So, we're not talking about reputation here, but more how an individual match up might go? In other words, you don't have an issue with Langford being thought of as a great fighter, but more how one can determine that Langford would beat Roy Jones without having ever seen Sam Langford actually fight? I guess that's fair, but I have a couple of thoughts:Enlightened-One wrote: ↑01 Apr 2020, 00:54Exactly, but people seem offended by the notion!For several individuals, if they’ve followed the sport for a moderately long time, would have heard the opinions of others and would automatically deem Sam Langford (and other old-timers) as being great, based on sheer reputation alone, despite them knowing very little about this fighter.jas80s wrote: ↑31 Mar 2020, 19:44So, I guess my more precise question is, at what point do they know something about a fighter? I saw your questions, but they are a bit vague. How much do they have to know? It is possible to know about a fighter based on what is written about them even if you haven't seen them?
For me, that type of knowledge on its own is inadequate when attempting to evaluate whether Sam Langford is capable of beating fighter A. We need to know much more in order to consider such a scenario.
In order for a person to become capable for formulating such an opinion, they need to acquire a thorough understanding of a fighters’ overall fighting prowess, by:
• Having seen them compete numerous times
• Becoming aware of their accomplishments in the context of the era they fought (i.e. know their careers inside-out, as well as their historical contribution to the sport)
• Acquiring a comprehensive knowledge of all their highest-profile opposition (and we’re taking about several of them, rather than one)
I think of it as a jigsaw, where we need all the pieces to understand what the big picture looks like, with the biggest piece being the proverbial eyeball test.
For sure, it is possible to come to the conclusion that an old timer deserved greatness (based on reading about their exploits), but it would be impossible for anyone to judge whether they would definitely beat another fighter from another era if we’d never seen them compete (or only watched a few snippets of them in action).
Rating fighters based on reputation alone (i.e. having the "others think they're great, so they must be!" mind-set) doesn't suffice - it's stupid to use that criterion on its own without possessing any other real knowledge!
First, when talking about cross era match ups it's all speculation, what's with all the scientific method? None of us, you, me, anyone who has ever posted on this board, has any idea what would happen if those two fought. And, incidentally, I don't see how being of the opinion that Langford would win based on 3rd party descriptions of his prowess and his record against contemporary fighters who also achieved success is worse than your opinion based on watching a given fighter in the ring. Again, I think you overrate the value of having seen something without considering the variable of how much the person who is doing the observing actually knows or understands about what they have witnessed.
Second and most importantly, you keep talking about these people that put these guys up there but know very little about them, is there someone you can share who is doing this? The guys on this forum who mention these fighters seem pretty well versed. In fact, they seem to know quite a bit more about boxing than you. That's not meant as an attack on you, after all, boxing is just a sport that we enjoy watching, it's not a big deal. But, your description seemed of these people seemed odd to me and it really differed from my experience. I think its important to simply hear someone out and take it for what it's worth. Some people's opinions mean very little to me, while others interest me and lead me to think more about what I think and why.
Finally, you also wrote of definitely picking an older fighter to win a mythical match up based on, etc...I hope it is clear from my post that my opinion is anyone who expresses their pick as definitive is hard to take seriously. I am just talking about whether or not it's permissible to be inclusive of all fighters in rating regardless of how we know what we know about them. I am not simply seeking to defend older fighters here.