The Top 10 Best Fighters of the 1990s

[elmersalsa]

Oh! The 90s! Who remember the 90s? It doesn't look like a long time ago, but it happened. One of the bizarre decades ever no matter how we look at it. For some, it was a decade of everything goes as long it doesn't affect your consciousness. It was the total opposite of the 80s. Some people wanted the 80s to disappear from their system. The 90s became cruel. Little by little, American values were fading. The beginning of the end of times? Maybe not. But in this decade we lived like we didn't care. Anything goes!

The decade became revolutionary, especially in digital technology. Personal computers and the cell phone (originally created in 1971), began to be popular until this day. It changed the world forever. But, the real monster that changed our world forever was this phenomenon: The World Wide Web. It changed businesses and the way we live now. Lots of things were eliminated because of digital technology. An example would be a typewriter. Another would be pay phones. These things now are extinct. And in music, the compact music disc replaced the music cassettes and vinyl records. Playstation, Sega and Genesis game consoles made you forget 80s Atari. Video games became more advanced and sophisticated. And computer moguls like Microsoft's Bill Gates became super billionares with a software development named Windows.

In politics and pop culture, the 90s decade became a terrorizing transformation. Everything went fast. Princess Diana of Wales dies in a car accident in France in 1997. Nelson Mandela, a black prisoner in South Africa that fought apartheid, was released from prison. In 1994, he became the first black president of apartheid South Africa. Germany is reunited. The Berlin wall collapsed. A Gulf War in Kuwait was the beginning of what US is over there in the Middle East now. The Rwandan Genocide War killed more than 1 million people. Colombian drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar, is killed in a drug war in his native Medellin by his government armed forces. Did I say that Russia was no more a communist country? In Los Angeles, CA, Rodney King, A black man, was beaten by 5 white police officers shown in a video. It caused one of the biggest riots of the city's history when all 5 officers were acquitted. And let's not forget the biggest news of the decade: The OJ Simpson Murder Trial. A trial never seen before in history, a former professional football player and celebrity, was acquitted of the double murders of his stranged wife, Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1995. The ten-month trial, was a cultural phenomenon and circus of world wide attention called "The Trial of the Century". Until this day, opinions about the trial are divided. But what a trial!

In music and entertainment, a street phenomenon called Hip Hop or Rap, became the number one music of choice for teen agers. It is today, a billion dollar industry. Grunge and Alternative Rock music of Nirvana and R.E.M replaced the 80s Heavy Metal as fast as you can read this. MTV 80s was thrown to the curb. Woodstock celebrated their 25th anniversary by doing another concert with original and new acts. The movies "Titanic" in 1997 and "Lion King" in 1998, became cultural phenomenons. Famous singer Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen, dies in 1991. Rap's Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G, two rap icons of Gangsta Rap, and had a scary and unforgettable rivalry, were mysteriously shot and murdered. Until this day, the perpetrators of those crimes have not been found. Both cases have not been resolved. Superstar Michael Jackson became a laughingstock by the media. Tatoos and body piercing became a culture and a way of life to many. Years back having a tatoo was considered a low life ideology. The slacker and Valley Girl cultures were prevalent heavily influenced by Californian culture. The Jennifer Aniston hairdo was popular, at least by mostly white women. TV shows and sitcoms became classic fixtures: "Seinfeld", "Friends", "Everybody Loves Raymond", "That 70s Show", "Martin", "The Fresh Prince of Belair", "Beverly Hills 90210", "Roseanne", "The Simpsons" and "Law & Order". TV shows were very strong still.

In medicine and science, in the United Kingdom, the first cloned mammal, Dolly the Sheep, was confirmed by the Roslin Institute, and was reported by global media on February 26, 1997.

Like I said before, in the 90s, anything went. Everything went legal in a sense. And that didn't change in the world of sports. The USA Basketball Dream Team, an NBA squad of professional basketball players, considered as the best team assembled in any sport, terrorized and abused and somewhat embarrassed every national team in their way by easily winning the gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. A Superstar of that team, world icon of the NBA's Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan, became the athlete of the Decade. There was no one close! Jordan and the Bulls won 6 NBA world titles in the decade. It was Air Jordan, and then everybody else. The 1994 FIFA World Cup came to America for the first time in 1994. Brazil became the first country to win 4 world cups in football. Baseball became unpopular with the MLB strike. Players went on strike in the middle of the 1994 baseball season, cancelling the first World Series not played since 1904. NHL went on strike, too!

And in the sport of boxing, the highlights of the decade were alarming and somewhat stunning: Buster Douglas, a 42-1 underdog, became world heavyweight champion by stopping seemingly invincible champion Mike Tyson on a Saturday night in Tokyo of February 10, 1990. It was the biggest upset in boxing history. The last great era of boxing of the Fabulous 4 of Duran, Hagler, Hearns and Leonard was gone. All the attention went back to the big dogs, the heavyweights. The great Evander Holyfield became the second fighter to win the heavyweight crown since the great Muhammad Ali to win it 3 times. He was indeed the best heavyweight of the decade. Tyson made headlines by being convicted of rape in Indianapolis in 1992. He was out of action for 3 years. He was never the same fighter after that. Yes, the 90s decade was something. Maybe a cruel time. Maybe it was too fast for many people. To end this, these are my top 10 best fighters of the 90s decade:

1. Pernell Whitaker
2. Roy Jones, Jr
3. Evander Holyfield
4. Ricardo "Finito" Lopez
5. Oscar De La Hoya
6. Julio Cesar Chavez
7. Felix "Tito" Trinidad
8. Naseem Hamed
9. James Toney
10. Michael Carbajal

Let's start the debate.

[elmersalsa]

Also in the 90s, Lennox Lewis became the first heavyweight world champion from Great Britain in almost 100 years since the great Bob Fitzsimmons.

[Tomasino]

Oh! The 90s! Who remember the 90s? It doesn't look like a long time ago, but it happened. One of the bizarre decades ever no matter how we look at it. For some, it was a decade of everything goes as long it doesn't affect your consciousness. It was the total opposite of the 80s. Some people wanted the 80s to disappear from their system. The 90s became cruel. Little by little, American values were fading. The beginning of the end of times? Maybe not. But in this decade we lived like we didn't care. Anything goes!

The decade became revolutionary, especially in digital technology. Personal computers and the cell phone (originally created in 1971), began to be popular until this day. It changed the world forever. But, the real monster that changed our world forever was this phenomenon: The World Wide Web. It changed businesses and the way we live now. Lots of things were eliminated because of digital technology. An example would be a typewriter. Another would be pay phones. These things now are extinct. And in music, the compact music disc replaced the music cassettes and vinyl records. Playstation, Sega and Genesis game consoles made you forget 80s Atari. Video games became more advanced and sophisticated. And computer moguls like Microsoft's Bill Gates became super billionares with a software development named Windows.

In politics and pop culture, the 90s decade became a terrorizing transformation. Everything went fast. Princess Diana of Wales dies in a car accident in France in 1997. Nelson Mandela, a black prisoner in South Africa that fought apartheid, was released from prison. In 1994, he became the first black president of apartheid South Africa. Germany is reunited. The Berlin wall collapsed. A Gulf War in Kuwait was the beginning of what US is over there in the Middle East now. The Rwandan Genocide War killed more than 1 million people. Colombian drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar, is killed in a drug war in his native Medellin by his government armed forces. Did I say that Russia was no more a communist country? In Los Angeles, CA, Rodney King, A black man, was beaten by 5 white police officers shown in a video. It caused one of the biggest riots of the city's history when all 5 officers were acquitted. And let's not forget the biggest news of the decade: The OJ Simpson Murder Trial. A trial never seen before in history, a former professional football player and celebrity, was acquitted of the double murders of his stranged wife, Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1995. The ten-month trial, was a cultural phenomenon and circus of world wide attention called "The Trial of the Century". Until this day, opinions about the trial are divided. But what a trial!

In music and entertainment, a street phenomenon called Hip Hop or Rap, became the number one music of choice for teen agers. It is today, a billion dollar industry. Grunge and Alternative Rock music of Nirvana and R.E.M replaced the 80s Heavy Metal as fast as you can read this. MTV 80s was thrown to the curb. Woodstock celebrated their 25th anniversary by doing another concert with original and new acts. The movies "Titanic" in 1997 and "Lion King" in 1998, became cultural phenomenons. Famous singer Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen, dies in 1991. Rap's Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G, two rap icons of Gangsta Rap, and had a scary and unforgettable rivalry, were mysteriously shot and murdered. Until this day, the perpetrators of those crimes have not been found. Both cases have not been resolved. Superstar Michael Jackson became a laughingstock by the media. Tatoos and body piercing became a culture and a way of life to many. Years back having a tatoo was considered a low life ideology. The slacker and Valley Girl cultures were prevalent heavily influenced by Californian culture. The Jennifer Aniston hairdo was popular, at least by mostly white women. TV shows and sitcoms became classic fixtures: "Seinfeld", "Friends", "Everybody Loves Raymond", "That 70s Show", "Martin", "The Fresh Prince of Belair", "Beverly Hills 90210", "Roseanne", "The Simpsons" and "Law & Order". TV shows were very strong still.

In medicine and science, in the United Kingdom, the first cloned mammal, Dolly the Sheep, was confirmed by the Roslin Institute, and was reported by global media on February 26, 1997.

Like I said before, in the 90s, anything went. Everything went legal in a sense. And that didn't change in the world of sports. The USA Basketball Dream Team, an NBA squad of professional basketball players, considered as the best team assembled in any sport, terrorized and abused and somewhat embarrassed every national team in their way by easily winning the gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. A Superstar of that team, world icon of the NBA's Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan, became the athlete of the Decade. There was no one close! Jordan and the Bulls won 6 NBA world titles in the decade. It was Air Jordan, and then everybody else. The 1994 FIFA World Cup came to America for the first time in 1994. Brazil became the first country to win 4 world cups in football. Baseball became unpopular with the MLB strike. Players went on strike in the middle of the 1994 baseball season, cancelling the first World Series not played since 1904. NHL went on strike, too!

And in the sport of boxing, the highlights of the decade were alarming and somewhat stunning: Buster Douglas, a 42-1 underdog, became world heavyweight champion by stopping seemingly invincible champion Mike Tyson on a Saturday night in Tokyo of February 10, 1990. It was the biggest upset in boxing history. The last great era of boxing of the Fabulous 4 of Duran, Hagler, Hearns and Leonard was gone. All the attention went back to the big dogs, the heavyweights. The great Evander Holyfield became the second fighter to win the heavyweight crown since the great Muhammad Ali to win it 3 times. He was indeed the best heavyweight of the decade. Tyson made headlines by being convicted of rape in Indianapolis in 1992. He was out of action for 3 years. He was never the same fighter after that. Yes, the 90s decade was something. Maybe a cruel time. Maybe it was too fast for many people. To end this, these are my top 10 best fighters of the 90s decade:

1. Pernell Whitaker
2. Roy Jones, Jr
3. Evander Holyfield
4. Ricardo "Finito" Lopez
5. Oscar De La Hoya
6. Julio Cesar Chavez
7. Felix "Tito" Trinidad
8. Naseem Hamed
9. James Toney
10. Michael Carbajal

Let's start the debate.

I will get my list together soon but that was a great opening post Elmer

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Solid list, glad you got #1 right! Only issue for me is Lopez.

[Tomasino]

Solid list, glad you got #1 right! Only issue for me is Lopez.

I like Lopez, watching him is a pleasure however his comp level lets him down a bit...where would you have him Saad? Well outside top 10?

[Syntax Error]

Cracking list.

The 90s was a great decade, especially in the heavyweights.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Solid list, glad you got #1 right! Only issue for me is Lopez.

I like Lopez, watching him is a pleasure however his comp level lets him down a bit...where would you have him Saad? Well outside top 10?

I don't have any decades lists. He'd be outside my top 15 all time Mexicans and I've seen him top those lists. Spectacular fighter, easily top 5 all time most overrated resumes. Well, that could be a stretch with the Klitschko's and Dempsey as locks.

[Counter-puncher]

Small point but i don't see many (on here) overrating Lopez's resume. I think its more the case that they consciously ignore it in favour or the eye-test? Which I can understand, I do it.

[Ambling Alp II]

Hamed does not being on this list. There were fighters clearly better than him. Shane Mosley and Lennox Lewis for starters.
Lopez is a bit too high for me. It is always hard to rate someone who looks like he has all the tools but didn't go up against that good of competition.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I should have said I'd have Lopez over hamed.

[Jaywheel]

Hamed does not being on this list. There were fighters clearly better than him. Shane Mosley and Lennox Lewis for starters.
Lopez is a bit too high for me. It is always hard to rate someone who looks like he has all the tools but didn't go up against that good of competition.

I'd have Lewis on the list instead of Finito. Mosley doesn't belong for the 90's, his best wins were Holiday Molina and Leija by the end of the 90's. Hopkins defended his IBF title more than 10 times in the 90's. I'd probably replace the Prince by him.

[dr_devious]

Chavez was definitely up there with Toney and McCallum who was 40 years old by the time Jones beat him.

Having said that I'd have Roy as number 1 fighter of the 90s too.