Top 100 Middleweights

[Ambling Alp II]

Thought this would be fun. Have never done a list this extensive for middleweights. Being a glutton for punishment, I would like to hear comments. Let me know who is way too high and low. This is sort of a rough draft, so I am sure I could change my mind on some of these.

Included are a few great fighters who really only spent little time in this weight class but did enough at middleweight to be worth a mention. They probably would have beat some guys ranked ahead of them but we will never know for sure.

Not that interested in the Top 20 or so; they have been argued many times before.

Anyway, here it is:

1. Ray Robinson
2. Harry Greb
3. Carlos Monzon
4. Marvin Hagler
5. Mickey Walker
6. Dick Tiger
7. Bernard Hopkins
8. Stanley Ketchel
9. Gene Fullmer
10. Nino Benvenuti
11. Bob Fitzsimmons
12. Charlie Burley
13. Roy Jones
14. Gennady Golovkin
15. Jake LaMotta
16. Joey Giardello
17. Tiger Flowers
18. Mike Gibbons
19. Emile Griffith
20. Tommy Ryan
21. Freddie Steele
22. Tony Zale
23. Marcel Cerdan
24. Eddie Booker
25. Holman Williams
26. Kid McCoy
27. Rodrigo Valdez
28. James Toney
29. Mike McCallum
30. Nonpariel Jack Dempsey
31. Billy Papke
32. Les Darcey
33. Randy Turpin
34. Young Corbet III
35. Michael Nunn
36. Bobo Olsen
37. Carmen Basilio
38. Marcel Thil
39. Billy Conn
40. Teddy Yarosz
41. Lou Broulliard
42. Rocky Graziano
43. Gorilla Jones
44. Mike O’Dowd
45. Ken Overlin
46. Vince Dundee
47. Bennie Briscoe
48. Paul Pender
49. Sumbu Kalambay
50. Cerfino Garcia
51. Al Hostak
52. Solly Krueger
53. Fred Apostoli
54. Len Harvey
55. Thomas Hearns
56. Saul Alvarez
57. Johnny Wilson
58. Al McCoy
59. Jeff Smith
60. Eddie McGootry
61. George Chip
62. Frank Klaus
63. Jimmy Clabby
64. Alan Minter
65. Vito Antuofermo
66. Hugo Corro
67. Terry Downes
68. Sergio Martinez
69. Mustafa Hamsho
70. Jermaine Taylor
71. Kelly Pavlik
72. William Joppy
73. Herol Graham
74. Rocky Castellani
75. Gil Turner
76. Tiger Jones
77. George Benton
78. Eduardo Lausse
79. Spider Webb
80. Charles Humez
81. Laurent Dauthuille
82. Robert Villemain
83. Tiberi Mitri
84. Cyrille Dellanoit
85. Gustav Scholz
86. Felix Sturm
87. Gerald McClellan
88. Frank Tate
89. Keith Holmes
90. Iran Barkley
91. Reggie Johnson
92. Florentino Fernandez
93. Leo Houck
94. Hugo Kelly
95. Babe Risko
96. Ben Jeby
97. Roberto Duran
98. Felix Trinidad
99. Ray Leonard
100. Rubin Carter

[Tomasino]

Good work man

Frank Klaus higher, Burley higher, walker lower, Alvarez out, Leonard out, Carter out.

[Jaywheel]

Taylor should be ahead of Martinez at MW. Sergio doesn't have anything on his resume that come close to 2 wins over Hopkins.

[tagjohnson]

Hagler is my all time #2 to Robinson.

[Bodyshot3]

Another great list Ambling ...although 'Man of Steel' Zale looks low and for my money Giardello way too high.
Benn and Eubank both miss the cut as well?

[BitPlayer]

I think Tommy Ryan is too low.

GGG is way too high.

[davie]

More great work Alp.
With 100 names, there's too much on there where you could squabble over a few places here or there, personal opinions differ.

But I can't fathom how Canelo makes that list

[scartissue]

Another great list, Alp, but I think I would have found room for Lloyd Marshall, Dave Sands, Georgie Abrams, Joey Archer and Luis Rodriguez.

[scartissue]

And lets not forget Jack Chase.

[elmersalsa]

It's all a matter of opinion, but, to me, the great Carlos Monzon is the greatest middleweight of all time. Nice list, though.

[Seamus]

Bennie Briscoe is too high. Don't know why so many guys on this forum rate him so highly. He was tough, but just not that good, and yet more than once I've seen threads advocating his being voted into the IBHOF. Overall good list though. Mike Gibbons is too low.

[Nile4000]

Great list, but would have Carlos at the top of the heap.

[klompton]

Greb higher. He has a better resume and was better head to head than Robinson.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

"Included are a few great fighters who really only spent little time in this weight class but did enough at middleweight to be worth a mention."

How in the world is Roy Jones ranked so high?

[Seamus]

For some reason I missed Jones. He had only 2 title fights at MW, close win over Hopkins and TKO over Thomas Tate. To be honest, that's not much for a 13 overall ranking.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

Agree especially top 3 But Aussie boxer from the 50s who was tragically killed at 26 years old when nearing a shot at the title Dave Sands should be in there some where he beat Bobo Olsen twice knocked out Henry Brimm who gave Robinson a tough fight

[Syntax Error]

Great work AA II.

Even though I have raised my eyebrows at some of the placings, I'm not going to argue with someone who has taken the time & effort to compile such a list.

I would never attempt to compile such an exhaustive list as I find when you're looking at the lower rungs, the difference can be so miniscule that it's not worth arguing over.

[pound per pound]

Decent effort.

Jones, Cerdan, are too low. After Golovkin beats Canelo, he could move up.

I think Hopkins is too high.

[Bundana]

Nonpareil Dempsey on a Top-100 middleweight list... and as # 30, no less?? Doesn't seem right!

[Ambling Alp II]

Thought I would respond on some of the comments.
Dave Sands should be in there? That is a good find. He is a guy you almost never hear about.
Jack Chase should be in there? I think you could make a good case for him.
Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank should be in there? You could make a decent case for them as well.
Klaus being higher? I could go a little higher with him.

Walker at #5 is too high?
For me there are cluster with guys who are very close. After the first 4, #5 to # 25 are pretty close. Somebody had to be #5 and I went with Walker. He certain could go down.
Burley higher? I got him #12. No problem having him go up or down a few.

Zale too low at #22? He could go up a bit.
Tommy Ryan too low at #20? He could go up.

Giardello too high at #16? He could go down a bit. Maybe I gave him too much credit for the draw ith Fullmer and the win over Tiger.
Jones is too high at #13? A lot depends on how much credit he should get for beating Hopkins. some people all but dismiss and others think it was a huge deal. I am in the middle.
Jones too low at #13?

Alvarez should be out? Agreed. I should not have him in there.
Leonard out? I only had him at #99. The Hagler win has to count for something.
Rubin Carter out? I have had trouble with him. No doubt about the guy was only 28-12 with a few embarrassing losses. On the other hand he did beat Benton, Fernandez, and Griffith who are all in here. He also barely lost to Giardello. He at least has to be close.
Brisco out? Maybe I gave him too much credit for the "draw" against Monzon in Argentina and past his prime giving Hagler trouble. He did lose some fights that you expect him to have won.
Dempsey should be out? No way. He is an obvious pick.

Taylor (who I had at #70) should be a head of # 68 Martinez? I guess they could switch places.

A guy I thought of after making the list was Luis Rodriguez. People don't think of him as a middleweight, but he beat some good middleweights.

[Seamus]

Alp, you thought Briscoe gave Hagler trouble ? I thought it was pretty one sided. The judges had Hagler winning by 3-5-6 pts, I had him by 9.

[cfang]

good list. id have fuller and nino lower and id have steele much higher, burley also.

[crusader]

Respect for the effort.

I looked over the records of a few of the guys on the list, and Hopkins' record at 160 isn't nearly as strong as I thought it was.

[Ambling Alp II]

I thought the Briscoe-Hagler fight was competitive. I think I had the score something like 7 rounds to 3 for Hagler. Given that Briscoe was aging and had a lot of wear and tear from a ton of tough fights, You would think that Hagler would have just destroyed him. Maybe that is more of an indictment against Hagler then for Briscoe.

Steele and Burley could go up. Benvenuti and Fullmer could go down. That whole group from #5 to about # 25 is very close.

Hopkins does not really have that huge win. I thought his entire "body of work" was enough to rate him #7. He certainly could have been lower.

[Ezzard]

Jones at 13 is the stand out... I think Leonard's win over Hagler was better or at least comparable... Griffith's wins dwarf Jones' achievements.

Everything else you can argue back and forth but for me that's the only real solid criticism I could make.

I think Fullmer is too high but nowhere near to the same extent.

Many thanks, enjoyed scanning down the list.