez

Lightweight Champ: Roberto Duran
Honrable Mentions: Joe Gans, Benny Leonard, Henry Armstrong

Welterweight Champ: Sugar Ray Robinson
Honorable Mentions: Charley Burley, Jose Napoles, Sugar Ray Leonard

Middleweight Champ: Harry Greb
Honorable Mentions: Stanley Ketchel, Mickey Walker, Carlos Monzon

Light-Heavyweight Champ: Sam Langford
Honorable Mentions: Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Michael Spinks
[Note: I believe Gene Tunney reached his pound-for-pound peak as a 190-lb. "cruiserweight." As a light-heavy, I rate him a shade behind these 4 guys, but I believe the Tunney of the Dempsey fights would have beaten them all.]

Heavyweight: Muhammad Ali
Honorable Mentions: Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Larry Holmes

[keithmoonhangover]

Fly: Wilde

Bantam: Jofre

Feather: Pep

Light: Benny Leonard

Welter: Robinson

Middle: Ketchel

Light-Heavy: Moore

Heavy: Ali

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Fly: Wilde

Bantam: Jofre

Feather: Pep

Light: Benny Leonard

Welter: Robinson

Middle: Ketchel

Light-Heavy: Moore

Heavy: Ali

I don't get Moore over Charles. Care to elaborate?

[keithmoonhangover]

Fly: Wilde

Bantam: Jofre

Feather: Pep

Light: Benny Leonard

Welter: Robinson

Middle: Ketchel

Light-Heavy: Moore

Heavy: Ali

I don't get Moore over Charles. Care to elaborate?

No.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

[keithmoonhangover]

You still not got anyone sleeping beside you?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

You still not got anyone sleeping beside you?

[keithmoonhangover]

You still not got anyone sleeping beside you?

You in bed.....

Me in bed (with the woman I love).....

[SaadOffTheDeck]

You still not got anyone sleeping beside you?

You in bed.....

Me in bed (with the woman I love).....